Yes, taxes can be complicated. You need solid math skills, and the countless deductions, filings, and returns can drive anyone up the wall — you might even need to break out an Excel sheet! Each tax season brings preparation demands (and anxiety for many), yet schools and colleges rarely teach this essential life skill.
While books and software can help, they don’t match the environment and learning efficiency of a structured class. Software typically emphasizes shortcuts, while books can overwhelm with information — unless you know what you’re doing, the sheer volume can be daunting! Online tax preparation courses offer the ideal solution — designed to be straightforward, easy to follow, and focused. These courses serve learners from beginners to seasoned professionals and provide the flexibility to learn according to your schedule.
To help you navigate this tax season, here’s our roundup of the top online tax preparation courses!
Rethinking International Tax Law — Coursera
Naturally, a Coursera course earns a spot on our list; the world’s largest MOOC platform covers virtually every topic, including tax preparation! This course addresses the evolving demands of international taxation and multinational corporate planning strategies, equipping learners with comprehensive knowledge of international tax law foundations and practices. It also tackles ongoing developments in the field and ethical considerations surrounding tax planning. Ideal for professionals with multinational clients or those preparing cross-border taxes, this course requires an estimated 31 hours to complete and offers flexible deadlines.
How to Prepare Your Taxes for Entrepreneurs — Udemy
Targeting those who want to prepare their own tax returns with a focus on self-employment, Schedule C, and minimizing tax liability, this Udemy course covers topics that simplify tax filing for entrepreneurs. It guides students through every detail required to efficiently file Schedule C and report business activities, building the confidence and knowledge to ensure your filed returns are accurate, all legal deductions are included, and you understand how your business activity affects your overall tax situation. While open to all levels, it focuses specifically on business taxes and receives regular updates to maintain relevance — regardless of when you access the class, you’ll have the latest tax information.
How to Prepare Your Taxes — Udemy
The “How to Prepare Your Taxes” course ranks among the most fundamental tax prep courses available, providing essential understanding of personal finances; if you’ve never touched a tax return form or lack basic taxation knowledge, this course addresses those gaps! It has no prerequisites except the desire to improve your personal finances, understand how income tax works and affects your finances, build confidence, eliminate guesswork when filing returns, and efficiently complete your US income tax returns. Additionally, students learn to avoid overpaying taxes and save money by preparing their own returns rather than hiring professionals. However, the course doesn’t cover rental property deductions, income, or self-employment reporting.
Financial Record-Keeping — Lynda.Com
As the cornerstone of any thriving business, this Lynda course helps students maintain accurate records to enable intelligent decision-making, comply with IRS legal requirements, and evaluate their business for potential sale. Taught by professors Jim and Kay Stice, this financial record-keeping course covers creating forecasts, quantitative business plans, capturing sales and expense data, understanding income tax reporting, and preparing reports to secure funding from investors and institutions. This introductory course requires no prior accounting knowledge and helps you understand core business functions. It’s excellent for tax preparers with their own business and can provide valuable insights to experts despite being designed for beginners. You also receive a 14-day free trial to decide whether you want to commit financially.
U.S Income Taxes: Income Preparation Simplified for You — Udemy
Perfect for beginners, this course targets personal use and provides highly simplified information that enables students to confidently, accurately, and efficiently e-file their tax returns without external help. The course covers liabilities, refunds, preparing state and federal returns, and basic federal tax laws. It’s also relatively brief, with only 2.5 hours of video lectures, and provides lifetime access plus a completion certificate. Being a beginner’s course, you might find it too elementary; if so, you can always utilize Udemy’s money-back guarantee.
Federal Taxation I: Individuals, Employees, and Sole Proprietors — Coursera
This intermediate-level course from Coursera is the first in a five-course certification series; however, you can enroll in individual classes without committing to the full program. Through this course, students master everything needed to complete individual tax returns, specifically Form 1040. It covers gross income, statutorily excluded or included items in gross income, business and personal expenses that qualify for tax deductions, and the different tax treatments for self-employed individuals versus employees. The course requires approximately 40 hours to complete and demands 6-8 hours per week.
Business Tax Foundations — Lynda.Com
Designed for beginners, this course helps professional accountants transition to business taxes or work at small firms. Led by Professor Michael McDonald, the “Business Tax Foundations” course covers quarterly, monthly, and annual taxes at state and federal levels, plus using SEP accounts to reduce annual taxes. It also helps you determine eligibility for the pass-through tax break. The course includes a free trial period before requiring financial commitment.
Tax Preparation: Learn Fast! Prepare Taxes with Confidence! — Udemy
This comprehensive course requires no prior knowledge and teaches students the complete process of filing taxes from A to Z. The course covers various filing status types, personal exemptions, dependency exemptions, reporting income from salaries, interest, and wages, reporting capital gains and losses, retirement income, claiming standard deductions, making income adjustments, and more. Like other courses, this builds confidence in preparing your own taxes through visual and logical explanations of Tax Law and its practical applications. This is achieved through descriptive videos and lectures and is highly recommended for anyone wanting to fully understand filing requirements, available credit options, and refunds, enabling better tax planning.
Taxes for Small Businesses — Lynda.Com
This intermediate-level course focuses on managing and minimizing your tax burden while maximizing profits. Designed for business owners and managers, the course helps students understand tax policies and their company impact, plus efficient tax planning strategies. It explores best practices for minimizing taxes within legal limits and teaches students how to use software for tax preparation and planning. Topics include taxable income, rate reduction, how structure and location affect taxes, and planning tools. The course is taught by financial literacy advocate and GoldBean CEO Jane Barratt.
Link and Learn Taxes — IRS
Among the many tax prep courses the IRS provides, “Link and Learn Taxes” is a self-paced course designed for volunteers who prepare income taxes for low-income and elderly populations. This free online program consists of 7 certification courses (plus optional specialty courses) and prepares Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) volunteers and partners to efficiently help community members file taxes. This course even counts toward CEU credits for professionals.
The Best Program For Doing Your Own Taxes
Turbo Tax
If you’re looking to file your taxes independently, the best choice is Turbo Tax. Turbo Tax is “America’s #1 brand of tax software” and offers 4 different plans. The plans include the free edition, deluxe, premier, and self-employed. Each of Turbo Tax’s plans addresses different needs to ensure every user can complete their taxes appropriately. Turbo Tax simplifies tax filing and helps maximize your deductions.
The Final Word
With this diverse mix of beginner, intermediate, and advanced tax courses we’ve assembled, tax preparation will feel far less overwhelming and intimidating. From covering fundamentals to advanced topics, these courses offer comprehensive coverage for learners across all skill levels. Take one of these courses and prepare taxes like a pro!
