The Federal Trade Commission announced that it is requiring H&R Block to make a number of changes for the 2025 tax filing season in addition to longer-term changes. The settlement also requires the company to pay $7 million to be used to compensate its customers that were harmed by the company’s actions.
In the FTC’s complaint, the agency alleged that H&R Block unfairly required costumers seeking to downgrade to a cheaper H&R Block product to contact customer service, unfairly deleted users’ previously entered data and made deceptive claims about “free” tax filing.
The settlement requires H&R Block to make it easier for consumers to downgrade products and by eliminating its practice of completely deleting consumers’ previously entered data upon downgrade.
By February 15, 2025, H&R is required to allow consumers to downgrade products using a chatbot or other automatic means, instead of requiring them to call customer service or chat with a live customer service agent.
In addition to the $7 million payment, the settlement requires H&R Block, by the 2026 tax filing season, to stop completely deleting consumers’ previously entered information. Specifically, when H&R Block customers downgrades back to the product they upgraded from, the company must ensure that they return to the same point in filing where they were when they upgraded, which will save costumers significant time and effort.
H&R Block must also provide an easily noticeable and always available way for consumers to downgrade without having to call customer service or chat with a live customer service agent.
The settlement also requires H&R Block to disclose in its “free” advertising either the percentage of taxpayers who are eligible to use any “free” products or that the majority of taxpayers do not qualify. 