Honest comparison
DIY portal, traditional CA, or TaxSense AI?
Each option has a place. Here's where each one actually wins — including when we'd tell you to use a CA instead of us.
| DIY tax portal | Traditional CA | TaxSense AI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you provide your details | 40+ form fields you must map yourself | WhatsApp messages / documents to your CA, then wait | One conversation — plain English or Hinglish, or paste your Form 16 |
| Old vs new regime comparison | Usually shown after full data entry | Depends on the CA taking the time | Computed live from the first message, section-cited |
| Deduction optimisation | Static checklists | Good CAs do this; many don't have time in July | Every move quantified in ₹ and ranked, incl. employer-NPS restructuring |
| Salary-structure advice (CTC design) | Not offered | Rarely offered | Built in — the structure to ask HR for |
| Business-owner guidance (44AD/ADA, GST) | Separate paid products | Yes, at consulting rates | Built in, with advance-tax calendar and Tax Jar |
| Year-round deadline reminders | Marketing emails | If your CA remembers you | Automatic — 7 days and 1 day before every date, free |
| Typical cost | ₹0–2,000 per filing + upsells | ₹1,500–10,000+ per year | Free to start · Pro ₹399/mo · experts from ₹4,999/return |
| Where it wins | Simple, single-source salary returns | Complex cases: audits, notices, foreign income | Optimisation + understanding + speed, then hand a clean file to a CA if needed |
Our honest take: if you have an audit, a notice beyond a simple 143(1), or foreign income — get a professional (our Filed For You plan pairs you with one). For everyone else, compute first, understand your position, and file with confidence.