3 Tax-Preparation Apps

These mobile apps help you estimate your tax bill or refund, organize receipts, and find answers to tough tax questions.

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Matthew Hollister

Even if you have a great accountant, preparing for Tax Day can be daunting. These apps aim to make the process easier.

Turbotax Taxcaster

This well-designed Intuit app provides a rough estimate of your tax bill or rebate after you tap in details such as marital status, age, income, and deductions. The app, which is available for the iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone 7 platforms, also has a robust Help section.
cost: Free

Capturengo

After you snap a photo of a receipt with your phone and hit Submit, Capturengo, available for iPhones and BlackBerrys, creates an IRS-approved digital receipt that you can access through an online account. You can organize receipts online and export data into Excel.
cost: Free for up to 50 receipts a month, then $99 a year

H&R Block Tax Answers

This iPhone app lets you browse through answers to tax questions posted by other users or submit your own questions to advisers. It also includes a searchable glossary of tax terms. H&R Block plans to launch another app that will let users create profiles and receive relevant alerts about tax news and deadlines.
cost: Free

John Brandon is a contributing editor at Inc. magazine and writes the Tech Trends column in every issue. He also writes the Tech Report column for Inc.com. @jmbrandonbb