H&R Block, famous for its in-office services, has been in the online personal tax preparation game for decades. We tested a preview of its Self-Employed version for gig workers and independent contractors, which covers a variety of tax situations and provides targeted guidance. The software is very easy to use on both desktop and mobile platforms and generally does a great job of answering any questions you have, though some forms are missing as of this writing. We plan to revisit H&R Block and assign it a rating once the final version is ready around the time the IRS opens filing.
How Much Does H&R Block Cost?
H&R Block offers four main tiers of service. Its robust free plan, Free Online, supports Form 1040 and situations like retirement income, student expenses, unemployment, and W-2 income. You can also use it if you claim the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Credit (EITC). Deluxe ($35 for federal filing) adds AI-driven online help, free professional tax support via chat, itemized deductions, and a few other features. Premium ($65 federal) adds Schedules D and E. Self-Employed ($85 federal) adds Schedule C (which you need if you do gig work or are otherwise self-employed) and Schedule F (for farm income and expenses). Filing a state return is $37 (unless you qualify for the Free Online version, in which case it’s free). Typically, these prices increase later in the tax season.
H&R Block’s prices are slightly lower than Intuit TurboTax’s, but many alternatives are even more affordable. For example, Cash App Taxes (formerly Credit Karma Tax) offers completely free federal and state filing. FreeTaxUSA is free for federal filing and charges $14.99 for state filing. But these services don’t offer as much help as H&R Block.
Filing Your Taxes Online: What You Need to Know
The Tax Pro Review add-on gets you additional virtual help from CPAs, EAs, and H&R Block agents. With this service, you complete your return, and an H&R Block tax professional reviews, signs, and e-files it for you. You can also upload your tax documents or take them to an office for a pro to prepare your return. Meanwhile, the Second Look tax review is just what it sounds like: A tax pro checks your return for accuracy and things you might have missed. Prices for these services will be available in the final version of H&R Block.
How Does H&R Block Work?
H&R Block’s DIY service follows the same tax preparation path as human tax professionals. The software’s setup wizard asks about income first and then moves on to credits, deductions, and taxes. It asks questions in a conversational way, like, “Did you pay any vehicle and personal property taxes?” You respond by clicking buttons, choosing options from lists, and entering answers. You can save time on entering data and minimize errors by importing data from W-2s and 1099s instead of typing everything in manually.
As mentioned, when I tested it, H&R Block still hadn’t incorporated interview sections for several important topics, including many credits, Form 8949 (sale of capital assets), IRAs, Sale of Main Home, and Schedule C.
(Credit: H&R Block/PCMag)
The wizard alternates between step-by-step walk-throughs and lists of tax situations that pertain to you. It continues to ask questions about your income and tax-deductible expenses until you cover everything relevant. You never see an IRS form or schedule, which is a plus. That’s one of the main reasons to use tax software, after all. H&R Block simply works in the background, performing all the necessary calculations and entering your answers on forms. As it walks you through the Q&A, it provides built-in help that’s far superior to what you get from Jackson Hewitt or Liberty Tax.
Getting Started With H&R Block
After you pick which version of the software to use (H&R Block can help you with this), you either enter personal information like your address, birth date, and Social Security number or import data from last year’s return. Then, the site presents you with tax topics for income, such as Employment, Investments, and Small Business and Self-Employment. You select the ones that apply to you and let the wizard walk you through the Q&A before moving on to the other sections of the 1040.
(Credit: H&R Block/PCMag)
Competitors work the same way, though H&R Block requires seemingly unnecessary extra clicks and returns to previous pages. Intuit TurboTax feels much smoother.
Top-Notch Help
H&R Block remains exceptional for help resources. It’s proactive, for one thing. Unlike TaxAct, which has good but disjointed help tools, it centralizes guidance in a right-side vertical pane. For the most part, H&R Block’s language is simple and understandable, with minimal suggestions to visit IRS instructions.
(Credit: H&R Block/PCMag)
Specifically, it introduces topics on many pages with an explanation of what’s coming. Links open related explanations. However, one of the best attributes of H&R Block’s help tools wasn’t totally working in the preview version: The help section used to update constantly to match the current topic. This wasn’t the case in testing, and I hope H&R Block fixes this context-sensitive feature for the final version.
The AI Tax Assist provides a second layer of help that draws upon the tax expertise the company has amassed since 1955. It “converses” with you rather than just providing a list of search hits. It worked fine in testing, but I didn’t find it much more helpful than the site’s standard help search tool, which gives you links to related pages on the site and Q&As that are usually relevant. Sometimes, the list veers off into unrelated areas once you go deeper, but you can usually find a good answer early on in the results.
Taxpayers can connect with both tax professionals and product support staff via chat. Expert help is free with all of H&R Block’s paid products. Competitors charge for consultations with tax experts, so this is a huge advantage.
How Does H&R Block Deal With Self-Employment?
H&R Block doesn’t yet have the Schedule C tax topics ready, so I was unable to test those sections. I plan to write about those in my final review. The preview version, however, does allow you to enter what the software calls “less common income,” such as from the 1099-NEC and the 1099-K forms. I expected those forms to be more prominent, perhaps even in the Small business and self-employment section. They are currently easy to miss.
(Credit: H&R Block/PCMag)
Does H&R Block Perform a Final Review?
When you finish entering all the tax information that applies to you, H&R Block runs its Federal Accuracy Review, which looks for errors and omissions in your return and lets you fix them. When I ran the process, it listed all the forms that weren’t yet available (so I wouldn’t think I missed them) and offered to notify me when they became available.
(Credit: H&R Block/PCMag)
Is H&R Block Safe to Use?
All of H&R Block’s websites offer multiple layers of protection, including industry-standard web-browsing encryption technology and multi-factor authentication. The company says it protects and monitors your data 24/7. It also employs external security experts to perform audits and assess risks. Finally, H&R Blocks houses its data centers, networks, and servers in secure facilities.
Can You Use H&R Block to File Your Taxes From Your Phone?
In years past, I wouldn’t hesitate to prepare my taxes entirely via H&R Block’s mobile app (available for Android and iOS). They mirror the UI and navigation tools in the desktop version, which look great. Both standard help and AI Tax Assist tools are available, though I had trouble accessing the former consistently during testing. Of course, the apps are missing the same forms as the desktop version. I plan to revisit the apps when the final version of H&R Block is ready.
(Credit: H&R Block/PCMag)
Verdict: A Great Service That Puts Your Taxes Into Context
H&R Block thoroughly covers all the tax topics that apply to you while maintaining a professional yet friendly user experience. We also like that expert help doesn’t cost anything extra if you pay for a premium plan. The preview version is missing some forms, however, and the context-sensitive help pane isn’t fully functional as of this writing. We hope H&R Block resolves these issues before we test the final version at the official start of the tax season. Make sure to check back then for our full review.
While you’re thinking about taxes, you can read up on seven ways to minimize your taxes and what to do if you can’t pay your taxes.
H&R Block 2025 (Tax Year 2024)
Pros
View
More
Cons
The Bottom Line
H&R Block’s friendly interface and extensive coverage of tax issues make it a worthy online service for both simple and complex tax returns.
Like What You’re Reading?
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links.
By clicking the button, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our
Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy.
You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
About Kathy Yakal
Contributor
