H&R Block is entering this tax season with a greater focus on offering the kind of DIY financial software that has given the company so much competition in recent years.
"Taxes have been this opaque industry, really slow to change," CEO Jeff Jones told Cheddar. "We're bringing a lot of digital innovation to what we call our human advantage."
The company has promoted its Tax Pro Go option, which allows customers to upload their tax documents digitally and leave the rest to a trained tax professional, as well as DIY options that range in price from free to $79.99 for small businesses and the self-employed.
"If you're a DIY filer, this year with Online Assist you can push a button and on-demand get all of your questions answered for you without leaving home," Jones said.
The strategy straddles the line between H&R Block's primary business of brick-and-mortar tax preparation services and the online self-preparation software that is changing the industry.
The number of Americans who prepared their own returns was up 3.3 percent in 2019, according to IRS data. H&R Block ($HRB) competitors such as TurboTax, meanwhile, have seen stocks rise significantly over the last five years, whereas H&R Block's have slumped.
In addition to embracing technology, the company has made an effort to draw customers back in with price cuts, which Jones said have increased customer satisfaction over the last year.
"We reset our financials a little over a year ago and just said to the market we knew our prices had gotten too high and we had to improve quality," Jones said.
Still, the executive is banking on the customer's interest in peace-of-mind to maintain H&R Block's primary business.
"If you think about the market in general, about 55 percent of all taxpayers get help. 45 percent do taxes themselves," Jones said. "That mix really hasn't changed a lot over time, and I think the big reason comes back to confidence. Taxes create so much anxiety. It's a stressful topic, and people want to get the best outcome possible."
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
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