H&R Block

Super Bowl LI offered us many surprises this year, not the least of which was the New England Patriots’ incredible comeback. However, as a practicing CPA and attorney working exclusively in tax representation, I was taken aback with something else, as I’m sure many tax practitioners were: H&R Block, Jon Hamm and IBM’s “Watson.”

The tax prep chain is offering incentives both in its offices and online.

H&R Block Inc. reported that its revenues declined $22.7 million in the third fiscal quarter of 2017 due to the delayed tax season.

H&R Block is out to wrest back market share from its online tax-prep rivals with such aggressive measures as free services and interest-free advances on refunds—oh, and plunking a supercomputing Jeopardy star down on the desks of its 70,000 tax preparers.

Teens from Florida, Michigan and Texas each received $20,000 college scholarships from the tax prep chain's recent Budget Challenge high school competition.

Preparers from the tax chain will use the cognitive computing solution to improve recommendations to clients.

The tax prep chain and the charity have boosted authentication and encryption for their free tax-filing service.

Every year, TurboTax battles H&R Block for dominance in tax preparation, while smaller players fight over the rest of the market.

The tax prep giant has upgraded its online presence with a range of new tools.

The tax prep giant is aiming to help freelancers, rideshare drivers and other self-employed workers file their taxes.