H&R Block

This is a review in two parts.
Part 1 — My husband and I had some complicated forms, etc for our 2014 taxes and knew we’d likely owe federal so we decided to give in and see a professional this year. We get a discount through our employer so that was the tipping point for H&R Block. On ³⁄₂₁ we met with Coralie for 2 hours, she expertly took care of all of questions, minimized what we owed, and helped us understand how we could maximize our deductions, etc. She was excellent, patient, and helpful. We definitely did not know all of the ins and outs of the process as we thought. The online tax filing options make it seem so easy but the H&R Block software is much more intuitive — not just checking for completeness but also checking for substantive errors. It was pricey ($ 400, which they don’t exactly advertise, kind of a turn off) but SO worth it. I can’t say that enough.
With Coralie’s guidance we realized we likely made some mistakes on our 2013 taxes. She let us know that H&R Block offers a free «second look» service for existing clients where you can take any return from the last 3 years and have them look it over again for errors. Roger that. We paid and left, very satisfied with the experience.
Part 2 — A few weeks later we received a letter from the IRS — we, as we suspected, made mistakes on our 2013 return and owed THOUSANDS. Commence freak out. We remembered the «second look» service and made an appointment ASAP. On ⁴⁄₁₃ we met with George at 8pm. He spent an hour reviewing the IRS letter with us, our 2013 return, confirmed the errors, and let us know that amending the entire return would be our best option. Unfortuanetly, we could not re-​file then, George let us know that process alone takes another 2 hours. We rescheduled another, 2 hour, appointment with him for 2 days later — go figure it was on 4/​15, tax day. Super bad timing since all we could get was another nighttime appointment. Oh well. At the second appointment George spent 2.5 hours meticulously recreating our error-​filled return, using that to amend the mistakes we made, creating the revised version from that version, and sent us home with a brand new, amended, 2013 tax return. He also only charged us $ 150. I couldn’t believe it was so low, he worked REALLY hard for us, I would have paid anything.
Overall both experiences were excellent. We were given top notch service that was educational and helpful. We were never meant to feel stupid or ignorant. I was very impressed with the whole process. In fact, we will likely not file our own taxes again — the software just isn’t powerful or intuitive enough. It’s not worth the risk. Plus, we are not professionals and don’t know what we don’t know. I would recommend this H&R Block whole-​heartedly. I went in as a skeptic and now I’m a total believer.

I usually do my taxes myself but needed assistance for the first time. I saw Piting Burnham and was extremely pleased. She was very friendly and made me feel comfortable. She was also good about explaining everything that she was doing in a way that i could understand. I would highly recommend her to anyone needed some assistance with completing their taxes.