H&R Block TaxCut

What works

• Installation
• Activation
• Installation of state (with some command-line fixes)
  
• Tax preparation

Installation

Sometimes H&R Block mails me DVDs, and sometimes I do a digital download from Amazon, but this year I started with an ISO of an offer DVD downloaded from the Internet.  Once I knew the program worked under Wine, I bought a digital download from Amazon and had no problems activating with the provided code.

Mounting the DVD iso (just one example):

sudo mount -o loop HRBlock2013.iso /mnt/cdrom

Creating a new Wine prefix for this installation:

export WINEPREFIX=~/proj/wine/wine.hrblock2013

Installed Wine extras recommended by previous reviewer:

winetricks ie8
winetricks vcrun6
winetricks vcrun2005
winetricks mspatcha

Install (from ISO directory avoids path problems):

cd /mnt/cdrom/installers

wine HRBlock_Deluxe+Efile+State_2013_CD.exe /vRun=/DTS

Launch program:

cd ${WINEPREFIX}/drive_c/Program\ Files/HRBlock2013/Program && wine HRBlock2013.exe

When you update, you will find the updates are saved in your WINEPREFIX:

ls ${WINEPREFIX}/drive_c/users/Public/Application\ Data/TaxCut/2013/Update/

In most cases, I was unable to have these updates successfully install, either in program or by running them externally.  I attempted opening the archives and installing manually but there appears to be an error in Wine's msiexec that I could not work around.  In the end, I had to resort to updating the program on a Windows machine just before filing and copying the installation directory back to my Linux machine (hence the Bronze rating: filing without updating may not be possible and certainly isn't advised).

State add-on Installation

First, install the state from within the program.  This will fail, but it will extract the files we need to complete the installation ourselves.

The state program is stored in your WINEPREFIX if you need it for future use.  For example, the Massachusetts (MA) add-on is here:

ls ${WINEPREFIX}/drive_c/users/Public/Application\ Data/TaxCut/2013/Downloads/HRBlockMA.exe

It isn't necessary to re-run this, as the state add-on files will have been extracted already.  They are dumped into a directory named "0" (zero).  You can find the location of this directory and relocate the files to your program area:

find ~ -name 0 -type d -mtime -1
 # for me, returned ~/0
cd ~/0 && tar cvf ~/temp.tar .
cd ${WINEPREFIX}/drive_c/Program\ Files/HRBlock2013 && tar xvf ~/temp.tar
rm ~/temp.tar

 You can now re-run the program and prepare your state taxes.

What does not

• Patching. Hit or miss: was not reliable for all patches with msiexec endless loops. If you cannot resolve this, you cannot file.
  
• Printing to PDF (requires additional software which was also not reliable - possible work-arounds here)
• In-program Help links
  

Workarounds

What was not tested

• E-filing (should be possible but my returns did not qualify for electronic transmission this year)
  

Hardware tested

Graphics:

• GPU:
• Driver:

Additional Comments

I mostly followed ben's excellent instructions for the 2011 version. They still appear relevant. This worst headache is the patching. I believe this is nearly working and someone more skilled could get the downloaded patches to apply. From previous year's reviews, it appeared this once did work so reverting to an older Wine may be a solution. The print to PDF relies on a third-party free print driver, PDF995. You can download this externally and install it in your WINEPREFIX. The installation went fine but my printed files were never saved. There are other Windows free PDF print drivers that may work better. Again, this was previously said to work so perhaps reverting to an older Wine will help. This is very close to being a "Gold" solution for Linux tax preparation that doesn't rely on saving your personal data in the cloud. Please help solve these last issues!