Johnathan Walker:H&R Block customers experience outages ahead of the Tax Day deadline

Benefits to filing an extension in the final hours of Tax Day

Waiting until the last day to file their tax returns proved frustrating for some H&R Block customers who experienced tech issues that began Sunday and persisted into most of Monday, hampering their ability to send their 1040s to the IRS before the April 15 deadline.

H&R Block late Monday afternoon told CBS MoneyWatch it had resolved an issue "affecting a small number of our downloadable desktop software users." Those impacted "can now e-file their return," the company said.

We are aware of an issue preventing some desktop software users from e-filing their returns. Online clients and clients working with our tax professionals virtually or in person are not impacted.

— H&R Block Support (@HRBlockAnswers) April 15, 2024

Those unable to file their returns electronically were earlier in the day advised by H&R Block to "try again later today or print and mail their return if that is more convenient." 

Reports of problems began at about 9 p.m. ET Sunday and continued through Monday before declining at about 4 p.m., according to Downdetector. Thousands of users reported problems with the H&R Block service during that time, the site shows.

The regular deadline for filing returns is 11:59 p.m. on Monday in a filer's local time zone, although a few states have later deadlines. Taxpayers can also request an extension, which gives them until October 15 to file.

Some H&R Block customers said they received error messages and repeated credit card charges for trying numerous times to file. 

"Finally! My return was just transmitted successfully. Now to chase them for my 27 attempts that I was charged $19.95 for," one person commented on Downdector's site. 

The tax-prep software giant in February said it was appealing a Federal Trade Commission ruling that found H&R Block had allegedly marketed products as free before creating hurdles to push them into unnecessary and pricier services. 

In:
• IRS
• Taxes

Kate Gibson

Kate Gibson is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch in New York.