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H & R Block
jimdeere
Member, Moderator Posts: 26,160 ******
My granddaughter is 17 and still in high school. She works part time and is a self employed caregiver, paid by the state. H&R Block wanted to charge her $285 to fill out her taxes.
Does that sound a little steep?
Comments
Seems like it. No offense, but it seems they wouldn’t be too complex what with one income source, your insurance and maybe some interest.
Who does your’s? The CPA that does ours would be under a hundred to run the kids when they did ours.
There are free onlline tax filing locations for simple returns. the TurboTax site is highly publicised.
My Dad runs a small tax and accounting business in Virginia. He wouldn’t dream of charging anything close to that….. especially for a kid with a simple return. My guess is that her taxes would take no more than 30 minutes from start to completion (e-file).
H&R Block’s prices are beyond ridiculous.
I use Turbo Tax and just paid $70. For federal and state even though I can file for free with the state. I still use Turbo Tax. If I bought all their extra options it would probably cost $200 they also charge more if your self-employed. Been using Turbo tax for 10 years but before that an accountant was charging me around $200
+1 on the TurboTax. I buy mine because I need more than just the basic, plus I need a state return which isn't free. The basic which includes a state return is about $40. Pretty simple, just fill in the blanks and answer the questions. Bob
We buy H&R Block tax CDs. This year it was $24.95 for the CD. Easy to use, never a problem the DC thieves.
Joe
Cant imagine why she couldnt do them herself in less than an hour? Good experience.
Been using H R forever. Each yrs tax bill is deducted the following yr as an expense.
H&R software is what i use to do my own, self-employed, farm income etc. and i pay less than 60 bucks a year for the software, I believe they have a free online version for simple returns, either way that is ridiculous price for a kid doing a small business. Being paid by the state, i.e. only one source of income should take all of about 30 minutes to complete her return and that's if it was the first time ever doing it with the software and not a lot of experience on computers... No way $285 is good!.
Since she's 17 and working part time does she earn enough to file ? There use to be a threshold set by the government for students and such. I'm aware times are different and laws change but she needs to read the fine print. A goodprice would be @ $40, absolutely no more than $50.
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
We just did our taxes, both state & federal at H & R and the cost was only $204, retired with just S.S. and pension income. He did our taxes in a half hour and then went through it with us for a half hour. I think the keyword for the extra expense is "self-employed". That creates extra paperwork and longer time to do taxes. I hope she sent in her taxes quarterly.
Plus one on the "good experience" part.
Seventeen is a really good age to learn about income tax . . . and what it really costs.
This is a good point. If I recall, the Federal threshold is around $12,000 for single fillers. It's around the same for the state of VA.
We use H&R and have had good luck at reasonable price. YMMV, maybe geographical.
H&R has on line simple form filing for free. Good luck
Again I know laws and regulations change yearly for minors, students and elderly but there was a time one could gather up their (w-2"s) and and a signed/dated 1040 form, send them to the IRS office to complete, they would figure the amounts + or - .....for free. A simple phone call to the IRS would be her best action to take.
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
We even take out that policy IF an audit they go too.
My tax return is around 65 pages long and I get charged $450 by my tax man. Yes, 285 for a single source of income sounds high but it should be a little higher than a typical w-2 employees filing.
You're kidding, right? This kid is going to benefit best from the Standard Deduction, she has no write-offs, no kids, no college expenses.
I used to use TaxAct software, then it got stupid expensive. Now I use TaxHawk. For her, with no complicated return, it will be free to prepare and file electronically. Then next year, when she fires up the software it will remember everything from the last tax season so she just has to put in the new numbers from the W-2.
My return is ridiculously complex and I pay around $60 for the software and 5 electronic filings. I use the other filings up with my kids that want to use my software to do their taxes too.
Block is the biggest ripoff company out there. The fees they charge are in the range of a loan shark.
What gets me the most is how they stay in existence. They just take advantage of the young and or the uninformed.
There are plenty of good CPA’s out there that will help her maximize her deductions. Look for one that is on his/her own. Ask around, mine works only on referrals.
Maybe,
If she works part time AND is a self employed caregiver, that would be two different jobs.
Probably needs a Schedule C and pay self employment tax for her self employment.
Eligible for the earned income credit?
Is she claiming herself as a dependent or are her parents claiming her?
Good luck with that phone call. Been calling all month and they are so far behind that they will not even put you on hold.
They have not processed the paper returns for the 2020 year. They cash your payment with the return and do not process your return. Then a letter is sent out asking where your return is.
In fact they are still processing returns from 2019.
The IRS employees are still working from home.
A friend had a phone audit. While they were speaking with the IRS agent on the phone, the agent was yelling at her kids to shut up she was on the phone.
Unless you have an unreal mess doing it online here is easy. I do a business, farming business, retirement accounts and other business myself with this and I am not a tax wiz either. Been doing it for years. It also does the state.
Type this in at the top and it ask you questions and tells you exactly what to do. H and R block uses a program similar is all they do.
www.freetaxusa.com
If you are preparing your own taxes, you should not be buying software & installing it on your computer. IRS has a listing of trusted tax preparers on their website; you pick one, logon to the preparer's website, & use their software on their computers to prepare your taxes. (I picked Express1040 at random; all are good.) Federal return was free, state extra, opportunity to file amended returns was extra. Electronic submittal was included. Usually cost me about $30.
Less than $58K income? File for free through IRS:
Own multiple properties? Rent out property? Trade investments? Deceased? ------ You probably should hire a CPA, not a retiree in a cubicle.
Neal
Any transaction involving a large dollar amount, sale or purchase of a business, retirement change, etc; one may want to talk to an CPA first.
The timing and structure of a transaction can have a large tax impact. 20-28% tax impact.