Tax courses from H&R Block?

[onlyCOpunk]

I was thinking of doing one these courses from an income tax company and picking up some casual work during the tax season which starts in July here.

Anyone done one of these course, and if so what were your experiences, impressions, and did you find it opened up any new job opportunities? I will have a Masters in Accounting by then, but I'm finding it difficult finding junior/entry roles in this job market.

 

[JS80]

If you have or are working on your Macc, you should be able to do your taxes without training from anyone. If you can read, use a calculator, and enter numbers into software, you can do "casual" taxes.

What do you mean by casual work? Friends and family? Or work for H&R Block? HRB pays like $10/hr if even.

 

[blackdogdeek]

when my wife stayed at home to watch the baby during the first few years she did this. she was able to work out a schedule so that she could go when i was home from work. she found the coursework easy though extensive. she knew someone who cheated on the coursework by attending the same class twice a week. she also found that everyone else didn't remember anything and would always screw things up on people's returns but they just never got caught.

so i think you will find the coursework to be a breeze and you can make ok money if you do it as a full time job. you will probably find your co-workers to be annoying though since they didn't seem to care that they didn't know the right answers to a lot of customers' questions.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

If you have or are working on your Macc, you should be able to do your taxes without training from anyone. If you can read, use a calculator, and enter numbers into software, you can do "casual" taxes.

What do you mean by casual work? Friends and family? Or work for H&R Block? HRB pays like $10/hr if even.

Casual work as in full time during the tax season. Unfortunately I've been studying full time for the past year and a half so I have not had time for any "real" type of work. Many jobs here are also advertised through recruiters who are also only interested in their commission, and to them education ranks lower on the scale then practical experience. Although everyone has to start somewhere and tax law interests me for some reason.

Also we get paid a little better here, and I think a starting wage there would be about $20/hour.

 

[BoomerD]

Yes. I are won.

I started the H&R Block tax classes last October and finished them in December.

I work for them part-time doing taxes.

The course is pretty good for BASIC taxes, but doesn't really teach you much about anything more complicated than simple itemization. More "complex" tax issues like small businesses and rental property is only briefly discussed...but are subjects you can take in the "off season."

This year was the first year that they hired you first, then paid you to attend the tax classes. Previously, you had to pay to take the classes...then hope you got hired.

My A.S. degrees in bookkeeping and accounting made their tax school pretty easy, (finished at the top of the class with a 97% overall) and the TPS software is very good, although perhaps not as simple as Turbo-Tax or the others that presume the user has no tax knowledge or experience.

I don't know if I'll do this next year or not, but if a person REALLY wants to stay with it, H&R Block offers classes that will take you up to Enrolled Agent.

 

[Corporate Thug]

I was thinking of doing one these courses from an income tax company and picking up some casual work during the tax season which starts in July here.

Anyone done one of these course, and if so what were your experiences, impressions, and did you find it opened up any new job opportunities? I will have a Masters in Accounting by then, but I'm finding it difficult finding junior/entry roles in this job market.

a good friend of mine did this and was offered an office manager job during tax season. He now manages 2 offices during tax season. They worked him to death for ~$10 an hour the first year. They work him twice as hard for a few more bucks this year.

From what he says, it's a very poorly run company.