Statement: H&R Block responds to start of tax season announcement

Statement from Kathy Pickering, executive director of The Tax Institute at H&R Block

H&R Block is pleased to learn today that the IRS will start accepting e-filed tax returns on January 20. This means the millions of taxpayers who typically receive a refund in early February can file as they normally would and receive their refund in a timely manner.

In what proves to be a more complex filing season than in the past due primarily to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, we are pleased Congress avoided added confusion when it passed a one-year retroactive extension to 50-plus key individual and business tax provisions that expired Dec. 31, 2013.

Even with these late changes, H&R Block tax professionals and online tax preparation solution will be ready to handle these changes and to assist taxpayers in claiming all of the tax breaks to which they are entitled.

Consumers don’t need to wait to prepare their returns. Beginning January 5, they can come into our offices and we will prepare their returns, and then transmit them to the IRS when it begins accepting them on January 20. For the millions of taxpayers who file in January, there is no quicker way to get their refund than to follow this step and have their refund direct deposited to their own bank account or the industry-leading Emerald Prepaid Mastercard®.