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What is the best way to file your taxes? We put 3 methods to the test

Do it yourself? Go to a tax professional? We dig deep to see what may be the best options for you.

CLEVELAND -- The average cost of having an accountant do your taxes, according to CPA Practice Advisor, is between $176 and $273 depending on whether you have itemized deductions.

Is it worth that price or is it better to go to a tax filing firm like H&R block? Should you just do it yourself?

Well, it all depends on how complicated your return is and how much time you want to spend. To compare the process and prices, we had someone file their taxes with a CPA, H&R Block and TurboTax.

Maureen Diemert is one busy lady. She works three jobs -- two at restaurants and one at a cafeteria.

"I don't see where that's that confusing compared to big business and high rollers,” she jokes.

And she's right when it comes to her income. But add in a home mortgage and rental property,

things get a little trickier.

"All I do is save my things for the whole year in a folder and give it to him," she says of her accountant.

CPA's Roger and Young charged her $395, which included everything. A day later they're done.

This year she's getting a $1,237 refund.

But how would H&R Block compare, the largest and oldest tax prep company in the country?

They have "tax pros" opposed to CPAs. By using Maureen's 2016 return as a guide, in just more than an hour she came out with a refund that was close to the CPA's -- only $67 less at $1,170.

The downside was that it cost $471.

"I didn't like all the extra fees," she said about the experience.

There are additional charges to issue a paper check.

But for $97 dollars, which was the Premier Edition that TurboTax recommended, Maureen could file her federal and state taxes with them.

Although you know that saying, you get what you pay for?

"I'd give up right now," I told her after we started.

Maureen is admittedly not a computer wiz and we ran into trouble within minutes

"The upload failed. The file you uploaded was a scanned copy," read the message that appeared on our screen.

So I jumped in, manually inputting all of her wage information, which was fairly time consuming.

But all heck broke loose when dealing with her rental property. We stumbled with all of the maintenance expenses, which had to be added up and property depreciation, which was simply above our knowledge.

So we decided to pay an additional $60 for their Expert Help Program, but there was a 25-minute wait.

That's when we just gave up...after an hour and a half of trying to do her taxes. Maureen says she doesn't like taxes, but DOES like her tax man best.

H&R Block issued this response regarding our experience:

A typical client is served by an H&R Block tax professional with more than a decade of experience and hundreds of hours of training including at least 21 hours of continuing education annually. H&R Block tax professionals have access to The Tax Institute at H&R Block (TTI), staffed primarily by CPAs, Enrolled Agents, tax attorneys and former IRS agents. TTI is the company’s independent research group that provides objective information and analysis on the real-world implications of tax policies and proposals on individuals and small businesses.

In the office, clients experience an interactive process that helps guide and engage them and bring the tax experience to life, highlighting key financial tax events personalized to them. H&R Block also offers the combination of tax professional expertise with the machine learning of IBM Watson.

While there isn’t typically an additional charge for organizing a client’s documents, H&R Block clients can upload their tax documents onto the free MyBlock Mobile App to help them stay organized. Missing tax documents can lead to missing out on tax benefits taxpayers are entitled to claim. Whether taxpayers are going to have a professional prepare their return or they plan to take the DIY route, having all their tax-related documents is critical for filing an accurate tax refund. Replacing, reprinting or recalculating a document can be done, but of course it’s much easier to keep up with the original.

We did not receive a response from TurboTax.

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Free Tax Help: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-you-by-volunteers

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