EY TaxChat Review

EY TaxChat Ratings at a Glance

EY TaxChat is an on-demand mobile and desktop service that connects you with knowledgeable tax professionals who can prepare and file your return in a secure, online environment. This five-star platform goes toe-to-toe with its competitors, and, buoyed by top-line CPAs and IRS enrolled agents, it files your taxes right and right on time.

If you need to file taxes, you can count on EY TaxChat to help you do it right and pay the least amount of taxes you legally owe. It’s useful for all taxpayers but especially suits self-employed independent contractors in the gig economy.

Signing up is easy. You can get a no-obligation quote and have your questions answered — and once you’ve got an account, you can upload documents, connect with your dedicated tax pro, get your return filed and be checking the IRS’s Where’s My Refund web page in just a few days.

EY TaxChat wants to hear from its customers completing their 2021 tax filings, and it provides every method possible to reach the team and your personal tax preparer. You can call the support desk at 833-TAX-CHAT (833-829-2428), from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST Monday through Friday. The phone number is prominently displayed on the website, a rarity in today’s bot-worshiping economy.

The website and mobile app provide a monitored chat function. EY TaxChat commits to a response to your chat within 48 hours during business hours and usually much sooner. If you receive a chat message but are not actively using the app, you’ll receive an email and see the new chat notification within the app.

You can also email at taxchat.support@ey.com or complete an online contact form.

After you’ve been assigned a tax pro, most questions can be resolved quickly and easily via messaging. However, if you aren’t able to resolve your questions via chat, your EY contact can schedule a call with you. Any documents you need to provide can be uploaded to the secure and easy-to-use online portal. 

Unlike other more elusive competitors, EY TaxChat makes it easy to reach the team by every form of contact available. Once society nails down Vulcan mind-melding, EY TaxChat will likely add that method as well — it’s that committed to connecting customers with human tax experts.

Although EY TaxChat prices stack up as fair for the assistance and expertise you receive, the platform is not cheap. 

The base fee of $199 for a 2021 tax filing includes your federal return and one state return. Additional state returns cost more as do many other extra forms and services. You will pay more for a complicated personal return as a Schedule C business owner or self-employed person, for example, but EY TaxChat’s transparent pricing makes sure there are no surprises.

Filing an extension incurs an incremental service fee of $100, and, in that case, your tax pro will help you determine an estimate of taxes owed by the April 15 due date to avoid having to pay interest and penalties on any unpaid balance due. 

If audited later for a tax return prepared by EY TaxChat, a tax expert will be ready to help you as part of a separate services agreement with additional cost.

EY TaxChat offers separate apps for personal taxpayers and for enterprise customers. Each app is easy to find in the app store when you search “EY tax” — it doesn’t pull up with the search term “Ernst and Young.” After a speedy download, you can configure your account or log in with the credentials you set up on the computer. The app has exactly the same appearance and functionality as the computer-based platform, even down to allowing document upload into the secure portal by snapping a picture with your phone. You could do an entire tax return just on your phone, which is handy. It works on iOS and Android systems.

Using EY TaxChat for your 2021 tax filing comes with a host of benefits — with convenience and personal service being named joint MVPs. You get to work with a human being without actually having to go to that person’s office. Once you sign up, you’ll have a dedicated tax expert from whom you can get unlimited tax advice. Different tax pros have varied strengths, and EY algorithms match your specific situation with experts in those areas. For example, your construction business or NFT minting gig will benefit from a tax pro with relevant experience.

Users sometimes worry about the security of uploaded tax documents, especially because they contain so much sensitive personal information. EY TaxChat uses multiple encryption protocols for data and document security and employs EY professional information security practices so your data is protected at all times.

EY TaxChat gets five stars as one of the easiest tax prep services you can buy. The five-step process matches the five-star service: 

1. Answer a few questions.
2. Receive a fast, free, no-obligation quote.
3. Meet your EY tax professional.
4. Upload documents.
5. Review and authorize e-filing.

That’s it — much easier and safer than filing your own taxes.

EY TaxChat vs Competitors

Many firms compete within the tax prep sector, but EY TaxChat offers superior convenience. Worthy platforms like H&R Block and Intuit lack the simplicity, seamless interface, and expert support users get with EY TaxChat. Plus with TaxChat, a professional files for you. You might be able to find a cheaper tax prep service, but you won’t find a better one.

An additional bonus with EY TaxChat: Not all tax prep services are comfortable with doing taxes for crypto and NFT gains. The folks at EY TaxChat are, and your dedicated tax professional will be as much of an expert in that realm as any tax pro can be with the current shifting sands of the IRS’ crypto tax guidance in early 2022.

Anyone can hang a shingle and dole out advice from under a green-shaded visor, and much of the info given will probably be right. But “probably” is cold comfort if you find yourself across a desk or a Zoom call with an IRS auditor discussing your 2021 tax filing. Advice that seemed sound suddenly looks shaky. Complying with tax laws and regulations that are constantly changing is a challenge. EY has been helping people and businesses do their taxes right since 1903 — that’s a lot of experience and knowledge feeding into a service you can procure for yourself. 

EY TaxChat Tutorial

Frequently Asked Questions