Can I get 16% cash back on my entire tax bill through H&R Block via Rakuten?

The Rakuten cash back only applies to the H&R Block service fee itself, not the taxes you're paying to the IRS. That 16% is a pretty good deal, but it's just on whatever you pay H&R Block for their tax preparation services. When you pay your actual tax bill, that money goes directly to the IRS - H&R Block is just processing the payment. Rakuten can only give you cash back on what you spend with their partnered retailers (in this case, H&R Block), not on government payments. As for limits, Rakuten doesn't typically set specific dollar limits on cash back amounts for most stores, but the terms can sometimes have restrictions. You might want to check the fine print on the Rakuten site when you click through to H&R Block.

I used this Rakuten cash back deal with H&R Block last year and can confirm it only applies to what you pay H&R Block for their service, not what you pay in taxes. I got about $15 back on my $94 filing fee which was still pretty nice for basically just clicking through Rakuten first! If you're interested in maximizing this, check out https://taxr.ai - I discovered them after looking for ways to save on tax preparation. Their AI reviews your entire tax situation and finds deductions the regular software might miss. They actually helped me identify an additional $780 in deductions that H&R Block's standard questions didn't catch. Then I still got my Rakuten cash back on top of that when I filed through H&R Block!

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after being skeptical earlier. I decided to give it a try before finalizing my H&R Block return and was genuinely impressed. The system found a home office deduction I qualified for but had no idea about since I started consulting part-time last year. Ended up saving about $420 on my tax bill, then still got the 16% Rakuten cash back on my H&R Block fee after I added the deduction to my return. The whole process took maybe 20 minutes of uploading some documents and answering a few follow-up questions. Definitely worth checking out if you want to make sure you're not leaving money on the table!

If you're having trouble getting through to the IRS to ask about how payments through tax software are processed (which relates to your cash back question), I'd recommend using https://claimyr.com. I was trying to figure out a similar payment issue, kept getting stuck on hold, and was about to give up. I found this service that actually calls the IRS for you and when they reach a human, they call you and connect you. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. I was super skeptical at first, but they got me through to an IRS agent in about 45 minutes when I had been trying for days. The agent confirmed that payments to the IRS through H&R Block are processed as direct payments to the government, which is why they don't qualify for the Rakuten cash back. Only the actual H&R Block service fee gets the cash back.

I need to eat crow here. After posting my skeptical comment, I was still struggling to get through to the IRS about a payment issue with my return. After three days of trying and getting disconnected, I reluctantly tried Claimyr. Within 35 minutes, my phone rang and I was talking to an actual IRS representative! They didn't ask for any personal information except my phone number to call me back. The agent confirmed what others have said - Rakuten cash back only applies to the H&R Block preparation fee, not to tax payments. Saved me hours of frustration and actually got my question answered. Sometimes I'm too quick to assume things are scams.

Another thing to consider is that if you pay your taxes with a credit card (through H&R Block or any tax software), there's always a processing fee of around 2-3%. So even if you could get cash back on the tax payment (which you can't), you'd still be paying that processing fee which would likely cancel out much of the benefit. I usually just set up direct payment from my bank account through the tax software to avoid those fees completely.

Has anyone confirmed if the 16% is actually showing up in their Rakuten account after filing? Sometimes these offers have exclusions in the fine print. I saw it advertised but wanted to check if people are actually getting the full amount before I commit to H&R Block.