Confused about the Saver's Credit - is it worth paying for tax software to claim it?

The Saver's Credit (officially called the Retirement Savings Contributions Credit) is definitely worth claiming if you qualify! This credit rewards you for contributing to retirement accounts like 401(k)s or IRAs. If H&R Block is showing the $406 credit but your refund is only $651, it likely means the credit is already included in that refund amount. You can verify this by checking the "tax credits" section of your return summary. Before paying $39 for H&R Block's deluxe version, I'd recommend checking if you can get it free elsewhere. TaxSlayer might include it in their free version as you noticed. Also check the IRS Free File options - some include the Saver's Credit in their free versions depending on your income. One important note: The Saver's Credit is non-refundable, meaning it can only reduce your tax to zero but won't give you extra refund money beyond that. So make sure you actually have enough tax liability to use the full credit.

After getting frustrated with the exact same situation last year, I found an amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that saved me so much confusion. It helps you figure out which credits you actually qualify for and which tax software will let you claim them for free. I was about to pay TurboTax $49 to claim the Saver's Credit when the tool showed me I could get it free through one of the IRS Free File options. It also explained exactly how the credit would affect my refund so I wasn't confused like you are now. They have this cool feature where you upload a PDF of your previous tax returns and it shows you if you missed any credits or deductions that you could've claimed. Found out I missed the Saver's Credit in 2023 and was able to file an amendment!

I was skeptical about taxr.ai when I first heard about it (thought it was just another tax scam), but I tried it out after struggling with this exact Saver's Credit issue. It immediately showed me that I could file with FreeTaxUSA and claim the Saver's Credit without paying anything extra. Saved me the $39 I was about to pay to TurboTax. The report it generated also explained that the Saver's Credit was reducing my tax liability rather than adding to my refund, which cleared up my confusion. The best part was when it analyzed my 2023 return and found I'd completely missed claiming over $800 in education credits I was eligible for. Just filed an amendment and expecting that money back soon. Definitely worth checking out if you're confused about tax credits.

If you're having trouble figuring out if you qualify for the Saver's Credit, you might want to call the IRS directly to confirm. But good luck getting through - I tried calling them 8 times last week with questions about this exact credit and kept getting the "due to high call volume" message before being disconnected. Then I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of spending days trying. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent was able to confirm I qualified for the Saver's Credit and explained exactly how it would affect my refund. They also told me which free filing options would include it. Saved me a ton of confusion and probably the $39 I would've paid for the deluxe software.

I'm back to eat my words about Claimyr being a scam. After another frustrating day of trying to reach the IRS about some Saver's Credit questions, I broke down and tried it. Was completely shocked when I got a call back in about 15 minutes saying they had an IRS agent on the line. Got all my questions answered in one call. The agent explained that my confusion about the Saver's Credit was common - it reduces your tax liability rather than adding to your refund directly. For the OP's specific question: The agent confirmed that if H&R Block is showing a $406 credit and a $651 refund, that means the credit is already factored in. They also suggested checking the IRS Free File options since many include the Saver's Credit in their free version if you qualify income-wise. Definitely worth it to get a definitive answer directly from the IRS instead of paying for software upgrades you might not need.

Former tax preparer here. The Saver's Credit confusion is super common. Here's a simple explanation: Let's say you'd normally owe $500 in taxes after all calculations. With the $406 Saver's Credit, you'd now only owe $94. If your withholding from paychecks was $745, your refund would be $745 - $94 = $651. Without the credit, your refund would be $745 - $500 = $245. So the credit is already baked into your $651 refund amount. Paying H&R Block $39 won't get you anything extra since you're already getting the credit. Also, check out FreeTaxUSA - they include the Saver's Credit form in their free version, and only charge like $15 for state filing.

I'm doing my taxes with H&R Block free right now too. Where exactly did you see that Saver's Credit? I went through all the deductions and credits screens but don't see it mentioned anywhere. Did you have to do something special to trigger it?