The software for the personal return (1040, CA 541) was superb. I was done in no time and the info from my Federal return populated my state return automatically. However, the business software was terrible. I file a 1041 and CA 541 for my Trust. I had a foreign tax credit and the software kept doubling it on the form 1116, as well as populating it with numbers found nowhere in my 1099 Composite. Even when I did a manual override the form still came out wrong. None of the Federal info was populated into the state forms, and the state forms weree difficult to fill out and didn't take me to the right worksheets. I had to hunt for everything. It took me three full days to get the 1041 and 541 straight. It only took a few hours to get the 1040 and 540 done. The Business software was much worse than in the previous four years that I have used it.
I have continued to use H & R Block software to prepare my income taxes for the past 10 years. It is easy to use and it provides help when needed. I really appreciate being able to download one State return and ability to e-file up to five federal returns at no additional cost.
To use HRB Premium & Business, you probably should have a general knowledge of taxes and be able to research topics and tax issues. There are forms/aspects of the software package that charge you to complete the form on your own. Often times there are questions on the forms that HRB does not offer help for. So one must go to the internet/IRS and research the topic to make sure things are being done correctly. There are also some software glitches (being able to download last years tax return for instance) that require a work around to get it to happen. I wanted to verify tax calculations for capital gains tax on a real estate sale, but the tax computation worksheet was not included in the software. HRB calculated a total tax due, but it could not be verified unless one went out to the IRS and completed the tax computation worksheet oneself. HRB did in fact compute the correct amount of tax due, after I had confirmed via the worksheet. All in all, the software seems to get the job done, but it is not always easy to see that or to complete the forms in the process.