H&R Block

Anna always make filing taxes for me so easy. Being someone who waits until the last few days to file, it’s nice to know that I can count on her and her team to help me get my taxes done right and in less than an hour. She was calm, patient, even gave me tips on how to save money and what to watch out for when filing. Thanks for having my back Anna and I’ll see you next year!
I had to remove a star (⁴⁄₅) for lack of WiFi, but had an overall great experience!

The tax consultant Mindy Szutu was not able to explain any of the decisions she was talking while filing my returns. At the very least, she should have been able to explain why she was using itemized versus standard deductions, but she could not since she was basically trying the brute force method of keying in different combinations into the software to see which combination gave the lowest tax.
She was also not able to explain other things like whether we should file jointly since we were married or separately. She came to the conclusion based on 2 reports she ran that we should file separately. However, when cross checking her work, I realized she had made an error that would have led me to pay $ 7000 in excess tax. Also, similar to other peoples experience, the initial estimate was $ 300-​$ 400, but in the end it became $ 700 because our returns were“complicated”. Both my husband and I have usual bay area type income — salary and stock options from our employers, plus some mutual fund investments. Nothing too complicated, yet they were unable to give us an accurate estimate of the cost of filing a return.
I do not see the point of paying $ 700 for shoddy work where I have no confidence in the decisions made.

I was so unimpressed with this office. The woman i spoke with was discouraging and unhelpful. I have used H&R Block in the past, but this was my first experience at this office. The worst service. So vague, uninterested, unhelpful. Go somewhere else for tax advice.

I’ve been getting my taxes done at this location for about a decade now and Block has never let me down. I’ve had the same person the entire time and she is great. She checks in with me a few weeks before the office opens to make sure I’m ready to come back, and if not she helps me figure out what papers I need. No one likes to pay taxes but Block makes it pretty easy to be done in about an hour with their computers having all my previous information stored. Thanks to them I’m guaranteed to be getting my maximum refund, and I like that. Thanks H&R Block!

When you come to this particular H&R Block, please check which agent you are going to be going to. And avoid Annie Jones! I filed this year’s taxes with her and I had an awful experience. After getting a quote of about $ 150, I finally ended up paying $ 420. This is almost thrice the amount quoted and she justified with a random split-​up from her computer! To top it all, she wasn’t able to convincingly answer any of the questions I asked about the very numbers she was handing us. The whole point of going to an external agent to handle all this, is to be sure that it is all handled. But the service was poor and misquoted and worst of all, provided no confidence whatsoever.

Never use Annie Jones– she forgot to file our return.
I honestly do not think I need to write any more than that because forgetting to file someone’s returns equals she doesn’t do her job. But here it goes… My husband and I went to H&R Block for the first time– we were loyal Turbotax users. But seeing as we bought a house last year, we gave this a shot. We set up the appointment and went. Annie’s demenaor was unemotional, unfriendly, and uncommunicative. She did not explain any part of the process or ramifications. She just put numbers into the computer which spit out how much we owed. When we had questions, she was unable to answer them intelligently or give us any kind of remedial suggestions for next year. I asked her up front how much the services would cost and she quoted us about $ 200. It turned out to be $ 350. We paid it reluctantly– and said– whatever, our taxes are done. Or so we thought.
On taxes, you can choose the date that the gov’t removes the owed funds. We chose 2 weeks from when we met with Annie. That day came and went and nothing was deducted. I thought that odd because at the end of the day, it’s the feds. They need their money. So i gave it a few more days and still no withdrawal. So I called the office and asked about it. I was met with a highly unintelligent, very difficult to understand women on the other end of the phone that could not understand my question. Once we finally gained comprehension at a 1^st grad level– they said, oh that date is arbitrary, don’t worry the gov’t will take out their money. I laughed and said– well then don’t give people the option to set the date– just tell them it will be taken out when the gov’t gets around to it. I then went home a little skeptical and looked up on the H&R Block website the status of our filing– it came up with «no information». That again raised red flags. I called the office again and got a new lady, much more helpful and intelligent. She looked up my info and thought that was odd so she promised to call me back. No call was returned. The next morning– blood beginning to boil– i checked online again. The status now said our return was rejected by the IRS. Neat.
I called the customer service line which they recommended doing which had no more information and told me to call the office that had filed to work with them. Here we go again. I called, same unintelligible woman answers– I ask to speak to someone else or a manager– she refuses. So I try to once again explain the situation– and she says «OH– I filed your return last night». I am sorry, what? You filed my returns only after I reminded you that they were not filed? You filed them in a hurry because the client called you and told you to do your job? Cool. She then told me she was with someone and would have to call me back. I told her that I had some serious questions for her but she refused to answer them and told me she would call me back. I said fine and hung up. No call was returned. I finally call back– get the nice lady again. She said that my tax preparer was going to call me back in 5 minutes. Nope, she didn’t. So I went over there– to see this through in person. I get there and my tax preparer is getting water and chatting it up with the receptionist. She sees me and gets uncomfortable. I grabbed a tootsie roll from the bowl and sit down in her office.
She explains that she wasn’t in yesterday and that’s why there was no call back– but our taxes are filed and received by the gov’t. She said she forgot to follow up with her manager to get it approved before sending it in and that’s why they weren’t filed until now. I explained how unacceptable that was and how that is not doing her job. I told her that I shouldn’t have to prompt her to do her job. It is my taxes– my life– my money. She needs to be respectful of that. She didn’t get it– no affect– no apology. I asked her what remedy I could get for this oversight. She forwarded me to her manager– who I intend to follow up with for a major complaint and requesting a discount. This is NOT the service I am paying for. I could have done our taxes with Turbotax and trusted that it was filed. Instead, I left this responsibility in Annie’s hands– and she failed.

I had my taxes done with H&r block and was in communication with Anna regarding my return. When she finished, I received an email staying I would receive $ 900 back but would pay $ 393.25 in fees to h&r block because my return was «complicated». I am a 25 year old student with two W-​2 forms and some mileage receipts! How is that complicated?! Luckily I got my forms back without them filing and I went to Turbo Tax! I get over $ 1100 back and am paying $ 50 in fees. Not only that, but Anna told me I’d lose money if I claimed my donations. Funny how I did claim that on Turbo Tax and get MORE MONEY BACK! Don’t go to H&R block!!!

My partner and I were so blown away by our experience here yesterday with Annie. We have done our own taxes for years, but wanted help because we weren’t sure about how to handle the intricacies of California domestic partnership along with the addition of our baby. The former, we’d figured out on the past, but we had questions about claiming the latter between us. (Side note: One more reason it sucks that the Fed doesn’t recognize SSM is the multiple different returns you have to file…). We made an appt. and went in, planning to pay however much we needed to in order to get it right on the eyes of the IRS. We sat down with Annie, preparing to resist up selling, etc. She looked at our past years’ self-​prepared returns, and said, «You really don’t need us, you’ve already done this, just do xyz to handle the baby.» We were delighted and shocked, and went on our happy way! THEN, an hour or so later, she called us back to say, «I did some research and wanted to make this small change to my advice…» I was so so so impressed by her integrity and thoroughness! We did not spend a dime, and still she went the extra step to follow up, after saving us however much money we were willing and ready to pay! I think we’ll need help at some point when things get more complicated, and when we do, I am going back to Annie! Again, integrity and awesome customer service!

I am impressed!
Obviously, I am writing this review about my own personal experience (a somewhat basic tax return) and everyone has different tax issues, but I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by the customer service and tax support at this H&R Block location.
I have heard some horror stories about H&R Block and I was usure of what the process would be like. I made an appointment with William Lucas. I came in and was helped right away. William is obviously highly knowledgeable in tax preparation. He was SO helpful and answered all of my questions. He truly presented fantastic customer service. He encouraged me to do what was best for me and even encouraged me to file taxes on my own if possible, to avoid high fees on a basic return. I walked away feeling like he really cares about me and is not just after my money. You don’t see too many people like that these days.
I am sure that all tax preparers are different, but William appeared to be top notch and I would definitely recommend him. You can view the tax preparer profiles on the H&R Block website to see what kind of education and experience they have. Next time I have tax questions or need someone to do my taxes, I will head over to H&R Block without hesitation.