Earnings Labs

H&R Block, Inc. (HRB)

Q3 2015 Earnings Call· Thu, Mar 5, 2015

$31.32

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon. My name is Kevin, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Thank you.

Colby Brown - Vice President-Investor Relations

Management

Thank you, Kevin. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our third quarter fiscal 2015 results. Joining me on the call today are Bill Cobb, our President and CEO; and Greg Macfarlane, our CFO; Jason Houseworth, President-Global Digital & Product Management; and Mark Ciaramitaro, Vice President, Health Care will be available during the Q&A session. In connection with this call, we have posted today's press release on the Investor Relations website, at hrblock.com. Some of the figures that we'll discuss today are presented on a non-GAAP basis. We've reconciled the comparable GAAP and non-GAAP figures in the schedules attached to our press release. Before we begin our prepared remarks, I'd like to remind everyone that this call will include forward-looking statements as defined under the securities laws. Such statements are based on current information and management's expectations as of this date, and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. As a result, our actual outcomes and results could differ materially. You can learn more about these risks in our Form 10-K for fiscal 2014 and our other SEC filings. H&R Block undertakes no obligation to publicly update these risk factors or forward-looking statements. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Bill. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Colby, and good afternoon, everyone. Earlier today, we announced our results for the fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended January 31. The IRS opened e-file earlier this January than it did last year, which allowed us to recognize additional revenue in the third quarter compared to last year's quarter. Of course, because of the seasonality of our business, our third quarter results are not indicative of our expected full-year performance.…

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Thanks, Bill, and good afternoon, everybody. As a reminder, given the seasonality of our business and the fact that the significant majority of our revenue and all of our earnings come in the fourth quarter, our third quarter results generally are not indicative of the results we expect to achieve for the full-year. As Bill mentioned, the IRS opened e-file earlier this year than in 2014. Because we recognized tax preparation fees when completed returns are filed with the IRS, we recognized an additional 11 days in revenue in the third quarter fiscal 2015. Overall, revenues for the quarter were $509 million, representing an increase of $309 million compared to the prior-year quarter. Net loss from continuing operations was $35 million, or $0.13 per share, compared to a net loss of $213 million, or $0.78 per share, in the prior year. For the full fiscal year, we continue to target adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 30%. We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet with excellent liquidity. Cash and customer banking deposit balances were significantly higher at the end of the third quarter this year due to the earlier funding of refunds by the IRS. The total unrestricted cash balance was $1.3 billion and total outstanding debt was $1.1 billion, which includes $591 million in commercial paper borrowings. And as a reminder, we repaid a $400 million note in October 2014, leaving us with $500 million in senior notes as of January 31. Finally, we expect our effective tax rate for fiscal 2015 to be at the lower end of the range provided at our Investor Day in December of 35.5% to 36.5%. Turning to our segment results; tax services revenues increased $309 million to $503 million as a result of the earlier e-filing opening date. Consistent with expectations, total…

Operator

Operator

The first question comes from the line of Kartik Mehta with Northcoast Research. Your line is open.

Kartik Mehta - Northcoast Research Partners LLC

Analyst · Northcoast Research. Your line is open

Hey. Good afternoon, Greg and Bill. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hi, Kartik.

Kartik Mehta - Northcoast Research Partners LLC

Analyst · Northcoast Research. Your line is open

If you look at the early season, Bill, is there any reason that you can come up with why maybe your volumes are falling behind the IRS numbers? Have you come across something that you think is the primary catalyst for this? William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: As we said, I think, in the press release, we do think there is a delay. The IRS released some numbers earlier today; and with the overall industry, total returns is down 0.6%, at the same time last year it was up 1.4%. So, you have right there just year-on-year a two-point shift. And we're seeing this certainly in our offices, where it seems like clients are coming in later, whether it's form delays or whatever. The ACA confusion, form delays, form errors has also contributed this. I think we have had a carry-over effect from a retention spiral from kind of getting away from the free EZ, we had an impact last year, I think, there is a carry-over impact this year. And frankly, so, I spent a long time on this, until EITC filers are generally early season filers, until we get consistent standards that shift, that migration away from paid preparers, having to answer 27 questions and verify a bunch of information, open season is going to contribute to that shift. So, I don't have one thing that is contributed to it, I mean, obviously, as I said in my comments, I'm disappointed, but there are some factors that I think point to, if you will, beyond our control, but we are working very hard. And I do think we have a lot of reasons to have a positive outlook for the remainder of this season.

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

And I do want to add a caution onto that statement. I think it's very misleading and difficult, and I shared this with you all before. I think the unit count numbers can be misunderstood pretty easily, mix matters very much in this industry. And so, we're as much focused on units as we are mix. And also there's still a lot of season to go here. So, the IRS headline today is three of five filers still have to file for the rest of the year. So, those are my thoughts as well. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah.

Kartik Mehta - Northcoast Research Partners LLC

Analyst · Northcoast Research. Your line is open

And so, I know this is difficult this time around, because of what happened last year with the delay in filing, but looking at the revenue mix you talked about last year and trying to normalize revenue this year versus last year, you have been very good about getting pricing and obviously that ancillary products have helped you there. And if I did my math right, it seems like it could be – pricing is probably in the high single-digits, maybe even low double-digits. Is that accurate? And would you be able to sustain that type of pricing, because of mix and ancillary products are going into the rest of the tax season?

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

So, I'm not going to obviously comment on your math, Kartik, what we have said generally, as we know we got pricing power in this industry and we would typically say that somewhere north of the rate of inflation, there's no reason to not think that's true for us this year. The other thing specifically for 2015 tax season for 2014 is the implementation of ACA. So, part of our pricing strategy going into this season, obviously had to include the value and the costs that we're incurring for our clients to deliver the service and we're going to charge for that this year. And so far, we've been very pleased with the results there. Other than that, we're not going to give specific pricing thoughts until really post season.

Kartik Mehta - Northcoast Research Partners LLC

Analyst · Northcoast Research. Your line is open

Okay. And then, just one last question, Bill. I think I just want to make sure I heard you correctly in your prepared remarks. Did you say that because of where you are in terms of client count, it would be difficult to make that up? So, therefore, difficult to get the kind of flat or positive client count? Or do you think that's still possible since we have a significant amount of the tax season still left? William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. What I said was I think it'll be difficult to fully recover that number of clients, I do think we will. I think there are a lot of our clients still to come in, I think that's consistent with what we've seen in the past, where generally we'll start-off softer than others in the beginning of the year. But, in terms of whether we are able to crawl all the way back, I don't think we'll be able to do that, but I think we're going to have a much stronger second half.

Kartik Mehta - Northcoast Research Partners LLC

Analyst · Northcoast Research. Your line is open

Perfect. Thank you very much. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Kartik.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Gil Luria with Wedbush Securities. Your line is open.

Gil B. Luria - Wedbush Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Gil Luria with Wedbush Securities. Your line is open

Thank you. So, what proportion of your customers ended up having to, so far year-to-date, season-to-date, have had to either fill out a new form because of the Affordable Care Act? Or have to move up from a more simple form to a more complicated form, because of the changes to healthcare this year? William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. So, I don't think, Gil, we're going to give specific numbers on forms et cetera. I would say that what Mark had talked about at Investor Day, we anticipated about 25% of our clients would be impacted. The numbers we have seen so far indicate that we are under that number. At this point in the season as Greg just cautioned, I think we are waiting to see this all play out, because of some of the externalities that you've heard about; but in terms of any form shifts, we're not going to get into that right now. But, Mark, is there anything you want add to that?

Mark Ciaramitaro - Vice President, Health Care

Analyst · Gil Luria with Wedbush Securities. Your line is open

Well. I will say as we anticipated, many of our clients and consumers, in general, are really feeling the full effects of the Affordable Care Act this year and we're seeing that obviously have some impact on their filing behavior we believe and they're confronting a new level of complexity. And as Bill mentioned, some of those clients are actually seeing surprises in terms of their refund behavior or the refund effects, but we've always said this is a long-term proposition. We believe, many clients will be impacted this year. They are on the learning curve. Many more clients would be impacted next year, frankly, on the basis of the enrollment numbers we've seen. So, we're going to see the rest of this year play out, but this is really a long-term impact that would just – at the front end I've seen. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah, I don't think we've talked about that before, I think Greg has continually cautioned against this. Next year, you won't just be able to self-attest if you have insurance, so there are changes that are coming. And when you go into something like this, where the intersection of something like the Affordable Care Act with taxes seems so counter-intuitive to so many consumers and the awareness was low. We're seeing a little bit of that play out. I think if things get more comfortable, they might be in more, if you will, normal patterns; but right now, I'm not sure I could predict what a normal pattern is anymore on the assisted side. So, we'll see how this plays out.

Gil B. Luria - Wedbush Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Gil Luria with Wedbush Securities. Your line is open

And then, in terms of fraud, which has really taken off this year. And as you pointed out, it sounds like it's less of an issue for you than some of your competitors. What are you doing in terms of the specific measures? Are you introducing multifactor authentication? Do you plan to do that? Do you plan to maintain the bundling of state and federal to prevent state filing-specific fraud? How are you handling, what you're seeing from your competitors in terms of your policies and technology for handling fraud? William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. I'm going to let Jason get in there. I would say one thing Gil is that for any CEO, this is a paramount importance, the whole area of cyber security, we're fighting against a number of bad guys here, this has been of high concern. I think we've talked about this frankly, I think, I said at our Investor Day, we're kind of a lone voice here although, there are a lot more voices here. But, why don't we talk about the specifics that we do, Jason if you could take that? Jason L. Houseworth - President-Global Digital & Product Management: Sure. Thanks, Gil. So, what I would say first is that Intuit is really late joining this conversation, we had a number of fraud filters in place for multiple years. First, we have multifactor authentication within our log-in process and that's been in place since 2011. Our password strength for our online accounts has some of the strongest requirements in the industry and we do not allow unlinked returns to be filed to states. That is to say that we actually require an accepted federal e-file before we even send or file the state return. And, as we previously indicated, our internal fraud monitoring team has not seen any unusual fraud activity this tax season. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. And, we think that ultimately those points are really key. I think what happened this year was, by not waiting until the federal return was accepted by the IRS, which has the strongest fraud filters. It's hard for any individual state to match the power of the IRS. So, that's why we had put this policy in-place that we wanted an accepted return by the IRS before we have filed the statement. I think that's where the fraudsters crack the code.

Gil B. Luria - Wedbush Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Gil Luria with Wedbush Securities. Your line is open

Got it. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Thomas Allen with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Thomas G. Allen - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Hey. Hi, guys. So, at your Investor Day, you stated that you expected industry-assisted volumes to grow 0% to 1% and digital to grow 4% to 5%. Could you just update us on your thinking now? Thanks. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. I think we're trying to figure that out, frankly, Thomas. I do think that the digital number, the number that came out today, which will probably fall over time, but it was roughly 6% for the total digital business; paper returns, according to today's numbers, were down 13%. And right now, assisted is down 4.4%; that will improve over time, that's been the history here. We still believe that the overall industry will grow 1.5% or in that range. But, when you're down 0.6% and you're more than 40% of the way through, you're a little bit questioning that. But, we believe that, with the delay – all the stuff that's happened, generally people still have to file in this industry, and I believe it's going to be a much stronger second half. Thomas G. Allen - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Okay. And then, can you just touch on the competitive environment? You wrote about it in your prepared remarks and obviously, there's been a lot of talk around pricing adjustments and marketing. So, can you talk about how you feel the environment is? William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, it's always very competitive out there. There is a lot of factors in the industry; obviously, on the digital side, the launch of the free product by Turbo, going after…

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

The table that we released actually adjusts for that factor in there. So, we've reclassified what would have been franchise last year into company to make it more apples-to-apples, Thomas. Thomas G. Allen - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Okay. Okay. And so, well, that explains most of it. But, should we expect the franchisees to outperform the company-owned stores through the season, after adjusted, or not?

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yeah. Historically, we're never (37:31) pretty close on both of them... Thomas G. Allen - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Yeah.

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

We have no reason to believe that's not true this year. Thomas G. Allen - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Next question comes from the line of Jeff Silber with BMO. Your line is open.

Henry Chien - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · Jeff Silber with BMO. Your line is open

Hey, guys. It's Henry Chien calling in for Jeff. I just had a question on the legislation to potentially give the IRS authority to regulate preparers. Have you heard any progress on that front? And with the recent news of fraud and some of the attention there, has that shifted maybe some of the regulatory momentum to more standardized requirements for DIY versus assisted? Any comments that you have there? Thanks. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, here is what I would say. Obviously, you got two different issues, the EITC issue, Congress has already directed the Treasury Department to implement the consistent standards, it's a matter of the Treasury Department doing it. In terms of return preparer, that has to go the other way, which is Congress has to now initiate that as a law. We are working hard at that. I think frankly, there is a lot of talk. We're certainly, with our government relations team, working very closely with a lot of aspects of government that the tax fraud that has come up here. The amount of dollars that are being doled out in losses and improper payments. I think that there are certainly a lot more awareness around this, which we hope will add to the effort around finally getting competency standards nationally. We're very active at the federal level. We're also working at the state level to try to increase the number of states who require competency and licensing.

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

And importantly this season, two states have now introduced return preparer standards, New York State being the primary one of those, and there is several other states that we would think are likely to have them in place for next year.

Henry Chien - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · Jeff Silber with BMO. Your line is open

Okay. Great. Thanks. And if I could tack one on, on the pricing side. I know there's been some confusion around ACA forms, but from what you've seen so far, are you seeing, based on your expectations or what you're planning for, are you still seeing any pricing lift from ACA overall, in general? Thanks.

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

So, just as a matter of policy, don't talk at form level pricing, it's just not something we do. Having said that, we did, going into this season, spend a lot of time and a lot of money getting our people ready, and our systems ready, to help our clients through this very difficult transaction. And we've added value to their lives, and we're going to charge for that. So certainly we've got our pricing strategy around ACA, it really is going to be dependent on your situation frankly, what price you'll pay, and it's a bit more complex than just a simple number, but the kind of takeaway I would say thus far is, we're actually very pleased with the price value equation and so are our clients.

Henry Chien - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · Jeff Silber with BMO. Your line is open

Okay. Great. Thanks so much.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Scott Schneeberger with Oppenheimer. Your line is open. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker): Thank you. Good afternoon. Greg, I'm going to follow on that one. I know you don't speak specifically on forms, but it sounds like you are pleased with what you're seeing, particularly in mix, I'd say, across the board. Were there any significant rate increases, excluding ACA from the conversation, this year, year-over-year, on any forms in the store front area?

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

The way we price is really based on bundle experiences. And so, a bundle would be a typical client experience that covers a large number of people from one year to the next. So, the reason I'm sharing that with you is, there'll always be unfortunately some exceptions where a person's circumstances are so unique that they get caught up in just the way that bundle gets priced out. But, in general, we have been very thoughtful about price sticker shock. If someone, for example, went from a 1040EZ, because they have ACA forms would automatically have to go to a 1040A or 1040 form type. That was something that we certainly factored in, because we obviously are looking to have a long-term relationship, not a one-year relationship with these clients. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker): Okay. Fair enough. Bill, one for you. This is going to be, I think, the first that you mentioned; you're going to get this 13 more times. And I already know the answer, but I'm asking it nonetheless. There are multiple reasons that you listed in the press release and then you added on this call, fraud as a potential reason that we saw more DIY as opposed to assisted in the early part of the season. My question specifically is, of the – I count five or six reasons that you put out there vocally or in print. I know what the answer is, it's too early to tell. But, in your personal opinion, what would you rank as the top three ideally in descending order, if possible? William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, I think, all right, I'll take a shot at it. I'll answer your answer and say we're going to wait…

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

A lot of it's surrounding Earned Income Credit filers and they tend to be early season filers. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker): Okay. Thanks for that. And then just a couple of more, if I can, going around in other areas. You put out a press release with regard to Canada looking more aggressive with your do-it-yourself product. I'm curious since your strategy last year and continue this year at least in the U.S. is to pursue revenue, and that's the primary focus and all the entails, it feels like you're taking almost a counter strategy in Canada, just curious so, what the thinking is there? Thanks.

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Each country that we operate in, has a unique strategy, of course, tied to the overall company mission here, but Canada situation is much different than the U.S. There, we had no presence to speak of in the DIY space at all. And Intuit is the largest market participant there. And we think that's going to have to change and we're prepared to be in that for many years to think what we want to do is win our fair share and we're prepared to spend the money to get there. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker): And the follow-up there, it looks like I can't come to any way that you're going to be monetizing with perhaps a cross-sell or anything that strategy this year. And I think your answer also suggests, it's longer term. Is that true? It's not a this-year impact, it's more down the line?

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

It was a multi-year strategy that we've embarked upon and we're prepared to, as I said, funded during that timeframe, but I will just tell you in the grand scheme of thing, it's not a material number for most shareholders. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker): Okay. Thanks. And then, battening up cleanup, I want to sneak one or two more in. The $50 million reduction in the loan loss reserve, and clearly there was some settlement, but clearly there's an existing amount on the loan loss reserve in Sand Canyon, so it's not all settled. Greg, can you share a little bit more about what occurred, why it wasn't a complete settlement? It sounds very productive and good. Kind of curious, why partial?

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yeah. Just to clarify, I know you have this, Scott, but these are reserves for representation and warranty claims, not loan losses as such. But, in the last quarter, third quarter of this fiscal year, Sand Canyon did enter into a specific settlement agreement with the counterparty and that was fully reserved for. And the reserve itself moved down by $50 million, which was a fairly material number and was paid out during that quarter. So, I think that's good progress. The reserve itself is also supported by other claimants that Sand Canyon is engaged in having productive conversations. I know that many people would like to get better clarity and the timeline. But, the reality is, that these are still process and it just takes time, but our board continue to be consistent that there's forward progress being made here, getting this one resolved, I think, is an indication that there is a progress. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker): Thank you. And then lastly, looking to slip it in. The Bank, really, not much discussed on this call. I don't know that you're going to share much more. But, is there a level two deeper open question that you care to share with us at this point? Thanks.

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

On the bank, transaction? Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker): Yes.

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yeah. I mean, the transaction that we got with BofI as a good transaction for BofI it's a good transaction for H&R Block, it's been with the regular now for a year plus. We believe on the merits and the structure of the transaction will be approved. For us, we really just have to get it approved and implement it for next tax season. So, we got a fair amount of time to work with right now. Obviously, if we can get it approved well before that, that would be excellent and closed. But, our position remains the same, that we think it will be approved and it's really up to this regulator ultimately, though. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker): Any increase, decrease in communication with regulator? Anything that you would share outside or...

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Both ourselves and BofI have regular conversations with the regulators and normal course business. And, of course, as we have appropriate questions come in, as relates to this transaction, we would respond to those thoroughly and quickly as we can, we can see it in a position where we're really just waiting for the most part at this point for resolution, but there has been no change in the frequency or type of questions that we've seen in the last several months. Scott A. Schneeberger - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker): Okay. Thanks for taking all my questions, guys. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Scott.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Anj Singh with Credit Suisse. Your line is open. Anjaneya K. Singh - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Hi, thanks for sneaking me in here. Just a couple of quick questions. On the competitive dynamics touched upon earlier in your prepared remarks, and not being able to fill that hole in assisted versus the IRS filings, do you have a sense whether these filers have gone to other preparers or are they going to DIY? Do you have a sense of where they're going to? William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, the overall assisted business, the latest numbers from the IRS is down 4.5% season-to-date. So, obviously, the whole area of assisted is suffering, we're a little worse than that, but there seems to be assisted. Digital is not in line in terms of their growth rate with what we had talked about. I have reason to believe that the points I was making in my prepared remarks is that the EITC migration will get higher until Treasury implements the directive from Congress next year. And the EITC filer on the DIY basis has a free lane, I think, that point shift is going to go higher than 42%, but we'll have to see how that plays out. So, I think, in that sense, yes, there would be a shift. I think, overall, we think that when the season is done, the assisted to digital shift will be more in line with what has been the past couple of seasons, which is primarily due to this EITC issue. Anjaneya K. Singh - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Got it. And I'm not sure if you touched upon this earlier, but I was wondering if you…

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yeah. I think, the vast majority of them we completed this season, there may be some small changes next year, but for the material part we've done in 2015. Anjaneya K. Singh - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Got it. And one final one, if you can answer this I'd appreciate it. Just wondering, we saw the dates in the merger agreement get revised further out. I believe it's now June 30. Wondering, if there's any rhyme or reason as to how you choose those dates? Why isn't it May 30 or July 31?

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

So, there is rhyme and there is reason for sure. The answer is that we view those dates, I mean, of course, between BofI and ourselves to make sure we're in agreement, but we've also used them as a way to help have a conversation with the regulator. So, from a broadest perspective, I wouldn't get too concerned about them. As you've already seen we can whip BofI's agreement and move them as we need to, but we do think those are a good timelines to work towards and helps us again have that conversation with the regulator. Anjaneya K. Singh - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Okay. Great. Thanks so much.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Michael Millman with Millman Research Associates. Your line is open.

Michael Millman - Millman Research Associates

Analyst · Michael Millman with Millman Research Associates. Your line is open

Thank you. Can you tell us what share of the ACA business you did, or have done, to-date? William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah, Mike. I'm going to let the season play out before we get into anything like that. And I don't think we really – I'm not even sure how we would get that number. But, we'll obviously give you a full readout at the end of the season.

Michael Millman - Millman Research Associates

Analyst · Michael Millman with Millman Research Associates. Your line is open

I guess what I was looking at is, whether you're getting more than your average share of the total market? William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Unclear at this point. As I said, we are under the number that we anticipated for the early season; but beyond that, I wouldn't hazard a guess, I think we'll have a better feel for that at the end of the season.

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

What we do know, Mike, is that the average H&R Block client is twice as likely to be impacted by the ACA than the average American, simply because of the customer profile that we serve is the people that this is really targeted towards. So, ultimately, we're going to have more market share just because of that. But, within that standard, the question really is going to be answered better at the end of the season, as Bill said. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I think that the one concern we have is, frankly, in the digital space. And do you want to talk about that Jason, specifically? Jason L. Houseworth - President-Global Digital & Product Management: Sure. Well, I think it's important to point out that we actually don't have the same experience in our tax software, right. As a company, we feel it's critical to create and file an accurate tax return. And there is a big difference in how our tax software versus the TurboTax works, specifically when you're talking about the Affordable Care Act. With H&R Block tax software, we require the filer to input his or her 1095-A in order to file. By contrast, TurboTax does not require this, which would mean that it may be easier to actually file the return using TurboTax. But, the return's not going to be accurate; and in fact, it will actually put the return directly into IRS special processing, which means that the taxpayer can file, they'll get an accepted return, but then they're going to get a mail – snail mail from the IRS – which will require eight weeks to 12 weeks of additional time, and an amended return, in order to then complete their return.

Michael Millman - Millman Research Associates

Analyst · Michael Millman with Millman Research Associates. Your line is open

Maybe you've just explained a question I was going to ask. It seems surprising that, for the erroneous 1095s, that only – less than 10% of them had already been filed by mid-February. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Mark?

Mark Ciaramitaro - Vice President, Health Care

Analyst · Michael Millman with Millman Research Associates. Your line is open

So, this is Mark. Mike, this is a little bit different answer. What Jason was speaking to were people that enrolled in the marketplace and need to reconcile using a Form 8962, and those folks need to use a 1095-A. What you're speaking to is another issue that was recently announced by HHS that indicated that they had corrected 1095-As. In other words, the federal marketplace and some other state-based marketplaces, including California, had put out notices that indicated that the 1095s they had sent out were incorrect. And I think, following that, HHS indicated that 90% to 95% of those folks hadn't yet filed. And so, the vast majority of the folks that have to reconcile, which are virtually all the people that are enrolled in the marketplace last year, still have yet to file, I think that's the information there. But, those folks are either going to have to amend their returns, if they use the incorrect 1095-A, or they're waiting to receive their corrected 1095-As, and that's, we think, contributing a little bit to the delays we're seeing.

Michael Millman - Millman Research Associates

Analyst · Michael Millman with Millman Research Associates. Your line is open

I guess the question is, you would have thought that they would be lower income, they would tend to file earlier than average?

Mark Ciaramitaro - Vice President, Health Care

Analyst · Michael Millman with Millman Research Associates. Your line is open

Well, I think, as Bill already mentioned in his comments, we originally thought that we would see a higher percentage of ACA-impacted clients, but it's turning out that we are probably going to see those clients spread throughout the tax season instead. William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah, again, I hate to sound the way this is going to sound. We have to let this play out, but in consumer behavior, any time you have a new service, a new initiative that was instituted by the government, you got to wait and see how it plays out. That was our anticipation, it has not played out that way. We do still believe, with the form errors that Mark just talked about, in general, that more ACA people will be coming in over the last six weeks.

Michael Millman - Millman Research Associates

Analyst · Michael Millman with Millman Research Associates. Your line is open

Maybe I missed something you said. Looking at the revenues, you seem to be (58:57) up about four times for returns that are not quite up that much. Am I missing some arithmetic here?

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Are you talking about the third quarter results, Mike?

Michael Millman - Millman Research Associates

Analyst · Michael Millman with Millman Research Associates. Your line is open

Third quarter.

Gregory Macfarlane - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yeah. I think you got to be very careful looking at our third quarter financial results and extrapolating at this point. This was simply timing, e-file being open another 11 days. We had a lot of returns last year that we had completed, but we were unable to file them and – because e-file was only open for one day in January last year and even then, we had a limited number we could get in the door, so you do have that discrepancy. And so, I really would be cautious in drawing too many conclusions from those comparisons.

Michael Millman - Millman Research Associates

Analyst · Michael Millman with Millman Research Associates. Your line is open

I see. And then a question, over the last several years, we've seen, at least on IRS numbers, that assisted has either been flattish, up – almost de minimis increases. Where's this going in the future? William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, Mike, here is the – this is why I am spending an awful lot of time on this. If the government does not make moves to combat tax fraud, some of the things that we've done that Jason outlined earlier, equalizing the standards on EITC, because that's been a significant shift, having competency exams and background checks and everything else on return preparers, I think still (1:00:29) is going to struggle, because the – and it has really come to the forefront this year how bad the fraud is in this industry. And it's something that we as – and that's why I'm saying, I'm glad to hear Commissioner Koskinen is going to convene a group. I think we, as industry leaders, have to come together to protect the American public. But there have to be some changes. These are huge numbers, and consumers are suffering for this, when they get a notice that their tax return has been filed and they haven't filed it yet.

Michael Millman - Millman Research Associates

Analyst · Michael Millman with Millman Research Associates. Your line is open

Appreciate it. Thank you very much for your... William C. Cobb - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Mike.

Operator

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I will turn the call back over to the presenters.

Colby Brown - Vice President-Investor Relations

Management

Okay. Thank you everyone for joining us today. Have a great day. We'll talk to you soon. Bye.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.