H&R Block

H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) is a tax preparation and personal finance management company founded by brothers Henry W. and Richard Bloch in Kansas City in 1955 (they changed the name of the company to prevent mispronunciation). more...

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The Blochs founded the company in response to the Internal Revenue Service no longer completing tax returns for free. H&R Block has over 12,000 locations worldwide and serves over 20 million clients annually. The company services about 21 million clients in 21 countries. The main office moved from Main and 44th Streets to 13th and Main in downtown Kansas City in October 2006.

H&R Block, followed by Jackson Hewitt, is the largest provider and marketer of Refund Anticipation Loans, a controversial business. H&R Block has changed some of its lending practices to conform with fair practice standards urged by ACORN and other consumer groups .

In 1980, H&R Block acquired CompuServe as a source of revenue in the time after tax season. CompuServe was sold in 1997 in a three-way transaction between AOL and Worldcom. AOL currently owns CompuServe.

H&R Block services include a full service brokerage, electronic filing, tax preparer school, mortgage lending, and banking services.

Mistakes and controversy

H&R Block's own taxes

In August 2005, H&R Block announced that it had overstated its earnings for 2003 and 2004 by $91.1 million. It stated that it had "insufficient resources" to identify and report complex transactions in its corporate tax accounting.

On 2006-02-23, the company admitted in its quarter results that it had miscalculated its own state income taxes for 2005 and 2004 and that it owed an additional $32 million in back taxes. That mistake plus its lower-than-expected earnings for the quarter caused its stock price to drop by 8.5% in one day.

Refund anticipation loan business

On 2006-02-15, California's attorney general Bill Lockyer sued H&R Block over its refund anticipation loan business, whose interest rates top 500% including fees. Lockyer said the company falsely portrays the nature of the loans. In May 2005, a federal judge in Chicago rejected a $360 million settlement as inadequate.

Express IRA

On 2006-03-16, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued H&R Block for selling its Express IRA alleging that the IRA earned less money than what customers paid in fees. The complaint accuses Block of fraudulent business practices, deceptive acts and practices, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. The company said it will fight them in court.

Read more at Wikipedia.org