DIY Approach Versus National Chain Companies

California is offering assistance for free tax filing. Workers that made less than $49,000 can get their taxes done for free. Californians are in company with tax clients from other states that are searching for money saving alternatives.

Recessions and depressions, your preference of definition, demand action. Struggling families across the United States are desperately searching for ways to save money.

Traditional companies such as H & R Block seem to have forgotten the theory of supply and demand. Overcharge for a good or service and the customer will be left with no choice than to shop around for a brighter blue sky. And that is just what Americans are doing, finding cheaper methods of getting their taxes done.

How can you justify charging $300 per customer when the price used to be only a fraction of that? It is shameful to think that you would charge such an enormous fee to someone working part time, or a family that has bills stacked up to the ceiling. It is downright unfair.

The government also has a motive for helping out the suffering workers of America. It needs your extra money to pay off debt. More wasteful spending, more national debt, more wars, etc. The victim is going to be whom? You guessed it, the average worker in America. As they say, only the poor pay taxes. The rich man finds ways to dodge the bullet, to some extent at least.

The DIY tax culture may be hurting H & R Block. That along with a ruling that weighed heavily against the company.

In the year of 2010, there was evidence that H & R Block was in serious decline. The company had a bad 2010. Loss of tax clients could have been as high as 40%, if not higher. The company is down 47% from a year ago. Stock prices have fallen.

DIY enthusiasts are using tools such as TurboTax, as well as hunting down independent tax preparers that don’t charge an arm and a leg for services. It’s quite obvious that the trends point in the digital direction. If you can’t use the digital world to help fray costs, you are going to lose in this economic blizzard.

Technology has exacted a penalty to Americans, so it is only fair when technology turns the tide to their favor.

Which tax service will you use this tax season? Brick-and-mortar chain or the DIY approach?