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H&R Block Online Tax Filing Review

This article was written by Flexo in Reviews, Software, Taxes. 21 comments.

This is a relatively long review of H&R Block’s online tax preparation and filing service. H&R Block has provided Consumerism Commentary with six coupon codes for H&R Block Premium Edition, the most complete service offered by the company.

If you haven’t filed your household’s tax return yet, chances are taxes are on your mind. If you believe you’ll owe money to the government, it makes sense to put off filing as long as possible, up to this year’s filing deadline. If you expect to receive a refund, however, file your taxes early to receive your money faster.

Previously, H&R Block offered a product that allowed customers to get their refund even faster than the few weeks the IRS takes to process, but this year, they are not offering refund anticipation loans. The least expensive and quickest way to receive a refund is to allow the IRS to deposit your refund directly into your bank account, but H&R Block does offer a refund anticipation check, which for a small fee, will provide you with your refund sooner than the IRS will.

Regardless of how you receive your refund, if you don’t visit an H&R Block location, you can file online using their software. Here is what you need to know.

Save 25% on H&R Block At Home Online Premium

Different editions of the software

H&R Block offers four editions of their online software.

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Making Work Pay Credit Extension

This article was written by Flexo in Taxes. 8 comments.

The 2009 economic stimulus came to the middle class in the form of the Making Work Pay credit, which provided a $400 credit for single taxpayers or a $800 credit for married taxpayers filing jointly across two years. The credit was embedded in W-2 paychecks, hardly noticeable to many.

The credit was also designed to last throughout 2009 and 2010, automatically expiring in 2011, when the economy was expected to be in better shape. Without a congressional action to renew the credit, taxpayers will notice a lower net income on each paycheck when the year beginnings — lower than it would be anyway with the other taxes that start at the beginning of the year but are fully paid in the middle of each year.

Most of the recent talk about taxes is on the possible repeal of lower tax rates for those with adjusted gross incomes over $250,000, a move that would result in a 3 percentage point increase in just the highest marginal rate. This change would effect a tiny portion of American taxpayers, but if the Making Work Pay credit isn’t renewed, all single taxpayers earning $75,000 or less or married-filing-jointly taxpayers earning $150,000 or less will pay more. In terms of numbers, this credit benefits 90% of all taxpayers or 110 million households.

The credit costs $60 billion. That’s certainly a lot of money, but it’s small when compared to the cost of extending the tax cuts for individuals earning over $200,000 or couples earning over $250,000. That move would cost $700 billion, but pales in comparison with the $3 trillion cost extending the tax cuts for everyone else, an expense that can most likely not be avoided.

The Making Work Pay tax credit, as it allowed most taxpayers to spend a little more, may have helped support the economy’s feeble recovery over the past year. With the economy not yet fully recovered even though we are no longer in a technical recession, should the tax credit be extended?

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Making Work Pay Tax Credit Extension

This article was written by Flexo in Taxes. 17 comments.

The 2009 economic stimulus, usually called the Making Work Pay tax credit, provided slightly bigger paychecks for the middle class throughout part of 2009 and all of 2010. This benefit is in danger of expiring if Congress does not act to extend or renew the credit. This stimulus took a different form than those previous. In the recent past, the government sent checks to Americans for a lump sum, encouraging consumers to put that money directly to use.

Most people used the free money to increase savings or pay off debt, which may have had indirect stimulating effects, but the country remained in a recession. By spreading the credit out by including a small bump in each pay check, economists believed that consumers would grow accustomed to having extra money and the stimulus would be incorporated into everyday finances.

If the credit disappears, pay checks would decrease by about $15 every two weeks in 2011. This could be seen as a tax hike on the middle (working) class. Extending the credit for one year would cost the government, and therefore the taxpayers, $60 billion. Whether Congress could pass such a bill now is anyone’s guess.

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TurboTax Online Review, New Features

This article was written by Flexo in Reviews, Software. 2 comments.

Last year was the first year I abandoned my own tax return preparation, deferring to a professional to do the dirty work. I’m glad I did; he suggested I restructure my business retroactively, resulting in a savings of about $15,000. I still haven’t seen most of this; the IRS is still processing my amended 2008 return.

As you could probably guess, my taxes are more complicated than most people’s. For many years, I was able to take care of my tax filing using online software. Prior to using TurboTax Online, I completed the forms by hand and sent the paper forms through the mail. At the time, I had one W-2 and one or two 1099-INTs to worry about — no Schedule C, no deductions, nothing remotely interesting.

Unfortunately, I made a miscalculations the last year I filed by hand. the IRS caught the error and corrected my return, and I was required to pay more money at a time I was not fully prepared to do so. I decided I would trust a software program to calculate my taxes in the future. I started with TurboTax Online, alternating occasionally with TaxACT.

This year, TurboTax Online is featuring several new or enhances features.

Tax deductions and credits

The 2009 tax year is interesting. There are about $13,000 worth of credits and deductions available to taxpayers. The company estimates that 95% of all taxpayers will qualify for at least one credit or deduction. Thanks to a government looking to wrest the economy from the throes of recession, there have been two major additions to the list of tax credits for 2009: the Making Work Pay Credit (2009 Economic Stimulus) and the New Home Buyer Tax Credit, The latter is not just for first-time home buyers anymore.

TurboTax has been updated to include even the most recent changes to the tax law. If you answer the software’s questionnaires correctly, TurboTax will let you know what you qualify for.

Improved error-checking

TurboTax now checks for errors as you go along. In most cases the software will provide immediate feedback. In previous years, most error checking would take place in a final step before printing or filing.

Bookmark or flag pages

While TurboTax estimates that most people will complete their tax returns in two sittings, I usually took longer to finish entering my information. Part of the problem is I’d often come across a question for which I didn’t have my answer on hand. For situations like these, TurboTax offers a feature to flag the page. Your flags are like bookmarks. You can give each flag a name and jump right the the correct location next time you log on.

This could be helpful if you don’t have a dependent’s Social Security number at the time you start completing your tax return. Once you come to this question, you could flag the page and continue through the forms. You could complete your entire return if you have the information available, and return at a later time to provide the missing Social Security number and file.

Live help from the TurboTax community

If you have any questions while completing your tax return, you can search for answers provided by other TurboTax users. TurboTax employees monitor these answers, so in most cases, the information you receive will be confirmed to be legitimate. Remember that most people answering these questions are not professionals.

Answers are rated by the community, and some participants are designated “superusers” and “pros.” Pros are tax professionals, verified by TurboTax. These ratings and designations help improve the chances that the information you receive is correct.

TurboTax offers an option to “Ask Tina a Question.” Tina generates automated responses to simple, frequently-asked questions.

Conclusion

These features help to place TurboTax Online among the top software options for filing personal and business taxes online. One additional point I’d like to mention is that the TurboTax team is more accessible than any representatives from any other company I’ve ever done business. You can find the team anytime on Twitter (follow TurboTax, TTaxChels and TurboTaxAshley) to hear the latest about TurboTax or to have your questions answered by someone from Intuit.

Keep reading Consumerism Commentary. In a few hours, we’re going to announce a major giveaway involving TurboTax. This will not be an ordinary giveaway.

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Best of Consumerism Commentary, April 2009

by Flexo

Consumerism Commentary Podcast. During April, with the help of Tom Dziubek, a former podcaster from the Wall Street Journal, we launched the Consumerism Commentary Podcast. Tom and I will work to bring listeners interesting stories and interviews with people who matter in the world of personal finance. Last week, the first edition of the podcast ... Continue reading this article…

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