In all fairness, from my position of abhorrence of accountancy, I come annually to the task of US income tax reporting with renewed innocence and vulnerability. I expect H&R Block to take me by the hand through the mind-mangling maze of US tax law.
All too often, I felt left dangling over the precipice of incoherence.
Why, of all things, must I complete an "Alternative Minimum Tax" copy of my Form 1116, Foreign Tax Credit? Fifty years ago, we in OCS, Company E mastered, "In Cadence, "DO IT," so in like form , I dood it. Still don't know why. .
How do I report Partnership income from New Zealand when the New Zealand partnership management has no need of issuing a K-1 form of any kind? To make data entry, I dipped into the shadowy zone between ought-right fraud and computer work-around: I invented a Tax ID of 99-9999999. If my next address is a Federal Pen, I reserve the right to reduce the rating stars to zero.
I have used the H&R software for many years but I had some difficulties with it this year since I had to enter some of the data more than once. For example, the info from my driver's license had to be entered twice. Also, the info on my bank's routing number and my bank account number had to be entered from my last year's return and also entered twice. In addition, my tax return was rejected by IRS since I had indicated I wanted the bank info recognized even though I was not due a refund. This should have been checked during the tax return review prior to submission of my return. Further, I sold some rental property last year but the computation of gain or loss on the sale (reported on Form 4797) was not clearly identified separately from the rental income (reported on Exhibit E).
only problem I had was printing the forms. the software would cut the last line of the forms in half. example the post filing coupon added extra line between street address and state then the state line only about 1/2 would print. Even reducing the size of print or page size would make no difference.
One suggestion is have a display showing your effective tax rate as you complete the taxes. An EXCELLENT I've used for doing mine and my kids taxes for over 10 years.
Pros: Easy to install, Easy to fix issues, Easy to prepare, Maximizes refund, Easy to import, Fast
I bought HR Block because I wanted to file a state tax return for Virginia. Unless you file your federal before or with your state return you can't file a state return.