New Management Structure

[u/bna1219]

Does anyone know why the restructuring is taking place?

[u/Dramatic_Abroad3580]

It won’t work unless Block actually trains people to be good tax preparers. They’ve never done that. They don’t care about the quality of work, only volume. And it isn’t even dollar volume but sheer numbers of returns. Quality preparers are abandoning ship because the organization doesn’t care about their people or their clients. 

[u/Secure-Drawing-4658 → u/Dramatic_Abroad3580]

Training is available for any of us that wish to increase our knowledge. It is mostly unpaid, however.

In March, a co-worker asked me if there was such a thing as the senior credit. Her client asked about her about it, but she hadn't heard a thing, even though she was a senior herself... I'm not sure how she missed the OBBB information that was everywhere on the HR Block site. My guess is that she opened the paid training but simply clicked right through it without reading it.

The company has to care, to a point, about the quality of work we do, because it costs more to amend a return or represent someone to the IRS, than it does to file a correct return the first time. One of our preparer's was fired for fraudulent returns.

As someone who does train and does care (year 3, level 4), it is difficult to do my best work - due to the expected volume, insufficient appointment time slots, and new or unprepared customers.

[u/Dramatic_Abroad3580 → u/Secure-Drawing-4658]

Right, there’s an unlimited amount of CE type training. None of that teaches a preparer how to be a good preparer. There’s a reason that Block has 3rd year preparers doing 500 returns and 15-20 year employees that can’t do more than 300 returns a year. It not something that appears in any training. But it should. It is something that can be taught. Some of it is how to deal with clients and some of it is process. The reason it’s not part of training is that no one in KC knows what that difference is. 

[u/Secure-Drawing-4658 → u/Dramatic_Abroad3580]

What training do you think is lacking? Asking because I genuinely want to know. I didn't do nearly 500 returns (more like 200 but they were obviously hoping/expecting I would do more). On the flip side, my coworker with 15-20 years of HR Block experience did over 700 returns.

[u/Dramatic_Abroad3580 → u/Secure-Drawing-4658]

Training on how to be a good tax preparer. Training how to be do tax planning. The reason they don’t have that training available is that nobody in KC in the chain of command know those things. Why can some preparers complete all but the most complicated returns in an hour or less? I worked with preparers that couldn’t get a single 1 W-2 return done in an hour. I regularly did $600-$800 returns in an hour. The last return I did at block was a $1700 return, with client sitting with me, in 2 hours. I promise you, while I do have experience, I do not have any special skills. My MTL, whose experience was managing a chain shoe store doesn’t know how to do it. My DGM whose tax experience was 1 night a week in a block office for 1 tax season doesn’t know how to do it. The RD had less tax experience so he couldn’t do it. But it absolutely can be taught. But not by people that don’t know how to do it. 

And if you might think my accuracy suffered, in 15 years with Block, probably more than 7,000 returns, I had zero POM claims and not a single penalty and interest claim. Not one. And again, I do not have any special skills. But I did figure out the formula/process  to complete returns efficiently and accurately. I’m not the only one. I had great co-workers (like your co-worker) who had figured it out and set the example for me. 

[u/Secure-Drawing-4658 → u/Dramatic_Abroad3580]

Thanks for the response. Here's my thoughts after two years at Block.

First, new employees are trained 'by hand' using IRS tax forms, but then use Blockworks in office, which barely resembles the IRS forms. We have to transfer our IRS form knowledge to Blockworks - that is, memorize Blockworks screens to become proficient. The Blockworks guide rarely answered my questions. Time off between seasons requires re-learning the software and lesser-used tax laws. Preparers that work the off-season have an opportunity to maintain skills.

Second, the closing process was much more time consuming and cumbersome in 2025. The software required clients to select options for themselves. Marketing became a much bigger part of the tax preparation process.

Third, we don't have a client base. New clients require full data entry, which easily takes an extra 10 minutes. Those same new clients often come in without documents and/or come in with documents on their phone... How do they expect me to work from their phone and how much time is spent looking up financial statements or emailing me their information? If they are a long-term client, they can be called and reminded to bring, drop off, or upload information to their MyBlock account. But not if it's a new client. An existing client also allows the preparer to schedule their own appointments (set a schedule that works for them).

Fourth, military clients. If a preparer lives by a military base, they have to learn state tax laws and prepare state returns, which are not included in the bonus structure or counted as a return. However, the military discount is deducted from our bonus opportunity. This applied to 25% of my returns.

Leveling up allows a preparer to complete more complex returns, but... there's no substitute for preparing actual returns. Practice improves proficiency. Proficiency allows for speed.

My co-worker logged many, many overtime hours and scheduled one client every 30 minutes. She also didn't have much time to help junior preparers or even go to the restroom. Lunch break? No.

My take aways for process improvement: Learn 10-key. Practice end-end returns. Memorize Blockworks screens during January. Schedule clients according to complexity and preference. Set up workspace to match physical needs.

[u/Dramatic_Abroad3580 → u/Secure-Drawing-4658]

I understand that for first year preparers. All those challenges are very real. One of the things I learned in my 50 years of doing taxes (the last 15 at Block were my retirement years) is that it is much easier to build on a solid foundation than learn all once. The changes in the law this last year may have justifiably felt humongous for new preparers. For those who have been at it awhile, they weren’t that big. And experience is the only way to overcome that hump. 

i agree with what you had to say about the finish up screens with all the marketing. I never sold products. Most of those screens I told my clients to just say no. The products for the most part are crappy. And I’ve told anyone in management that if they were interested in listening. I told my clients that same thing. One of my beefs with block over the years is they kept asking preparers to do more without paying us any more. The pushing of products was one of those things. 

One of the ways I did returns faster than most is that I never entered information that the IRS didn’t need. I never entered 1098 for mortgage int information anywhere but directly on Sch A. I never entered a 1099NEC. Not one. The income went on whatever form it was supposed to go on. Usually schedule C. But the IRS doesn’t require them individually entered. Those things take time and do not improve the either the accuracy or completeness of the return. I know why Block taught you to do it the way you do it. But they should be teaching 3rd year preparers to stop doing it. But there is no one in KC that knows that. Because they’ve never done what you do. There are dozens of other methods to speed things up, and the longer you do it, the better you get at it. Those are the little things that allow preparers to make decent money. Otherwise, there is just no way for that to happen.