Joseph
New Orleans,#2UPDATE Employee
Thu, April 21, 2011
I have read your complaint, and it does not seem that you understand what happened about your return. Some fault lies with your not understanding your return, and the rest with the tax professional for not thoroughly explaining everything to you, and talking down to you.
First, the only return that was prepared by Block for free was the 1040-EZ, and that ended in mid-March. An EX form assumes no deductions, dependents, and only W2 income. Anything else would elevate it to a 1040A or 1040. The IRS is requiring all returns be filed electronically except for some rare circumstances. The electronic filing is free, the return is not. Block is in the business to make money, therefore you can always expect fees.
You stated that the tax professional prepared seemingly unnecessary forms. While they may seem unnecessary to you, there may well be a requirement by the IRS (worksheets for example are used to determine the eligibily for filing status, but are not submitted as part of the return)
There is no tax credit that stipulates you cannot deduct equipment expenses for the next five years. There are depreciable equipment expenses, but they depend on the type of business that is being operated.
You stated that you were not shown the final bill until the last minute. Well, the final bill cannot be determined until the return is esentially complete. It would beone of the last things that can be shown. You mentioned that Block charges for each form they prepare, that is correct. Therefore it stands to reason they cannot provide the final total until everything is completed.
You stated the dude made it more complicated than it need to be in order to get his hand on whatever he could for the company. He more likely did what he was required to complete the return. The commission formula for Block is complicated, and usually the tax professional rarely gets a bonus, but rather works for a salary against his drawer. It is too complicated to explain here.
You stated that your BF received $1,000 in refund and owed $600 in social security taxes. That tells me that your BF is self employed and had to pay his Self Employment taxes. That makes the return significantly more complicated, requiring a schedule C, deductions for expenses, computation of an SE form, and preparation of a 1040 (vice 1040A). That makes sense since you mention the equipment deduction previously. That also means completing a depreciation worksheet, where the deduction is likely spread over a 5 year period.
The $320 fee seems reasonable in light of what was likely prepared by the tax professional. The other hidden fees were likely RAC fees charged by H&R Block Bank ($32.95) so that the fees were deducted from your return rather than paid by your BF. You also did not mention if your BF purchased Peace of Mind protection, which would have been another $35. He may have elected not to take that.
I wasn't there so I do not know what the tax professional told you, but it does seem to me that it was not clearly explained. Tax returns are actually more complicated than people understand.
Joseph
New Orleans,#3UPDATE Employee
Thu, April 21, 2011
I read your report very carefully, and I can see many problems with your preception of what happened.
First, be advised that Block does not offer RALs any longer. The IRS effectively ended that for 2011 by not providing a debt indicator to banks that offer these loans. Companies that advertise RALS rarely give them, with only about 10% of their clients receiving them, and usually for less than the full amount. I personally do not like RALs because they are costly and only get the money to clients slightly faster than the IRS could get the money to taxpayers. It is not worth the cost.
Block does not list SSNs on returns except those that are retained by the client OR are required to be sent to the IRS.
Many of the complaints you listed were for back years when there were some problems with how taxes were filed by Block, but most of those are been eliminated and/or revised.
If you took a RAL from HSBC Bank for $4,000, and the IRS did not send the money to them, then you received the money as a loan and are obligated to repay that. If the IRS kept your money, it was for a debt owed for child support, student loans, prior taxes (either federal or state) or some other obligation you failed to pay. The IRS did not ok your loan, but only accepted the return, they had not yet reviewed the return for correctness, completion or prior debt.
If your tax professional recommended you not include some deductions, it likely was because they ere not legitimate or acceptable to the IRS. It is the tax professionals responsibility to advise you on what is legal or acceptable.
As for the babysitting charge, I am not quite sure what you are talking about. If you provided babysitting services for a fee, then it must be reported as income (that is the law), and the tax professional must ask pertinent questions to determine what you can and cannot report.
Block does not work with the government. Rather they are trained to look for all legal deductions, which it seems your tax professional did. They do not report suspicious returns nor do they conduct audits. It is the responsibility of the IRS to question returns that appear incorrect or report incorrect filing status. It is the tax professional's onligation to prepare the return as well as possible given the information that is provided by the filer. That is why they ask questions. You seem to not understand the myriad tax laws that must be adhered to in preparing a proper return.
Block does not prepare returns using your last paystub, and has not for the last 5 years. Some companies stilldo, and that is where errors can and do occur.
I will not dispute that an office did not return your W2s if you were not satified, but that is not a Block policy. Their policy is that all tax information is to be returned if the client is not satisified with the return. Until the last button ius pushed, which effectively transmits your return to the IRS, then you are not obligated to complete your return with Block, and all tax documents are to be returned.pnote
Bunnell,#4Consumer Comment
Sun, April 17, 2011
Please, folks, think twice about using BLOCK to prepare your taxes. There are plenty of alternatives out there; real professionals that have actually been through college and actually have your best interest at heart.
Please be advised that Block will charge you per FORM that they 'prepare' for you. Especially if you are self-employed, this will absolutley run you $350 OR MORE, depending on the size of your return.
Here's a real life example of this---We went to HR Block, Bunnell FLA location two days ago; I had everything all prepared, it just needed to be 'free-filed'...we went there because we ran into someone my boyfriend knows working there. He told us that the basic form would be free due to the new e-file requirement.
When we got there, he put my boyfriend's taxes on the chopping block, and screwed the whole thing up. He filled out forms that are so confusing and seemingly unnecesary. In fact, I believe that he filled some form out that stipulates that my bf will recieve a certain tax credit on the stipulation that he cannot deduct equipment exspenses for the next five years. What the heck!!!!!!
To make matters worse, he waited until last minute to show us the bill:
1000 in refund
600 in soc security taxes
400 return...better than nothing...
320 to pay the HR crooks
30 or 40, hidden charge we were not informed of to use 'their bank to take the 320
50 tax check we are supposedly getting back.
This is rediculous...in fact, the dude made it more complicated than it needed to be in order to get his hand on whatever he could for his company...I aint stupid, I worked in sales for a long, long, time; I know that incentives are given to employees fore every extra 'service' they provide...even the 30-something $$ to 'use their bank'.
I knew something was up when I asked a simple question about wheter the outragous fee was going to be debited from the account; I mean, you have to be really careful these days...the dude started talking in this way, real slow and patronizing, basically trying to make me feel stupid so I would shut up...
I ended up going out to the car and waiting for my bf to finish signing his live away to the devil...it wasn't my tax return and I knew that I would end up getting really mad in there
Moral of the story--beware of HR Block; they are blood-sucking Thieves that are only there to take money from people who don't know any better.
Consult The Rock
SHANGHAI,#5Author of original report
Fri, May 30, 2008
Well, Tim, with all due respect: I would ask you to read my ripoff reports again. There is some material regarding taxcut submited by users on another thread. Please type in "taxcut". There are more reports about how taxcut will not land you with the least possible federal income tax liability. And, from the standpoint of an EA, these are not going to be complicated income tax situations. But block's taxcut software sometimes has problems despite. If you can't scan your taxes to make sure the software did it right, it is wise to look me or some other enrolled agent up: naea.org We are responsible for our own taxes. If a taxpayer isn't comfortable doing it himself, he should look up an enrolled agent. Enrolled Agents are professional tax practitioners who have technical expertise in the field of taxation and are licensed to represent taxpayers at all administrative levels before the Internal Revenue Service. Moreover, Enrolled Agents are the only tax professionals who are required by the IRS to maintain their expertise through continuing professional education. Whether you're talking about a few enrolled agents, or run of the mill CPA's, or H&Rripoff, jackson-dimwit, they often charge by the number of forms they have to fill out. That's pretty rinky-dink, so there are not many enrolled agents that charge by how many forms they fill out. When a taxpayer comes to me, I charged by how much I used my brain. And the reason is, because I know how to do even the most complex tax situations. When I sign my name to the return, it means I will back the taxpayer up in the event of an audit. And I'm going to win 100% of the time. (((ROR redacted))) You will please note especially the second report {as of now there are 4}. Another serious complaint. Not confirmed yet: Taxcut sells your email address to spammers far and wide. To me, a software company that offers online tax filing, with all that personal info flowing through, should not be in the business of sharing any information about their customers. If you're in a really simple situation, taxcut MIGHT get it right. But with all that you have available on the IRS website, you don't need to risk your return being inaccurate and being faced with numerous losses on the one hand OR the IRS hounding you the rest of your natural life on the other hand. I remind you of this one was I had posted. You are urged to study and to remember: "Problems is a light word. I installed their software and it rewrote all the file permissions on my program files directory, giving a user level account admin rights on the PC and making that account the only one that could even see program files. Ive been on hold for 40 minutes now with their compliant department. Not like their software saved the previous permissions, to restore my system to a secure state Ill{sic} have to rebuild it. This is also a known issue their article number 42998. The article also says its fixed in an update.... but you don't get the update till after the software is installed.... which is when the problem occurs........ DONT INSTALL THEIR SOFTWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!" CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.
Tim
Valparaiso,#6Consumer Suggestion
Fri, May 16, 2008
I've used Taxcut for years and also compare their results with my own, paper calculations. I have never found Taxcut to be a bad system or a ripoff. However, I see, time and time again, people who go into H&R in person, only to have deductions overlooked, credits missed, etc. And yes, the RAL at least borders on usurios. So I would recommend the H&R Block software, but I would NOT advise an in-person filing or and RAL. You can e-file using Taxcut, TaxAct, or any other software. If you have direct deposit, you can expect your refund in a very short period of time. So why pay $175 today for what you can get free in five days?