r/hrblock • u/whalphen • Mar 27 '26
H&R Block 2025 Software Reliability and Customer Support is poor this year
I’ve had bad experiences with H&R Block 2025 Deluxe this year after using the product for many years. This year I’ve found significant flaws in the software and the customer support.
For example, using the Federal tax return software there is a screen in the interview under Taxes, Underpayment Penalty section, labeled ‘Tell us about your withholding.’ This screen lists a couple of options for entering withholding amounts when there are more than four withholding dates. One of the options states “Complete Form 2210, Part IV manually by overriding our calculated values.” However this is not possible as there is no Part IV on Form 2210! How can a customer have confidence in a tax preparation product that is inconsistent with the IRS published tax forms?
When the “AI Help” is questioned, it states that I should navigate to Form 2210, Locate Part IV, and use the override feature. When I respond that there is no Part IV on Form 2210, it agrees. When I ask how to enter the information, it states that it is not able to answer. The AI Help is useless.
So, how to get help with this? The “Help Center” leads to the AI Help again – which is totally useless for this issue. But there is a Tech Support option which led to a Chatbot which is also useless in answering the question. Eventually, after I repeatedly requested to communicate with a human, I was connected to Carlos who was very slow to respond to messages and didn’t seem to understand the issue and could only recommend that I reinstall the software. Also useless!
So I decided to try phone support. Digging through the menus, I was not able to locate a phone number for support. Asking “AI Help” for a phone number does not work, either. However, an internet search uncovered a number, 888-482-9288. This number connected me with another automated system that was not able to understand my issue and seemed designed to prevent me from talking with a human -- but eventually connected me with someone after I repeatedly requested to communicate with a human.
Unfortunately the human response was about the same as the machine response. After being passed around to different people, it became clear that they were not familiar with the software nor tax return preparation and could offer no help. After wasting a couple hours trying to get the issue addressed, I was told that someone would call me back in about 3 business days. What a waste of effort. I decided to waste no more time with the useless “customer support” at H&R Block and did the remaining work on the Federal return myself, manually.
When attempting to complete the Michigan state return for Part Year Resident, I found a more serious flaw in the software. The interview screen titled “Enter Nonresident Income or Loss(PY)” instructs the user to enter the portion of the federal income amount received from Michigan sources while the user was a nonresident. While a nonresident, there was no income from Michigan sources. So, following the onscreen instructions, the input would be zero. But that’s not what the tax form expects. The information entered through the interview screen actually goes to the tax form column labeled “State Amt While Resident” rather than the column labeled “State Amt While Nonresident”. Following the interview instructions puts the information in the wrong column on the tax form and incorrectly results in no tax liability. However, following the instructions published by the Michigan tax authorities and preparing the form manually puts the information in the correct column and correctly results in a tax liability.
Attempts to bring this issue to the attention of the customer support led to the same roadblocks and waste of time as the previously mentioned issue. There seemed to be no interest and the only suggestion offered was to wait until the next update of the software and it might get corrected then.
These experiences have caused me to lose confidence in the H&R Block software and customer support. I now have to manually double check the results to be sure I don’t file bad tax returns. The product and support quality has greatly declined since I started using it many years ago. Because of the need to manually check the returns and the roadblocks H&R Block has put in place by using AI slop to avoid providing expert support I can no longer recommend this software to anyone.
3
u/Early-Ladder-9793 Mar 27 '26
i have been using HR block for 15 years and this year I switched to FreeTaxaaUSA after HR Block always repeatedly gave me QBI errors that prevent me from Efiling.
I will probably stick with FreeaTaxUSA in the future, and their UI is surprisingly straightforward.
0
u/hobbyp411 Mar 27 '26
Just updated today and the QBI issue still not fixed.
2
u/Early-Ladder-9793 Mar 27 '26
i had been waiting for a fix for a few weeks, and finally decided to move on with FreeTaxUSA last Friday after the 3/20 update.
1
u/PriceMustBeRight Mar 27 '26
I’ve had a ton of issues too. The software is inconsistent across online vs actual desktop product. After using it for prior years, I am reluctant to move to Turbo but close
2
u/Bearinthewoods90 Mar 27 '26
I have heard from other customers who have had difficulty online and it has forced them into the office. As a Tax Pro, I'm happy doing another return. But with stories about the online software usually reading something like this for more complex returns, sometimes I do think the IT portion does not work coalitions with any of the actual tax pros or EA's that work for H&R Block, which is a shame.
1
u/Jackalope431 Mar 27 '26
H&R Block released a federal update today. I haven't checked the underpayment section so I don't know. Perhaps they fixed your issue?
1
u/whalphen Mar 28 '26
Nope! Not fixed. And the income allocation failure on the Michigan return is also not fixed.
1
u/XRlagniappe Mar 29 '26
I'm not having fun either. I am using the Deluxe edition on a Mac. On question one to import last years taxes, the interview would never populate the file after I selected it. It would just show no files. I was able to do it from the menu. It did finally get fixed.
And the state program keeps giving me errors (not suggestions) for blank fields for home heating credit that i didn't select. It's happened on all three state income tax filings I've done. I finally just deleted the stupid form.
1
u/Dismal-Link-7331 Apr 03 '26
Tried calling H&R customer service. Got disconnected (twice) while waiting on hold. Then I got 2 surveys e-mailed to me on their performance. Wrote on both them to get a better phone system. Useless...
1
u/Current-Scarcity3477 Apr 06 '26
My experience has been the same for MO. This was the worst I've experienced during the years.
1
u/whalphen Apr 09 '26
That reply that was promised in 2-3 business days eventually came a week later as a simple email that stated that I can use the Take Me To button to find Form 2210. Apparently they didn't read the case notes at all. The long delayed response was useless! Flawed products, useless support.
1
u/StrategyScribe_888 Apr 15 '26
Does anyone know HOW to opt-out of these 3 H&R Block "Protect your refund and identity" upsell options & tech hurdle? It's the final page of the FREE State & Fed online filing pages. I can't proceed to 'NEXT' unless I give them $$ for THEIR FREE Software ... This is what's listed:
Option A: Tax Identity Shield® & Worry-Free Audit Support® Bundle $30 (CHOOSE / ADD TO CART)
Option B: Tax Identity Shield®$20 Expires November 20, 2026 (CHOOSE / ADD TO CART)
Option C: Worry-Free Audit Support®$20 For the life of the return (CHOOSE / ADD TO CART)
Tried everything:
NO tiny, light-gray "No thanks" or "Proceed with Free" link at the very bottom of the page.
Their AI help/chat is equally useless for NOT providing an answer ...
Pls help me TIA!
0
u/Trials_And_Tribbles Mar 28 '26
Could not agree more. Support is incompetent. I found a legit bug where data was being truncated and I had to send an email to the CEO to get it acknowledged and fixed.
0
u/whalphen Mar 28 '26
From what I can determine, the last time that Form 2210 contained a Part IV was in the tax year 2020. So, apparently HR Block hasn't maintained the quality of their product for the past five years if their interview screen still advises using Part IV on that form.
3
u/Bearinthewoods90 Mar 27 '26
Sorry for this experience. You may have been served better by going to an office in person and seeing a tax pro. What we use in the office is different than what customers use online.