VinnyZ66
United States of America#2Consumer Comment
Thu, April 21, 2011
$240 is probably about average nationwide for a professionally prepared return with capital gains and itemized deductions without a state return.
You were not ripped off.
Joseph
New Orleans,#3UPDATE Employee
Thu, April 21, 2011
I am a tax professional with many years experience working for H&R Block.
You stated in your report that you figured your return would be $100 because you had a simplier return.
Your return was not simple. It was more complicated than you assumed. It was not a 1040A, but rather a 1040, with a schedule A, D and unemployment compensation. I do not know how you managed to purchase a house while drawing unemployment, but that is another topic.
Your schedule A would have included as a minimum home mortgage and real estate tax. It may have include PMI. It also required either a deduction for sales tax or income tax, whichever was greater. There may have been medical deductions, charitable contributions or other deductions you did not mention.
The Schedule D requires knowledge of long-term vs short-term capital gains, computation of basis and is more diffcult and costly than you assumed.
Block fees are posted on a wall when you enter their office, outlining a simplied (and not always easy to understand) fee structure. You did not mention if you received a RAC or purchased POM.
I agree that tax services fee structures are somewhat high. I personally believe that the tax system is too complicated and people should never have to pay to file their returns. That is a matter for future discussion. Be that as it may, your fee seems about right for what had to be computed.
You apparently do not understand what was needed in computing your personal taxes.