A federal judge has ruled against H&R Block to prevent the tax prep giant from moving forward with its $287.5 million acquisition of 2SS Holdings, whose 2nd Story Software unit develops TaxAct software, after the Justice Department objected to the deal.
The Justice Department had filed suit in May to block the acquisition on antitrust grounds, arguing that it would substantially lessen competition in the do-it-yourself tax prep software market (see DOJ Files Suit to Stop H&R Block from Buying TaxAct). Block’s consumer tax prep package, H&R Block At Home (formerly known as TaxCut), is the second most popular in the market next to Intuit’s best-selling TurboTax, with TaxAct in third place.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell agreed with the Justice Department and granted a preliminary injunction to block the deal on antitrust grounds. The case is the Justice Department’s first antitrust lawsuit since 2004, when the department filed suit unsuccessfully to block Oracle from buying PeopleSoft.
Block expressed its dismay at the ruling, with spokesman Gene King telling Bloomberg, “We are disappointed with the decision and continue to believe this was in the best interest of consumers. We are taking time to analyze the verdict to determine our next steps.”
Separately, in a more positive development Monday for H&R Block, the company announced a deal with Walmart to offer tax prep services in approximately 300 Walmart locations starting in December.
2 Comments
It looks like the banking fiasco has drifted into the tax & accounting business with the restrictions and "Inconviences" the IRS is handing us accountants. With paying $63.00 every year to use the same PTIN that I've been using for the past 20 years FREE and now - testing, fingerprinting, and who knows what's next to pester our industry. This was all brought about due to these Jackson-Hewett, Liberty tax" and the rest of these "MacDonalds" fast tax service outfits. Couple them with this "VITA" outfit and you have 60-70% error ratios, and WE are subjected to this bungling interference from the IRS. This is just to harass the accounting industry who basically are trying to honestly comply and assist the IRS to begin with. All this is now leading to the future that the IRS is preparing to have taxpayers file directly and eliminate accountants completely. More IRS control over our lives. Does the IRS care it's costing us more money to operate and pass on to clients - NO! I think it's quite clear where this tax business is headed, and what the government has in store, and it looks like it's just around the corner.
Posted by: FRANK D | November 3, 2011 11:23 AM
Report this Comment
Thank you. I have used TaxAct Preparer's Edition for years and I did not want H R Block to mess up another good product.
Posted by: dimorrow47 | November 2, 2011 8:07 AM
Report this Comment
Add Your Comments...
Already Registered?
If you have already registered to Accounting Today, please use the form below to login. When completed you will immeditely be directed to post a comment.
Not Registered?
You must be registered to post a comment.