Occasionally, we like to review products that we find to be useful here at Healthy Financial Habits. Today we are going to talk about a popular tax preparation service from H&R block. H&R block has been a leader in the tax preparation industry long before the popularity of the internet today. Millions of Americans have used Block over the years and they are just as popular today as they were yesterday.
E-filing your taxes is also a growing trend. In fact, last year nearly 95 million Americans filed their taxes online using e-filing software according to the Internal Revenue Service website. I would like to remind you that there are several excellent tax services in the tax industry; however, today we are going to review the service that H&R block offers.
There are four basic packages that Block has to offer on their website. Prices range from Free all the way up to $79.95. The packages accommodate the most simple tax filers all the way up to those with complicated taxes. Here is a brief rundown of the four services:
Free service: Just as it says, this is offered free to those whose tax situation is not complicated at all. The package will not accommodate you if you have investments, rental property, are self employed, had stock transactions, etc. This is as simple as it gets. Just plug in your name, address, your w2 information and BAM! You’re done. No bells and whistles here – just plain, simple and to the point.
The next step up is the deluxe edition for $29.95. With the deluxe edition you can file if you were self employed, had stock transactions, mutual funds, interest received, etc. This edition gives you everything that the free edition offers plus Audit support.
For $49.95 you can enjoy the premium edition for the self employed and rental property owners. This is en excellent all around package that guides you through your schedule C and allows you to account for your rental property income. It also comes with an advanced tax calculator.
The final package that Block offers is the Best of Both package. With this package you get everything that the premium package has in addition to having a tax professional review your returns. You will also receive unlimited email and phone tax advice. This is a great package if you want to make sure that you have no errors in your return. With this package you will not have to worry about the IRS not accepting your return.
I have used this software personally and have found it to be very helpful and easy to understand. One thing that you have to remember when filing your taxes using any of these services is that you will have to pay extra to file your state returns.
What do you plan to do with your tax return this year? Healthy Financial Habits wants to know. We have created a poll located at the bottom right of this page. Here you are able to vote to let us know how you are going to spend your money and also view the poll results.
Author: John Zinsky