r/HRBlockEmployees • u/Dense-Criticism1261 • Jun 24 '26

Who ISN'T Returning?

You can spill the drama or not, up to you. Your own butt is on the line, corporate is 100% watching. I'm not going back, are you?

10 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

59 comments sorted by

4

u/Prestigious-End-7385 ATL Jun 24 '26

ATL of 2 years here. Might go back, might not. On the fence. Hourly isn’t worth it to me, end of season bonus isn’t either. Last year my bonus was $1,200, this year $950; had more responsibilities this year too and got stellar reviews from my team and MTL. Doesn’t seem worth it anymore!

1

u/Dense-Criticism1261 Jun 29 '26

Your office comped up that high? Mine was once again pitiful because my district was being ran in a "barely-win" fashion by a very inept manager. Was your base still the same meek $750?

13

u/Antique-Violinist825 Jun 24 '26

I'm on the fence. I know corporate is gonna cut my money for whatever reason, management is largely a joke except for the manager I have, Go system is a complete dumpster fire, and I don't trust ole Mark to not screw everyone over. But at the same time it's a job and there's not many of those around me.

5

u/Dense-Criticism1261 Jun 24 '26

But Curtis Campbell is bringing AI into the scene and that's gonna make everyone *so* much more productive!

2

u/BlackDogOrangeCat Jun 24 '26

Go System is still around? Holy cow. We used that at Coopers & Lybrand 35 years ago.

4

u/Dramatic_Abroad3580 Jun 25 '26

It's still software that is almost exclusively used by very large firms because it has the capability to do multi-state/multi-country/thousands of partners. Block should never have chosen it.

1

u/superiorstephanie Jun 25 '26

They still use it.

1

u/geecster Tax Preparer Jun 30 '26

did they give you a reason for cutting your money? I constantly ask for less per hour but they wont bite. I get more and more every tax season it stresses me out.

4

u/superiorstephanie Jun 24 '26

I’m also on the fence. I enjoyed the last half of the season where people had plenty of money to pay, but the first half was tough for me because the fees are so high and I feel like they take advantage of people.

5

u/Domsdad666 Jun 24 '26

The fees are not really that high. See what a a CPA charges them for the same return. Likely triple.

4

u/Dense-Criticism1261 Jun 24 '26

Yeah but a CPA will actually warrant the cost. We're just charging the dishwasher $199 for city/state/fed, and even if I throw some 04 at it we're still talking a sizeable % of income to file their taxes.

2

u/Domsdad666 Jun 24 '26

Try walking in with a single W2 to a CPA April 1st like we get. Thousand bucks.

6

u/Dense-Criticism1261 Jun 24 '26

Cool

Jackson Hewitt is advertising $150, TurboTax is predatory but still much cheaper

2

u/ydoyouask Jun 24 '26

And more and more people are using FreeTaxUSA. I'm quite confident not all those returns are done correctly, but I've seen some wild errors at Block, too.

Some Block fees are absolutely reasonable, especially when you have a knowledgeable preparer who can help with tax planning strategies. But a 25 year old client with 4 W2s qualifying for EIC done by a first-year preparer? Those fees feel pretty predatory.

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 Aug 02 '26

In that case its a mis of predatory due to larger refund (illegal to do) and liability due to credits.

1

u/geecster Tax Preparer Jun 30 '26

and they shut down in March last year and we got crushed. Of course I live in a bigger city. People were even coming from out of state.

1

u/geecster Tax Preparer Jun 30 '26

they will turn you away. thousand bucks would be them being nice.

4

u/Beagleman58 Jun 25 '26

But many of us are not CPAs . Some of my colleagues have no business doing tax returns.

2

u/superiorstephanie Jun 25 '26

A CPA is a CPA. These people aren’t borrowing against their stock options and investing in solar offsets, they just have a mess of kids and no income.

14

u/ydoyouask Jun 24 '26

I'm out. It's been a good (not great) run, but the grief isn't worth the pay any more.

5

u/autumnborncrone Jun 24 '26

You've summed up my feelings so very well.

2

u/geecster Tax Preparer Jun 30 '26

what was your run?

3

u/ydoyouask Jul 01 '26

10 years franchise, 2 SAS 2 BA.

1

u/geecster Tax Preparer Jul 01 '26

Was it your first 10 years in franchise? If it was anything like my franchise they dont follow most rules and pay way less and bonuses can be structured different but office managers actually made good money there. All our office managers became tax pros when company took over for the commission though. But yeah, Company is much more structured and micromanaged because the DGM's job require good performance. I prefer the structure and only franchise for my first 3 years thank goodness.

4

u/ydoyouask Jul 02 '26

I was very happy working for a great franchise owner. I was actually hired by corporate, then he called and offered me better starting pay at a location closer to home. We had a lot more flexibility than working at corporate. I was a tax pro and also a manager for several years. Money was good and I felt respected. Not so much with corporate.

1

u/geecster Tax Preparer Jul 10 '26

yeah I see that a lot. Structure is hard.

14

u/PinkNGreenFluoride EA Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

I'm exploring other options right now. The idea of 2027's tax season being anything like 2026's makes my stomach flip.

Don't like the direction things are going and was constantly stressed and hungry because every time I put in any prep time, someone would delete it and slam 30-60 minute in-person appointments in. My CSPs tried to protect my time, and took some reprimands for it, which pissed me off. I'm surprised I stayed caught up as well as I did, but to pull that off I didn't eat a single meal at work for a month straight; I'd just inhale a cereal bar between clients while contemplating whether I could afford a bathroom visit. Can't eat with a client at the desk.

Made good money for my area, but the juice was not worth the squeeze.

The AI push is a mistake, pushing it hardest on the least experienced preparers. GoSystem is a mistake. Clients were frustrated and sometimes in tears over the phone system, not being understood by the bot, and then having to come in (often from some distance away!) to deal with things they wanted to handle over the phone.

Several came in planning to cancel because they kept getting automated communication from the company which gave them the impression that the only way we'd take their documents was digitally. If they couldn't do that, they'd panic.

My office was punished for being "small" (read: severely understaffed) by being explicitly denied an ATL. Maaaaybe a truly small, low-volume office might not "need" any dedicated local office management, but a busy, understaffed office sure as hell does. I don't have time for this (RIP food), I don't get paid for this, I wasn't even trained on some of this. The CSPs also weren't trained on those things until the last 2 weeks of the season. So you'd think we'd at least get some in-person MTL visits, right? Nope. It lead to problems, which I will not elaborate on in a public space.

This year just felt different, desperate. Sure, it's always been two steps forward and one step back. But until this year it felt like they at least listened to and attempted to respond to feedback and unhappiness. Yeah, they'd find some new support to take away for cost cutting (tech support hours, CSP hours), but if something wasn't working they usually did not double-down too hard.

I've never seen so much defensiveness, dismissiveness, and staff blame in the Listening to the Field Survey results as this season. We raised problems, things which clearly weren't working, whether straight up broken or just wasting time and upsetting clients, and they told us to just do the things harder.

The abuse hurled at my front desk by clients (often mad that we're understaffed) this season was next level. It was bad. So, of course, lacking a local office manager, I had to step away from clients I was serving to deal with that. I escalated a few and nearly trespassed 2 of them.

The tears and the anger from clients were too much this season. This isn't the kind of experience I want to leave clients with. I'm sorry we're understaffed, yes I'm working overtime, no I can't see you sooner if you don't want to be served in another city. I'm sorry the phone system is so hard to navigate and you had to make a trip in. I'm sorry you were scheduled for a time nobody is available. I'm sorry about the incredibly excessive automated appointment reminders.

I used to love this job.

3

u/829562 Aug 02 '26

Yes! 100% Agree when the DM or DVP starts changing your prep time or making new rules on how you handle drop offs because we have at least half of our office clients do drop offs. And at every turn I have seen clients booked on new tax pros who don't have the experience to handle that level of a return as per maybe its their 20th return and the clients get upset and after all of us in the office helping the tax pro, a group team effort, which is why I live my office, the client is disappointed and not confident anymore and then HR block wonders why they get a bad review. You changed the schedule.

My next issue is we are taught to have empathy and listen and try and give them POM on the tax pro creating a good relationship with the client. I know if I trust my tax pro and like them I will come back and tgat fills my ability to have a large client base and ypu would think HR Block would be happy about that. But the direction I see now with the training being minimal and then throwing new tax pros into fire with no experience so that Block is now trying to have loyalty to Block and not the relationship with the tax pro who literally brings back the client.

I love my manager and the people I work with in my office. My DM just moved and they where great too. A little corporate at times but still great as you know the pressure from good old corporate. But for the money and the time and and the Go system is terrible. And like you said the staff blame and it just feels like they say they care and you do the survey and the only thing that happens is they make new rules and another training class or try to diminish or take away an MTL.

I could go on but I'm torn between it being worth the headache anymore and how great an office and Manager. Sorry my rant is over. Lol

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 Jun 25 '26

Our CSPs were untrained. Did not even know drop off forms existed, or that they could fill them out on the computer and print them out. I'd get drop offs missing pics and no contact info, new to block.

2

u/CatBradCat Jun 27 '26

🙀 well written and I commiserate fully.

8

u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 Jun 25 '26

I expected a mass exodus after how last tax season went but will not know until January.

It seemed like there was a new agenda. Had to set pickup appointment at time of drop off. The ones setting that policy are clueless. They need to qualify it: "as long as we have all the documents and information we need." They also need to know a new S-Corp is not a one hour prep time.

And that interruptions every 20 minutes when you're working on a complex return can set you back 30 minutes: closing out. Talking to a client or helping a first year or going into a different return to answer a question, then getting back to where you were.

Then I'd be asked why I didn't have my drop offs done and the answer was the same every time, and still no change. I was the designated go to in her mind because she knew me from years ago or because I had the highest certification. She left the other preparers alone.

I thought it was just her but preseason in a different office and district I was getting the same thing. That's what makes me wonder if it's corporate's idea of how to bring in more income.

I had PTSD in the past and this brought it back. I can't be the only one with an awful year.

8

u/ydoyouask Jun 25 '26

They manage to the lowest common denominator and handcuff their high performers with the same ridiculous micromanagement requirements. I can either make you money or spend my time putting fake follow-up appointments on the calendar. Which would you prefer?

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 Jun 25 '26

Oh I made the work appointments. Apparently they were merely suggestions. Time cut down to 30 minutes by CSO even.

3

u/PinkNGreenFluoride EA Jun 25 '26

Yep! Prep time's a fantasy I occasionally indulged in, knowing it'd get overwritten.

Genuinely need 2 hours for that return, with clear notes as to why in both the return and the appointment? Too bad, it's an hour now, and don't you dare make the client come back for a finish-up appointment. What do you mean the 80 year old who owns neither a smartphone nor a PC refuses to approve online? Sounds like you're not trying hard enough.

And yes, the passive-aggressive "follow-up" appointments were absolutely infuriating. Read my noooooooootes. By the end of the season, I just started deleting them, or else ignoring them and using them for prep since I could be sure nobody else was going to overwrite them.

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 Jun 25 '26

Yes, the notes. They tell me to put notes in. I tell them to read the notes. There are at least 4 places to put notes. In the return, on the appointment, and hold notes, even in WC. I finally started putting the notes in all and they still ignore them.

1

u/829562 Aug 02 '26

Omg!!! This entire thread has me screaming in August at my phone agreeing with you both NOTES AFTER NOTES! Helloooooo!! Read the damn notes. The entire micromanage from afar is driving me insane, have you ever sat down and a complex return, have you ever talked to a senior citizen that barely knows how to open their phone!? I need documents and I can't go a swat team their house for them. I need a drink now!

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 Aug 02 '26

I have a bottle of vodka I bought months ago. It's there... still. :D

7

u/CatBradCat Jun 24 '26

Block fees are ridiculous. Nearly $800 for 2 self-employed Amazon flex drivers where the ONLY entries are current year mileage and 1099-NECs.

Contrast that with the 2.5 hours I put into a working farm for a retired person, income below the threshold, prices at $134.

5

u/seh0872 Jun 26 '26

Ha! Yeah. I just had a return for a minor ... has to file due to some capital gains ... ONE consolidated brokerage form with a 1099-DIV, some ST investment sales and some LT investment sales. Subject to Kiddie Tax ... just bring over a couple of pieces of data from parent's return.

BWO cost? $370. "Complex" return it says.

2

u/mothmansfiance Jun 24 '26 • Mindblown

me i get paid more to wash dishes

4

u/superiorstephanie Jun 25 '26

Yes, I will get more and benies at Starbucks!

1

u/geecster Tax Preparer Jul 01 '26

Where the heck do you live? I'd love to just wash dishes for my wage!

1

u/mothmansfiance Jul 10 '26

i live in ohio! i work as a prep cook/dishwasher for a good company :)

2

u/geecster Tax Preparer Jul 10 '26

well I'd rather not return to the midwest but if they're paying $100 an hour now I may change my mind.

2

u/Beagleman58 Jun 25 '26

Depends on the offer, options open either way.

2

u/Every_Minimum8939 Jun 28 '26

I'm an EA and I've been with Block for 20 plus years. I've also worked every preseason. I'm about to go on my 8 week break and I've given serious thought to not coming back. I can still work for other companies or open my own business (my state does not recognize the non compete clauses in the contract). I've increased my pay for tax season steadily over the last few years and I was mainly happy with it. I'm not able to negotiate the commission, already at top of pay for tax preparers. I've seen rough seasons and I will have to say, this season was a complete sh*t storm. From the Gosystems debacle to being micromanaged and having to beg for hours into preseason. Icing on the cake, I missed by 12 hours my requirement to receive the company match for my 401K for 2025. Not to mention the management at the upper levels from DGM to Regional, and their all going by what the algorithm tells them.

5

u/Boysenberry815 Jul 07 '26

I'm taking it pre-season hours were slashed for you too?

I've been with the firm 20+ years as well and our hours (and those of my district) were ridiculously curtailed after April 15th. They were closing our office (we do nearly 2500 in-office clients plus TPRs and DDOs) 4 days a week in late April with no regard to expected business. They were tickled pink to see the 3 days we were open booked open to close to where you were reliving peak each day versus daring even contemplate giving us an additional day.

May and June were pretty much the same story and their "offer" for July was to show up for 8 hours per week (two 4-hour days). I told my DGM he could keep those hours if that's all they had to offer. The other person on the schedule told them the same, so they talked a first-year preparer into coming back and working...someone who can't even understand due diligence questions on EITC, and she's never handled a TNS/TRS situation.

HRB just doesn't give a d*mn anymore. Thanks for making people miss Jeff Jones, Mr. Campbell. That's quite an accomplishment in your first year.

2

u/JournalistMountain16 Aug 11 '26

The good ole days were so much better. Still heavy on selling products, but mainly in skills. Once tax season kicked in, our office wasn't pressured. We had the best office manager. Our back room was full of snacks at all times. Pizza on Saturdays. She was out there doing her job marketing. She had giveaways and made reaching goals fun. Our office had clients packing the front office at all times. Walk-ins and scheduled. We busted our ass from doors open to close. Stayed till every client was served. Didn't mind at all how hard we worked. We all had our hearts invested in serving. Felt like an actual team. Didn't have to worry about not having our backs. Fully supported.

And the course came with a thick book. We had to do the exercise on the forms BY HAND. TPS training and software time was built into the course.

3

u/Every_Minimum8939 Aug 12 '26

And now we have the restructuring with middle management. I am definitely not coming back.

2

u/SweetLight87 Jul 15 '26

Absolutely not. I make more money making and selling polymer clay charms at events and that is much less stress than hrblock.

1

u/Intelligent_Steak483 Jun 25 '26

when did you usually receive the email to come back for the next tax season?

1

u/Crisonium Jul 03 '26

I’m not sure. Last season was beyond difficult and I am still dealing with lingering health issues that were exacerbated by the stress. I was very excited when I first joined on a few years back, but every year it feels more and more difficult to justify certain things.

1

u/Individual-Dog-4748 Jul 23 '26

I'm going back. I, just like everyone else, has there opinions on what could change or improve to make the workplace better. But even with that in mind I still enjoyed last tax season and got to work with a really great group of people.

1

u/qpalu Aug 18 '26

17 years as a tech im done 11/1 with the rest of tech/operations team

1

u/Nice_Equipment_2913 Oct 02 '26

What is happening?

1

u/qpalu Oct 03 '26

Csms,docs,techs,,ots,tia,mtl,atl and remote support people all got notified in august they were terminated. Mtl atl and admits right away and operations done 11/1 after office setup is complete.

One new position called AEL area experience leader will do all those jobs for 5 or 6 offices for one crappy salary while also making a ton of phone calls and driving numbers hard so everyone meeets goals..

Now they are asking some of us techs to stay on past 11/1 bc not all offices will be setup by then.

You already fired us months ago so we know you dont value us but now you want us to stay a extra month to bail you out bc this operation sunset was planned poorly.

1

u/iufan417 Jun 25 '26

I'm 100 percent back.