H&R Block At Home Deluxe Online (2011)

Using the 2011 version of H&R Block's At Home Deluxe Online is something like visiting one of the company's offices, I'd imagine. You exchange a few pleasantries with the preparer, but then it's all business. You're asking and answering questions, presenting a lot of numbers, and then reviewing your work together. Unfortunately, H&R Block At Home Deluxe Online's stumbles a bit during the post-prep review process. TurboTax ($49.95, Federal; $36.95, State; 4.5 stars) has won our Editor's Choice for several years running now, and it does so again this year, ?in part because of this flaw.

The Broadest Range
H&R Block's online tax preparation site provides a simple, straightforward work environment that over the years has shed the colorful graphics and sometimes slow operation that it sported in its previous life as Kiplinger TaxCut. In 2012, H&R Block's At Home Deluxe Online is clean, fast, and comprehensive, and features all-important help resources that offer a better chance of getting to the answer you're looking for faster than the competition.

Every tax preparation software and website publisher offers multiple applications with varying levels of processing ability and help. Each lets you move up to a more sophisticated product if you've paid for one and it's not meeting your needs (neither do any of them charge you until you print or e-file). But H&R Block's product line is more extensive than its competitors'. I reviewed H&R Block At Home Deluxe ($29.95 for federal; state, $34.95).

Here's the entire lineup; all include a free federal e-file:

• H&R Block At Home Free Edition. Supports a surprisingly robust number of forms and schedules, including Forms 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ; multiple 1098s and 1099s; and Schedules A, B, H and R. Offers free audit assistance (not representation).
• H&R Block At Home Basic Edition. Everything in Free, plus step-by-step guidance, previous year import and an error check, for $19.95. No Schedules C-F.
• H&R Block At Home Deluxe Edition. Everything in Basic, plus import from financial institutions (W-2s, 1099s, etc.); personalized tax guidance for homeowners and investors; investment sales support; mortgage interest and charitable deduction maximizers. Supports C-F. $29.95.
• H&R Block At Home Premium Edition. Contains everything in previous versions plus Schedule C guidance; one free phone session with a tax professional; rental income assistance; advanced tax calculators and tax law/planning resources, for $49.95.
• Best of Both. Do your own tax prep online with one of these solutions and pay an extra $79.95 to have an H&R Block professional review, correct, sign and file your return. Year-round advice is included.

H&R Block still publishes CD/download versions, but they're more expensive for Deluxe and Premium users. TurboTax and TaxACT, too, still come in desktop versions. CompleteTax has always been available online only.

Mobility has become important to every type of application, and TurboTax has everyone beat in this area. H&R Block ?has both an optimized iPad version and a smartphone app.

One Navigational Downside
All of H&R Block's online tax sites share a characteristic that none of the others does. Everyone offers a bookmark-type function that lets you enter a reminder to come back and fill in missing information. On the H&R Block At Home sites, though, you cannot advance onto the next screen until you've completed the previous one. This is the safest way to proceed and makes it less likely that you'll forget something, but it can be frustrating.

Other than that navigational difference, getting around H&R Block At Home is as easy as on the competing sites ? perhaps easier, because the site's interface is sparer than the others. No fancy graphics or an excess of icons or toolbars. H&R Block's quieter approach can make it easier to find exactly what you're looking for, when you need it.

There are few navigational tools. You have your "Back" and "Next" buttons that move you to the previous and next screens. You have your "Take me to" button that opens a chronological directory of topics and screens. And you have a tabbed bar at the top dividing your path into "Welcome," "Federal," "State," and "File;" clicking on one opens a row of subtopics for that parent topic ("Income," "Credits," etc. ). That's it. Brevity and simplicity rule.

And as always, H&R Block At Home, like its competitors, asks simple questions and provides check boxes, fields and radio buttons for your answers, then drops your entries into the correct line on the 1040 and its related documents.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/ScosVlCLJXg/0,2817,2376875,00.asp

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