I don't know anything about Jackson Hewitt but I know a little about HR Block. I took their class last year. Since I passed the class, I was able to become employed by them.
It wasn't a bad experience at all, in my opinion. Yes, they do want you to try to sell their programs ( and I'm am certainly not one to push selling things on people) but really the programs sell themselves.
When you prepare someone's taxes and know they are ready to move forward with getting the tax prep through you, the computer system forces you to show all of the different options, including the cost of getting it with rapid refund and without rapid refund. The figures are right in front of their faces and then it's a matter of them justifying to themselves if it's worth the cost. It they didn't want it, I didn't push it and then you move forward.
Pay there is complicated, but it's essentially commission-based. The more classes you take and the more years you do tax preparation, the more money you make.
It was my first year, so the pay wasn't that great. But it's better than nothing. You pretty much are able to call you own hours (within reason).
This was a second job for me, and I really went overboard with scheduling my hours so I'm still burned out. I don't think I'm going to do it again this just because I am still burned out.
Plus, you can do your own tax preparation for free on their system and have all the experts at your disposal to ask questions. My tax prep would have cost me about $500 (no joke) through them, but it was completely free.
Granted our taxes are a little bit more complicated than the average joe (my husband has his own snowplowing subcontractor side business), so this made it worth it.
Also, an additional FYI- the cost of the class was a tax deduction in my state. Maybe it could be in your's too. You won't know unless you take the class!
Good luck!
