(light music)
- Hey guys, it's Robert from The College Investor,
and today we are going to dive in
to H&R Block 2018, 2019 online tax software.
And I wanna share with you why H&R Block
is my number one pick for tax software this year.
Because they have continued to deliver great value
for tax filers and they make it so easy to file
that it is just the best choice for, I think,
the majority of people filing their tax returns this year.
Why do I think that?
Well H&R Block has doubled down
on their free online tax filing.
This was known as their More Zero last year.
Well this year they're calling it free online tax filing.
And it is the most robust free tax filing option out there
because they allow you to do to Earned Income Tax Credit
and they allow you to do student loan interest deduction
and they make it so easy to file.
They probably have the second easiest to use tax interface
right behind TurboTax.
And because their pricing is so much better,
and if you have to pay for H&R Block,
it's significantly better than TurboTax this year.
So it honestly is one of the best
tax filing options out there.
So without further ado let me dive into H&R Block 2018, 2019
and show you exactly what you're gonna get
when you use the tax software this year,
and just let you know how easy it is to use,
and if you want to even get a refund bonus this year
one of the cool things that H&R Block is doing
is if you opt to get your tax return on an Amazon gift card
they will give you an extra 5%.
So it's something to think about.
You can even get a bonus on your tax return if you file
with H&R Block this year.
So without further ado, let's dive in
and take a look at H&R Block 2018, 2019.
All right guys, well, let's dive in to H&R Block
and see how easy it is for H&R Block
to file your taxes this year.
Now I am in love with H&R BLock's pricing this year.
We talked about that a little bit up front.
And they're really easy to use.
Now, here's what you get on the homepage.
You get simple federal and state returns
to file online for free.
You can make an appointment to go to a thing.
You can get tax pro review.
So everything is here for you.
H&R Block is definitely a more
robust tax preparation service
because they also have their offices.
So file online for free.
You can get your refund advance loan, up to $3000,
but you have to go into an H&R Block store for that.
There's just so many options.
Drop off tax service, offices.
You can chat with a tax pro online.
So on so forth.
So let's start file online for free,
and then we get to this next menu inside.
Now you can already see a difference.
If you watched my TurboTax review,
it is very clear that H&R Block is just
not as sexy as TurboTax.
But it doesn't mean it's not as easy to use.
So I'm gonna continue my taxes.
I'm gonna go to the beginning of my return
and we're gonna do this together.
So I'm going with John Wick on H&R Block this year.
So there's John Wick, there's my birthday.
We're gonna go to the next screen, SSN.
Totally fake.
There's our phone number, it's all fake.
Let's answer some simple tax questions.
Were you a US citizen for all of 2018?
Yes.
Did you live in the US for more than six months?
Were you a student?
No.
Can someone else claim you as a dependent?
No.
Boom, there you go.
So like I said, it's not as sexy as TurboTax is.
But it's still super easy to use.
They have the same basic things.
Add a dependent, I'm gonna go with ABCDE.
There's ABCDE, Absedy?
Anyways, there's your SSN, that's fake.
Cool.
We need to know more about your dependent.
Did you pay more than half the cost
associated with your home with your dependents?
Yes.
Your filing status is head of household, cool.
So there's John Wick and then ABCDE Smith.
There's our address, head of household.
Cool.
So we're gonna do our employer, wages,
I wanna start my W-2, yeah, let's enter it.
Let's do this, we're gonna do San Diego Company.
And we're gonna do four, one, then 021-1111.
I have my handy San Diego Company here.
And we're gonna enter it manually.
You can also import this if you need to.
So Diego Avenue, 92110.
There you go.
And there's my employee information.
And then let's see how much did I make this year?
We're gonna do 51,350.
And we're gonna do 5849.
No, 5850.
And then we're gonna do (mumbles).
This is gonna be 4266.
We're gonna do 68799 and (mumbles).
Now remember guys, all of this is located on your W-2,
so we're gonna enter a retirement plan.
And this is gonna be 17449.
There you go.
That's a retirement plan.
And then we're gonna have
California State Disability (mumbles).
And then we have California taxes
that we paid right here.
(mumbles)
and that would be 51,350,
and
cool.
All right.
We have entered all of these perfect.
And there you go, our federal refund of 4,117.
So there you go.
We're gonna do this.
This is my address.
This is what do you do?
I am an amazing blogger.
Ha.
Do you have any foreign accounts?
No.
Did you live in California the whole year?
Yes.
Yes, I did.
Did you earn money in any other states?
No.
Let's switch gears and start looking at other income.
Do you need to tell us about any additional income?
Yes.
All right.
So employment income, interest, investments,
retirement, social security, business partnerships.
I had interest.
Let's add this and we're gonna go with US Bank.
And we're gonna go 121.11.
There we go.
Done.
And so I am done now.
There is my income for the year.
And right now I'm getting a $4105 refund.
Here is some you might have.
I don't think I have any of those.
No, no, no.
I am finished.
No deductions.
The standard deduction is the best choice for you.
Yep.
And then see if we hae any tax credits.
I might have this.
I might have the child tax credit.
Let's see if we got this.
We need information to see if you,
have you had a claim of a child (mumbles)?
No.
I have not had that happen.
And great news, I am getting a $2000 child tax credit.
That's great.
And I'm not eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit.
So I'm done.
I got a $2000 tax credit there.
And then let's start on this.
No, I don't have any of that.
And then everyone in my household
was covered all year for health insurance.
And then health insurance through my employer.
No I'm done.
Perfect.
And then we're all good.
So check for additional documents.
This is a really helpful screen.
If you get any of these documents or anything else
that you might have gotten in the mail
that you didn't know where to enter,
Turbo, or H&R Block offers that you just ask you
right here at the very end which I think is super handy.
And that's something that TurboTax
doesn't have, surprisingly.
But there it is.
So here's my federal tax return right there.
I'm gonna get 4105 back.
My income, my deduction, my taxes,
how much I already withheld from my paycheck,
and there you go.
So filing cabinets?
They're ancient history.
Should I store my return with H&R Block Plus?
So one thing about free filing with H&R Block, though,
is they don't allow you to store your return.
Which honestly, you just saw me enter my whole tax return.
It's not hard to have everything in there.
But it can be helpful to have your information there
stored all the time.
So keep your information secure.
I'm on H&R Block free.
They're just trying to upsell you here.
There's not as many upsells as there were in TurboTax
as you saw, but there's still a few.
And then California isn't ready yet,
but it's super easy.
Just like it was for the state.
So
there we go.
We're just gonna go here and we're
actually gonna wrap it up.
And there we go.
You can jut see this again.
All done guys.
So that's H&R Block.
Honestly I love H&R Block.
They have the most robust free filing options.
And honestly if you've never used tax software before
I think you'll really enjoy H&R Block.
I think it's the easiest to use.
They have a lot of options there.
You can get a lot of live help as well.
Definitely less upsells and more free.
So, cool.
Guys, hopefully that was helpful for you.
You know how H&R Block works.
And you're gonna be looking at it this year.
Thanks guys.