H&R Block was founded by brothers Henry W. Block and Richard A. Block in 1955. Since then the company has become the world’s largest tax preparation business. It has retail offices in the U.S, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia and one within 5 miles of most Americans. H&R Block has helped its clients attain almost $30 billion in tax refunds, credits and other government benefits. Today it employs over 100,000 tax professionals and has served over 400 million clients (hrblock.com). H&R Block’s 4 main business areas are retail tax services, digital tax services, banking, and RSM McGladrey.
RETAIL TAX SERVICES
H&R Block has been delivering tax advice for over 50 years. A typical client is helped by a tax professional with over 8 years of experience. Approximately 24 million tax clients were served by H&R Block tax professionals in 2009. In the same year it filed 1 out of every 4 Earned Income Tax Credits, earning nearly $10 billion for its clients.
DIGITAL TAX SERVICES
The digital tax solutions offered by H&R Block provide personal productivity and consumer financial software, and online programs. H&R Block’s TaxCut family of software includes titles from TaxCut Home and Business to TaxCut Premium State. Online tax preparation programs are also available, which come with the support of over 110,000 tax advice professionals.
H&R BLOCK BANKING SERVICES
The H&R Block World Headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. offers H&R Block Bank services. These services are also available over the phone and online. Traditional services such as savings, checking, IRAs, money markets, loans and CDs are offered to retail bank customers, tax clients and company associates. Additional bank services include the H&R Block Emerald Prepaid MasterCard, the H&R Block Emerald Savings account and the H&R Block Emerald line of credit. Providing affordable, alternative banking solutions with payroll direct deposit, competitive interest rates, reloading capabilities and a year-round line of credit is the aim of this bank. This bank is a federally chartered savings bank, equal housing lender and a member of the FDIC.
RSM MCGLADREY
For mid-sized companies, RSM McGladrey is the leading provider of accounting, business and tax consulting. Services provided by RSM McGladrey include, tax services, accounting, retirement resources, corporate finance, business consulting, wealth management and capital markets. Clients’ global business needs are met, in part, through RSM McGladrey’s membership in RSM International. In 2009, RSM McGladrey earned $897.8 million in revenue.
In 2009 H&R Block had just fewer than 14,500 offices worldwide. It employed over 133,000 associates in the same year. The company earned $3 billion in revenues in 2009. H&R Block Inc’s revenue totaled $4.1 billion in the fiscal year ending on 4/30.