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| H&R Block At Home Star Ratings |
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Filing your taxes shouldn't be as stressful as it is earning the income, but most of us dread the process equally. Our team wanted to simplify your life and find you some great tax preparation services. Needless to say that one of the first we thought of was the newly renamed H&R Block At Home services. Since H&R Block starts their advertising months before their competition, it is hard to forget about them when tax season finally comes around. Personally, I’ve always visited an H&R Block office as a loyal Rapid Refund customer! Yet, I was still curious to try their tax preparation software services out. Although it didn’t quite match up with the H&R Block experience I’m used to, the H&R Block At Home tax preparation service was pretty straightforward.
What's New with H&R Block At Home?- The H&R Block At Home software is now compatible with Mac
- Audit support is now provided at no additional cost (although some restrictions do apply)
- Personalized Tax Guidance with higher packages
- Program is capable of importing information from TurboTax, the former TaxCut software programs, as well as returns from a physical H&R Block office.
The H&R Block At Home Experience:
At first glance, the H&R Block website almost looked like a simple blog page. The only information listed on the site is a few calculators, some resource links and the outline of the different packages for the H&R Block At Home tax preparations services. There are both online and software options available, which offer different features for different price ranges and tax filing needs. Both the online and download version of the H&R Block At Home are user-friendly but we can say that the online version offers pages that load much faster.
While navigating around the different package options, we wished that the information was listed in chart form, so we could easily compare the different programs side by side. It was a bit tedious to keep flipping back and forth between the program packages and then additionally having to open a pop-up screen for the State filing information and prices.
Although the online versions of the H&R Block At Home are less expensive, there are no e-file options available for State returns with the online service. So we made the decision to go with the H&R Block At Home software version instead. In the end, the prices basically evened out because we paid more for the federal return but less to e-file the State return!
We did run into a few glitches with the download version of the H&R Block At Home when we tried to import our return from TurboTax, but a quick call to the customer support team took care of the issue promptly.
The most frustrating part about using the download version of the H&R Block At Home was the security feature. If you happen to take a break or leave the screen unattended for more than 10 minutes, the H&R Block At Home software will log you out without saving your information, so it is best to continuously save your data even if you are not planning on leaving the computer! The end result ... I was able to file my taxes quickly and conveniently with the peace of mind that everything would be double checked and accurate. I even had the option of receiving my refund in as little as 8-15 days with direct deposit right into my bank account. H&R Block at Home takes is one step further, allowing you to split your returns into different bank accounts also!
StarReviews Favorite H&R Block At Home Feature:
Our favorite feature of the H&R Block At Home was the check return status feature located on the website. This feature is instantly available once you submit your tax forms. Just be sure to make not of the exact amount of your refund as it is used as a security question to track the status of your return. Although this feature is available on the H&R Block website, if utilized, you will be redirected to the IRS website in order to enter your information and track your refund status. However, we will say that for a redirect to a government site, it was a relatively quick process!
H&R Block At Home Features:- Different programs available for both Federal and State depending on your tax situation
- Import information from Federal to State return
- Simple interview process eliminates the need to pick and choose forms.
- Double-checks returns for errors.
- Offers e-file ability with software version.
- Allows you to transfer federal data to your state tax return when you purchase both services.
- Accuracy Guaranteed
- Worry Free Audit Support available
- 100% Satisfaction 60 Day Money Back Guarantee
- Receive Your Refund in as little as 8-15 days with Direct Deposit
- Split Your Refund into different bank accounts
H&R Block At Home Pricing Plans:
H&R Block At Home Online Version Packages:
| | Free
| Basic
| Deluxe
| Premium
| Best of Both Worlds
| | Federal | Free | $19.95 | $29.95 | $49.95 | $79.95 |
Federal e-file
| Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | | State | $27.95 | $27.95 | $32.95 | $32.95 | $32.95 | State e-file
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
H&R Block At Home Software Version Packages:
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Basic |
Deluxe
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Premium
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Premium & Business
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Federal
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$19.95 |
$44.95 |
$64.95 |
$79.95 |
Federal e-file
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5 Included
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5 Included
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5 Included
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5 Included
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State
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$36.95 |
Included |
1 Included
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Included |
State e-file
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$19.95 |
$19.95 |
$19.95 |
$19.95 |
System
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Windows/Mac |
Windows/Mac |
Windows/Mac |
Windows Only
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H&R Block At Home Customer Support:
Our experience with the H&R Block At Home customer support was a bit more frustrating than that of any other provider. Pre-purchase support was very hard to locate. Once we did find the link that allowed us to contact customer support, we were sent an automatic response notifying us that it would take up to 48 hours for them to get back to us. They did get back to us within one business day, but the email we received was less than helpful and made little to no sense, not really answering our question at all.
It took us quite a while to locate the customer service phone number before we had purchased the software. However, when we finally did locate the number to call customer service, the call was answered very quickly in less than one minute hold time. Our rep was able to answer our question quickly and thoroughly and the call would have been ideal had we not been asked to hold while he documented the call to provide us with a confirmation number. After holding for approximately five minutes, our representative still hadn't come back to the line with our confirmation number, rather frustrated, we hung up.
Upside:- H&R Block At Home is user friendly and relatively fast
- Customer service is relatively helpful with issues relating to the software, once you locate their number
Downside:- There are some bugs that need to be worked out with the software version
- The customer service experience as a whole was less than ideal
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