Klaro or a full-service filing platform: which should you use?

Klaro and full-service tax filing platforms solve different problems. Full-service platforms are built to prepare and usually file your entire income tax return. Klaro is built for taxpayers who want to self-file but need the numbers right first, particularly when capital gains are spread across AIS, broker reports and mutual-fund statements.

Choose a full-service platform if you want an end-to-end filing workflow. Choose Klaro when you want to understand, reconcile and verify the computation before entering it on the Income Tax portal yourself.

The longer version: if you want business profit computed rather than a figure you declare, or you have foreign income, unlisted shares or a buyback, Klaro declines those in writing, so use a platform that supports them, or a chartered accountant. If your return is ITR-2 or ITR-3 and your gains are scattered across sources that do not reconcile, that reconciliation is the job Klaro does: free to see in full, ₹299 to download.

Feature comparison

The comparison in detail

“Full-service platforms” here means the established end-to-end filing products, the category, not any one company. They are mature, widely used, and for many returns they are the right choice. This page compares categories of tool deliberately: the platforms differ materially from each other, and a single column claiming to describe all of them would be wrong about at least one.

The job. A platform prepares and e-files your return end to end, with assisted plans where experts are available. Klaro prepares the computation only; you copy the figures into the portal with the entry sheet and file yourself.

Form coverage. Platforms carry broader coverage, typically spanning the individual and small-business forms, and the exact set differs by platform and plan. Klaro covers ITR-2 and ITR-3 for individual residents; foreign income and foreign tax credit, unlisted shares and buybacks are refused in writing, and business profit is a figure you declare rather than one Klaro computes.

Multi-source capital gains. Platforms commonly support broker imports; how far a platform reconciles those imports against AIS and registrar data, and on which plans, differs between products. For Klaro this is the core job: AIS and TIS, CAMS, KFintech, MF Central, Groww, Zerodha, Coin and ICICI Direct exports are read into a single registry, so a supported securities transaction reported by more than one source is reconciled and counted once rather than silently twice, and a row whose own figures contradict each other is flagged and withheld rather than guessed at.

Seeing before paying. With a platform this varies by product and plan, so check the flow on the one you are considering. With Klaro the entire computation is on screen free, every transaction, every bucket, both regimes, before any payment. ₹299 buys the download, not the arithmetic.

Filing and credentials. A platform files on your behalf, and the mechanism and what it needs from you differs by platform. Klaro never files and never touches your portal password or one-time password, by design.

Price. Platform pricing ranges widely by plan and by return complexity, and assisted plans cost more than self-file ones, so check current pricing directly. Klaro is ₹0 for the full computation on screen, ₹299 per downloadable return, and ₹699 for three PANs.

Where the platforms genuinely win

Three cases, stated plainly.

You want it filed, not prepared. The whole point of a filing platform is that you approve and it files. Klaro ends with you transcribing figures into the portal, a deliberate design that keeps your credentials yours, but real work a platform saves you.

Your return needs schedules Klaro refuses. Business profit computed for you, foreign income, unlisted shares, a buyback: Klaro declines these rather than computing a form it cannot prepare properly. If you are in this list the comparison is over, so use a tool that explicitly covers your return, or a chartered accountant.

You want a human in the loop. Assisted plans put a professional on your return. Software, theirs or ours, does not advise and does not represent you.

Where Klaro is the better tool

The reconciliation is the risk on your return. When the same redemption is reported by your AIS, your registrar and your broker, reconciling those reports into one transaction is the whole game, and a row whose own quantity and price disagree with its stated consideration needs to be reconciled against its source document, not accepted at face value. That self-consistency check is the subject of our companion article, with the real figures.

You want to see the number before you pay for it. Klaro’s model inverts the usual order: computation first, free, in full; payment only for the artefact. If the reconciliation finds nothing worth ₹299, you will know before spending it.

You are checking a return, not making one. Through the revision window, open to 31 March 2027, an independent computation against your already-filed figures is a cheap audit, a job filing platforms are not shaped for, because their flow assumes you are filing fresh.

Common questions

Is Klaro better than a full-service filing platform?

They are designed for different jobs, so better depends on which job you need. Klaro focuses on helping self-filers reconcile and understand a supported computation, particularly capital gains reported across several documents. Full-service platforms provide a broader filing workflow, including submitting the return. If you want an end-to-end filing product, a platform will suit you better; if you want to inspect and reconcile the numbers yourself before filing, Klaro is built for that.

Can I use Klaro and a filing platform together?

Yes, and some filers should: reconcile and verify the capital-gains figures in Klaro, then file wherever you prefer with numbers you have already checked.

Why does Klaro not just add filing?

Because filing means holding your portal credentials and acting in your account, and not holding them is a security promise Klaro can make absolutely only by never filing. It also keeps the product honest about what it is: a computation engine.

What does Klaro cost compared with a filing platform?

Klaro’s full computation is free on screen for any number of PANs; the downloadable report is ₹299 for one PAN and assessment year, or ₹699 for three. Full-service platform pricing ranges widely by plan and by return complexity, and assisted plans cost more than self-file ones, so check current pricing directly with any platform you are considering.

Is this page fair to the platforms?

That is the intent, which is why it compares categories rather than making per-company claims that cannot be kept current, and why the section on where the platforms win is longer than most comparison pages would make it. If you find something stale or unfair, tell us and we will fix it the same week.

• Income Tax Department e-filing portal, return forms, prefill and filing
• Income Tax Department, AIS: Annual Information Statement

General information for AY 2026-27, not advice on your specific facts. Statements about the full-service category describe how such products generally work; individual platforms differ, so check the pages of any product you are considering before deciding.

Klaro prepares an ITR-2 and ITR-3 computation for individual residents: capital gains, salary, house property and other sources, both regimes side by side. It does not compute business profit or Schedule BP; you declare that figure. It does not handle foreign income and foreign tax credit, unlisted shares or buybacks, and it does not file your return.