KANSAS CITY, Mo. – When it's time to start working on their 2002 federal tax returns, members of credit unions that participate in H&R Block's Credit Union Tax Services Program will be able to consider completing and filing their federal tax return online using the company's new Online Tax Program. For the do-it-yourself taxpayer, the newly announced free program performs calculations, checks for errors and guides the taxpayer through filling in the appropriate forms. Electronic filing of the tax return is included with the program. Members access the program through their credit union's Web site. The program is interview-based, and all the questions and forms are built in to the software. Once their tax return is filed, members can check the status of their e-filed return by logging back in to the program. In addition for a nominal fee, members can have their tax return reviewed by an H&R Block tax advisor. The Online Tax Program will be available for the 2003 tax season in mid-January. "Most people when they think of H&R Block, think only of the more than 9,000 storefronts the company has throughout the country," said Matt Kerr, director of business development at H&R Block. "The company is not just about that, and this program shows that." H&R Block launched its Credit Union Tax Services Program in 2001. It completed 125,000 tax returns for 1.4 million members belonging to 15 credit unions during the 2002 tax season. Kerr said H&R Block has signed up an additional 15 credit unions to the program since then. He said the tax returns have tended to be of higher complexity than the standard tax return, and he attributed that to members' demographics. According to the Internal Revenue Service, 4.2 million consumers electronically filed tax returns in 1990. By 2001, that number was up to 40,206,800. The IRS estimates that 44,930,800 consumers will electronically file their tax returns in 2002. -

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