KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City-based H&R Block reported a nearly 15% decrease in its annual revenue for its 2020 fiscal year, a drop attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
H&R Block reported $2.64 billion in revenue for the fiscal year, which ended April 30. The tax preparation company reported $3.095 billion in revenue for the previous fiscal year — from May 1, 2018, through April 30, 2019.
The IRS pushed back the tax-filing deadline, which is usually April 15, three months as most of the country went under stay-at-home in March to try and arrest the spread of the coronavirus.
But H&R Block officials sounded an upbeat note despite a net income of only $6 million for the 2020 fiscal year compared with the $445 million the company claimed during the 2019 fiscal year, according to its earnings report.
"Prior to the disruption to the tax industry caused by the pandemic, we were on track to deliver on our financial outlook for fiscal 2020,” H&R Block Chief Financial Officer Tony Bowen said in a statement. “Our focus now is on executing during the first quarter as we navigate this difficult time. We have adequate liquidity to meet anticipated operating cash needs through the start of tax season 2021 and are taking measures to reduce expenses to continue to fund future growth."
H&R Block will update investors on the revenue for the full 2020 tax season during the first-quarter earnings call for the 2021 fiscal year in a few months.
“This has obviously been a challenging time for everyone, and I'm so proud of how our associates, tax pros, and franchisees responded in the face of the pandemic," H&R Block President and CEO Jeff Jones said in a statement. "This has impacted our business and challenged us to be agile and innovative as we made broad changes to our operating model in order to continue to help our clients. We remain committed to transforming our business and will use this opportunity to reimagine our future.”
Despite reporting a pretax loss of $3 million, due in part to the company’s acquisition of Wave, H&R Block announced a $0.26 cash dividend per share will be paid July 1 to shareholders, keeping its streak of paying a dividend every quarter since going public in 1962.
