Kansas City, Mo. ? People aren’t willing to drive far or wait long to get their taxes done.

That’s the theory at H&R Block Inc., which announced plans this week to open between 500 and 600 new offices in time for next year’s tax season.

The Kansas City, Mo.-based company on Wednesday posted record earnings for the fourth-quarter, the period that covers the 2004 tax season. But for the second year in a row, the company also reported a 3 percent drop in customers at its brick-and-mortar stores. The company believes the problem is one of visibility and not having enough locations.

“The one thing that becomes very clear in our studies is that while many customers are interested in H&R Block’s services, we are not conveniently accessible to them,” said Mark Ernst, the company’s chairman and chief executive.

Analysts, however, aren’t as sure. Several seemed skeptical of the plan during a conference call that followed Wednesday’s earnings announcement.

Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Hodes, for example, said in a May 4 research report that he felt the company’s problems with retaining or gaining customers had more to do with its marketing. He said recent campaigns have targeted higher-income customers needing help with complex returns or investment advice and not the company’s core customers of moderate- and low-income clients.

“Has Block been suffering because it does not have enough offices to keep competition at bay? Management believes this is the case,” Hodes wrote. “In any case, since (fiscal year) 2002, Block has added over 800 offices with no noticeable impact on systemwide client growth.”

Hodes didn’t change his opinion in his latest report, released Thursday.

Company officials have acknowledged their marketing needs tweaking, but they defend their office expansion, which they first alluded to in January.

Ernst points to a study indicating H&R Block is sufficiently serving potential customers in only 31 percent of metropolitan areas. That, Ernst says, represents a huge pool of potential clients.

The company estimates the expansion, including both capital, salaries and operating costs, could cut between $17 million and $21 million from earnings next year.