I had already prepared my taxes for free (I used to be a tax preparer) when we were lured by Jackson Hewitt's receptionist which told us of a $750 advance loan and a $50 Walmart gift card. We are newlyweds and new business owners trying to make ends meet so we went in being assured that we would not leave that office without money, the gift card, and it would cost $150 to prepare our taxes. I told her the schedules we would need to file and that's what she quoted us. When Tucker got done preparing our return it was $311 and we left being promised to get a text message. It never came. My husband spent hours trying to access the website to no avail and called countless reps but couldn't figure out the problem of why the American Express Card wasn't working . Finally he thought he would double check our personal information just to find out they messed up his birthdate. When we confronted them with this they blamed us when they had a copy of our I D all along. They gave us the run around promising they would fix the problem. When we called the American Express Card people they told us that our loan was accepted. They advised us to put in the wrong birthdate if we wanted to claim the money. We only had 48 hours to do it. As soon as we did that the loan got denied. We were irrate. Of course we got denied the birthdate did not match the social security number. Not only did we not get our loan, our refund may get delayed and we may get audited. I don't know if I'm allowed to ammend the return myself or if I should continue to wait on Jackson Hewitt to make things right. Our first return as a couple has become a nightmare. Jackson Hewitt's boast on their website for 100 percent accuracy is misleading along with their guarantees and tax preparation incentives. Buyer Beware!
Taxes_EA
Alabama,#2UPDATE Employee ..inside information
Mon, February 08, 2016
Call corporate or call the owner of the Franchsie. Honestly your tax return should get rejected, unless they fixed the issue. (You have to file the correct Birthday, name, and Social Security for the IRS to accept your return). Also, when Jackson Hewitt say you are accepted for the Refund Advance, they just mean that you can try for the refund advance. Certainly, if Jackson Hewitt did not fix the return, then you would have been rejected, which would have caused you to be denied. I would call Jackson Hewitt location you were at, to find out if your Tax Return was accepted.
If you were, they fixed your DOB, I would ask for a new copy of your 1040, as well. The 100% accuracy guarantee states" 100% accuracy guaranteed or we pay taxes and penalties". Misleading, but not inaccurate. I do agree though, the Jackson Hewitt that you dealt with seems very unprofessional.
Robert
Irvine,#3Consumer Comment
Sun, January 17, 2016
I never understand why people try to exaggerate their credentials to try and make themselves sound better. When all this does is quite the opposite. After all if you really were a Tax Preparer, there should be no question as to if or how you go about amending your return.
But the we get to the rest of your report, and you trying to make "ends meet". First of all let's just go off of their original quote of $150. With that quote of $150 you were supposed to get a $50 Gift Card. Okay...even if that happened you are still behind by $100. Now, you say that you really wanted to do the Refund Anticipation Loan for $750. But if we take out the $100 your net is now only going to be $650.
So you are really that bad off that you are willing to loose $100, to get your refund a week or two sooner? But it is even worse because at the end you ended up paying over $300. Why didn't you just say thanks..but no thanks at that time?
With decisions like this, it is not really a mystery as to why you are probably in the financial situation you are.
Finally, you say that your Birthdate was wrong. Yes, that is a mistake. But are you saying that as an Ex-Tax Preparer you didn't think to review your Return to make sure it was correct?