I am looking to organize a class action punitive lawsuit against Tax Brain. I tried to contact Mr. Craig Petz the VP that sent out the email and I received an email back from him stating that he was going to a meeting and would contact me back. Of course it never happened because he lacks honor and dignity. Therefore, I will be filing a lawsuit by 2/5/10. I was informed by your technical support phone number that this email address is read by the upper management in the Petz organization and specifically Taxbrain. I am hoping that it gets directed to Craig Petz, who sent me this email. Because I spent my Tuesday night on the phone with either the IRS or Taxbrain I am a little more than annoyed. The IRS does not have my refund as the email stated. The IRS further stated that the only party that can get my money back is TAXBRAIN and Republic Bank. They informed me that Taxbrain indeed violated my privacy rights and security rights by their mistake of sending my information inaccurately to the IRS and now Republic Bank looks like the legitimate holder of my refund since they have my social security number. I will give Taxbrain until noon mountain time to contact me with a legitimate settlement before I move forward with contacting my personal attorney to sue for damages with the possible ramifications of my social security and my wife's social security number being provided to an entity that I did not authorize. Because of your mistake I was told by the IRS that it could be 8 weeks before I could get my check once they find the refund again. Damages are defined as "
On a breach of contract by a defendant, a court generally awards the sum that would restore the injured party to the economic position they expected from performance of the promise or promises (known as an "expectation measure" or "benefit-of-the-bargain" measure of damages).
When it is either not possible or not desirable to award damages measured in that way, a court may award money damages designed to restore the injured party to the economic position they occupied at the time the contract was entered (known as the "reliance measure"), or designed to prevent the breaching party from being unjustly enriched ("restitution") (see below).
Parties may contract for liquidated damages to be paid upon a breach of the contract by one of the parties. Under common law, a liquidated damages clause will not be enforced if the purpose of the term is solely to punish a breach (in this case it is termed penal damages). The clause will be enforceable if it involves a genuine attempt to quantify a loss in advance and is a good faith estimate of economic loss. Courts have ruled as excessive and invalidated damages which the parties contracted as liquidated, but which the court nonetheless found to be penal." From Ripoff report " From my understanding it has effected over 15,000 tax payer. This just one incident. How many more times does it have to happen before anything is done about it?
Nobody is taking responsibility for this action and no apologies are given.
a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual.
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets, usually
Extortion, outwresting, or exaction is a criminal offense which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. In the United States, extortion may also be committed as a federal crime across a computer system.
In order for these so called mistakes from happening again, the tax company that made the mistake should be fined $500,000.00 for each mistake they made, and they should have to pay each taxpayer and additional $5,000.00 in order for these mistakes to be avoided in the future.
The bank that received the funds should be fined the interest they made on that money if they don't automatically return the money the next business day.
And the IRS should issue a check to the taxpayer that same week that they receive the money instead of making people wait another 4 to 6 weeks to receive their refunds.
These will be the people named in my personal federal lawsuit as well as trying to get a class action lawsuit together. The thing that really upsets me is that I almost went with Tax Act but stayed with Taxbrain out of loyality from previous years.
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 18:47:32 -0500
Dear : On January 15, 2010 some of the initial tax returns sent to the IRS by Taxbrain were incorrectly coded to have their tax refund deposited to Republic Bank rather than to Santa Barbara Bank & Trust. You are receiving this email because we have received confirmation that a tax return filed from your Taxbrain account was among those returns.
Because the direct deposit information included with your tax filing was incorrect, the deposit has been returned to the IRS. As a matter of procedure, when a deposit is returned to the IRS, the refund is sent to the taxpayer in the form of a paper check through the mail to the address listed on the tax return.
We are working with the IRS and the banks to identify a faster way to get your refund delivered to you, but at this point we do not know if this will be possible. The typical time to receive a refund by mail is six to eight weeks.
You may wish to use this communication as evidence that your tax refund has in fact been filed and that your tax refund is being delayed due to events beyond your control.
We know that our customers look forward to, and often rely on the timely receipt of their tax refund. We take our business very seriously and I want to personally assure you that this outcome is entirely unacceptable. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and frustration this situation has caused. All tax preparation and service fees associated with your tax return have been waived and will not be withheld from your refund amount.
Thank you,
Craig Petz
Vice President
Taxbrain America's Online Tax Service