TurboTax or CPA or H&R Block? This surprisingly peppy tax map tells you how people file

By Christopher Zara

06 April 2018

If you’re among the many procrastinating Americans who like to file their taxes at the very last minute, feel free to bookmark this article and revisit it again on April 17. That’s the day taxes are due this year, and before you hole yourself up in your kitchen–black coffee and calculator in tow–you’re going to need to decide how you want to file your taxes. Should you use tax-prepration software like TurboTax, go to H&R Block, or just do your taxes yourself?

Fun stuff, right?

Wile you can find plenty of personal finance advice to point you in whichever direction you’re leaning, this interactive map from spatial analytics firm Esri shows you which option is most popular in your state, county, or even neighborhood. The company culled the information from its “market potential” database, which is based on survey data from GfK MRI.

The color-coded map is surprisingly fun to look at, considering it deals with such a soul-crushing topic. Zooming out the far view, it looks like TurboTax tends to proliferate in the big cities while CPAs or other tax professionals reign supreme in rural areas. (The data is based on 2017 figures.) The map also shows where people tend to do their taxes manually.

Take a look at the full map here (or via the embed below) as you’re contemplating whether or not to report your bitcoin earnings this year.

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