HR Block just screwed us.

[JFN1]

Fucking unbelievable.

I've done my own taxes as long as I've had to pay them. Used to have to fill out the forms and run them to the post office and snail mail them in. About 10 years ago, I started using the electronic software - since 2003 I've been using HR Block's Tax Cut software, and I've been e-filing since like '05.

I have never once, in close to three decades of filing taxes, been late.

Until today.

I know - I could have filed any time before today - screw that - taxes are a pain in the ass, they are stressful - yes, even if you are honest - and every year the tax laws change in obscure ways, so I don't like to do them, and I don't have enough money to have someone else do them.

This year, I had to pay HR Block freaking $98 for the software - it was only (only!) $69 last year.

Paid more - and got much less this time. The software this year is pretty, but it is terrible. The explanations they offer for changes in the law and definitions for IRS-speak, are confusing at best, contain multiple errors (says throughout tax day is the 15th, there are spelling errors, etc.), and the whole thing is so shoddy, as I was preparing my taxes over the weekend with the software, I caught myself - for the first time using their software - worrying about the accuracy.

I have been so disturbed by this, I spent all freaking weekend going over my return, again and again, trying to make sure it was correct. Finally, at about 10 PM, my wife convinced me to stop worrying about the software's accuracy, and efile the damn thing.

So I tried. From the screenshot I took (paraphrased, its on my pc):

"R100 - we are experiencing a processing problem and cannot electronically file your return at this time. Please try again later. If the problem persists, please contact technical support."

I tried until about 12:15 AM.

Still have not been able to efile. Called technical support - they're CLOSED!!!!

So I called a very nice lady out in Oregon at an HR Block office - she actually answered the phone. I told her the problem, she said the offices did not support the software, and did I try tech support. When I told her they were closed, she almost screamed, "WHAT?" I told her again, she again almost screamed, "WHAT?" again.

She could not believe it.

Neither can I.

So I guess I'm going to owe a late fee.

Because I caertainly cannot afford a lawyer to go after HR Block for screwing me. I have no way now to efile on time. Since I'm not a big corporation or a rich bankster or a connected oligarch, the IRS won't give a shit about HR Block's fucking of me, and (I assume) all the other people who got fucked trying to efile tonight, too.

Sigh...

[Lefta Dissenter]

1. can't you file an extension

through the IRS website? this minute?

edited to add: I'm not saying this makes the H&R Block situation acceptable - but you can take the time to deal with them after you've gotten your extension in. In Wisconsin, we have an automatic state extension when we file for a Fed extension, but each state handles that differently. DC, for example, has an online form for their state extensions - you get a confirmation on the spot.

Good Luck.

[JFN1]

3. I tried, about 11:45 - got the same error.

HR Block's servers are either overwhelmed, or they are having some other technical issue.

HR Block uses their servers to connect to IRS servers and efile returns, extensions, payments, etc.

I cannot even pull my return out of their software to use any other service - I tried, no way to do it. I simply didn't have time to recreate my return on another software (and couldn't afford it anyway) by the time I figured out my return was not likely to go through on time...

So - we're just screwed...and still cannot get through...I tried again about 2 minutes ago, same error...and its not my return or info - software says there are zero errors in my return.

[Lefta Dissenter]

4. filing an extension

directly through the IRS website www.irs.gov takes about five minutes. You don't need to re-create your entire return - just plug in a few numbers.

edited (I guess I always end up editing) to add that I almost always file paper extensions if I'm into the first week of April and I haven't finished my taxes yet - pretty much every year. The extension is automatic, the form couldn't be simpler, and it covers your butt if something goes wrong.

[dkf]

8. I love my accountant.

Less than twice what you paid and not a single headache.

[JTFrog]

34. That was helpful.

not

[inna]

2. i hear you. i got screwed by (supposedly free) Turbotax -

which ended up costing me about 80 dollars. (never EVER had to pay any fees for filing; this is the first one.)

anyway, i feel your pain.

[Lasher]

11. TurboTax locked up Friday when I hit the button to efile.

I had to restart to get it unlocked. For some reason autosave was not working like it always had, so I lost everything and had to start all over. No joy.

Managed to get it to work yesterday though.

[Le Taz Hot]

5. I did mine Saturday and had a question

about installment payments. The note on my TurboTax (it's my Tax for Dummies software that works great) said to call the I.R.S. so I called the 800 number. THEY WERE CLOSED FOR THE WEEKEND! Two days before the tax deadline and the I.R.S. was closed. :wtf:

So sorry this happened to you. It sucks being one of the "little people" sometimes, doesn't it?

[Lefta Dissenter]

7. I was doing my son's return for him

because I'm a nice mom, and had to get the D.C. state forms from their website. I noticed on their site that they were closed FRIDAY, as well! I can't even remember what the occasion was - I believe it was the reason we all had till today to file, instead of the 15th. But a long weekend before tax day? :wtf: again!

[Rhiannon12866]

10. Friday was a holiday in D.C. which is the reason the deadline was Monday.

I mailed mine on Thursday, way early for me... x( :hi:

[ejpoeta]

28. my sister works for the IRS and she would be who you would go to with questions.

she worked saturday. her office was open. i don't know what's up with the 800 number place. that sounds idiotic!!

[napi21]

6. Did you try this?

http://www.hrblock.com/support/index.html

[Lefta Dissenter]

9. HA

That woman looks evil! But the link is a good suggestion... :hi:

[hfojvt]

12. I would have tried changing the date on my computer

The software apparently thinks the filing deadline is April 15th, so by filing on the 18th may violate some software parameter - it will not do a late filing. So if you tell your computer that it is really April 14th, it may go through.

It was worth a shot anyway, although by now it is probably too late.

[JFN1]

13. Unbelievable...figured out the problem - its the software.

So this year's software has a feature last year's did not - you can efile Federal and State returns simultaneously.

Makes sense to me. So I had selected that, and kept trying to efile.

So a few minutes ago, frustrated and angry, I suddenly remembered something I had seen, and went back to the main efile page to try to efile my State and Federal returns seperately.

Went right freaking through.

But wait - there's more!

NOW it tells me I can't efile my State return seperately, until the Feds okay their return - 24-48 hours.

Just keeps getting better...

[napi21]

15. This might sound silly, but you could try contacting both the Feds & the State

and explain all the problems you had with the software. MAYBE they'll wave the penalties. Print whatever docs you can, like a screenshot of the problems you encountered. I know they wave penalties all the time.

As much as you don't want to hear this NOW, in the future you might want to consider filling in all the dat in all the forms for your return, and if you so choose, simply filng it on the last day, or the daybefore just to be sure.

[JFN1]

18. Agreed - and thanks.

I might use the software to prepare - but I'm going back to snail mail and proof of mailing receipts.

And I'll never use HR Block again. I might even save up and spring for a tax preparer, because I am never going through this crap again...

[Adsos Letter]

20. "I might even save up and spring for a tax preparer"

I have gone this route the last 10 years and have never regretted it. The guy is both honest and competent. His rates have only increased a little over time (this year was 160 bucks). I give him a manilla envelope with all my stuff in it (I have fairly complex financial stuff, but not overly so); he calls me if he has any questions, and always efiles on time.

I almost always receive a few thousand dollars in State and Federal refunds, so the convenience and lack-of-headaches is totally worth it to me.

Just my .02, ymmv.

Edited to add: sorry you had the bummer experience; the whole tax thing can be a hassle.

[JFN1]

21. Wow - that sounds really, really good. Thanks!!

Going to give it a try - also going to call an accountant tomorrow - maybe they cab advise me on this situation.

[Adsos Letter]

22. Talk to someone who uses a good, honest one...

get a reference, if possible. The LAST thing you need from a CPA is either dishonesty or incompetence.

Good Luck. :toast:

[JFN1]

23. More good advice.

Will do - I'll ask one of my neighbors, who I think owns a garage.

[guruoo]

24. IRS once waved all penalties and interest when my bookeeper failed to

mail in six months of company employee taxes. I received the notice, and mailed all penalties and interest, along
with a request for relief from the charges, and an explanation of the circumstances regarding the failure to pay.
About two months later, to my astonishment, I received their reply approving the waver, along with
and a check for every dime of penalty and interest that I had sent them!

[ejpoeta]

29. is h and r block going to be responsible for those penalties since it is their

software that fucked up? probably not.

[hfojvt]

17. a crooked online preparer told me the same thing

that I had to file state and federal at the same time, and they wanted to charge me $30 for filing the state return.

I cancelled their service and went to the state website and filed.

But my state has a site for doing so.

[BzaDem]

14. Do they actually send you a bill if it is just a few hours late?

I know they can, but do they actually do it? I've heard from some that one day doesn't matter, others that it does, so I really don't know.

You should charge back the full fee for HR Block on your credit card.

[JFN1]

16. Never been late, so i don't know - but I love your other idea.

I forget the exact chargeback code, but the language amounts to, "not as promised."

Certainly fits this shit...

[ProdigalJunkMail]

26. if you are owed a refund there is no penalty...

so unless there are taxes owed, there is little to nothing to worry about. however, that doesn't mean you shouldn't file. if you don't file, the IRS may eventually 'file' your taxes for you and then you are kind of at their mercy as to the calculations...though if they are wrong you can still amend the return.

sP

[upi402]

19. $98? My CPA is about the same!

I bet you shop CPA's this year! Ouch, sorry to hear about that.
File an extension and pay any expected now, nothing if you think you'll get some back.
Forms at Post Office, library... many Post Offices open all night in cities (love the USPS! real humans!)

[jtuck004]

25. AARP and the Volunteers Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program

preparers go through training and do tax returns at no charge to you. You can bring them W-2's, 1099's, even K-1's, and if your income is below $55,000 they will create the return and efile it for you. Rental houses are usually out of scope, as are some of the more esoteric problems, but they will do stocks and bonds, IRAs, ROTH accounts, Social Security, etc. I volunteer there a couple days a week in addition to my paid tax prep job.

The season is over for this year, but next year look for one of their volunteer locations.

[Skidmore]

27. $49.99 for TurboTax and a Saturday afternoon to enter data, Sunday morning to

check entry and file. Our taxes were filed in early February. I keep a folder every year labeled for the next tax year and put all documentation I will use for filing the following year in it. Doing this greatly reduces the time I need devote to the actual forms later. I really don't understand why people wait until the last possible minute to file. That is a time management issue.

[Le Taz Hot]

35. I waited until the last minute

because it took me 4-1/2 months to save up the $964.00 I owed them. Sometimes there are circumstances that have nothing to do with time management.

[SoCalDem]

37. I've used Turbo Tax since ..forever..love it..never had a problem

we pay for it (then deduct the cost) the Fed is always free- efile and a small fee to file state.. we pay additional to have it automatically deposited (although this year we owed:( federal )

[RebelOne]

41. Only paid TaxAct $17.95 to e-file both state and federal taxes.

$49.99 is a pretty high price. I used TurboTax a couple of years ago and it was way less than that. I am one of those people who wait until the last day to file. Mainly, because I usually have to pay and I want to keep my money in the bank as long as possible. But this year, fortunately, I get a refund.

[Angry Dragon]

30. Did you have a refund coming or balance due??

If you have a refund then they usually do not charge penalty or interest........

and I believe they accept e-file until October

[JFN1]

39. First year in, gosh, probably 15 years, that we owe

About $400...so we're screwed.

[Mnemosyne]

31. Me too, last night. Livid and want H&R refund. n/t

[Ilsa]

32. I'm very sorry.

I can't bring myself to pay money in order to file. I still do my return by hand and mail it in.

I realize there will come a day that the government will require everyone to efile, but I don't see how they expect the poor to manage that, or manage to pay someone to do their tax returns. I simply believe that the govt shouldn't require us to pay a bunch of money to get this done for simple, family tax returns. It's complicated enough as it is.

I've made errors on my returns. The IRS corrected them.

[Brickbat]

33. Same here.

[yellowcanine]

36. It worked fine for me. Cost a total of $50 to do fed and state and efile both.

I did it Saturday morning and had no problems except when I tried to efile the state return - did not realize I had to pay 19.95 over the 29.95 I paid for the package - the description was misleading but over all it was a pretty good deal anyway because by efiling I will get my state refund more quickly.

[regnaD kciN]

38. Don't worry -- I have a relative who works for the IRS...

...and I was told that it was standard operational procedure to give a five-day "grace period" for e-filers, since last-day problems with servers, etc. are something that happens every year. You probably won't get hit with a penalty at all but, if you do, call them on their help line and someone there will almost always remove the penalty charge automatically.

[Snoutport]

40. They got us GOOD last year.... $400 HR Block Mistake

We used them last year...ugh.

[Blaukraut]

42. H&R Block mistake almost cost us a $1000 refund this year

We do itemized deductions so we use HR Block every year. (to the tune of 224 Dollars this time around.) Surprisingly, we were only getting a $14 refund despite earning slightly less, and having more deductions. (interest, tax credit for new windows).

There was some weird tax added that we supposedly had to pay on line 60 which came to over $1000. It made no sense, because it was coded as K and Z, "golden parachute payments", and "non qualifying 409 retirement" something or others. Now we would have remembered a golden parachute added to our income, but the preparer insisted that had to be from a 401k payout in '08 when hubby got a new job and couldn't roll over the account. So we trusted the guy and went home all disappointed.

When I got home I started googling these codes and discovered that they could not apply to us. On our W2, the coded amounts were listed in box 14, as well, not in box 12, where they usually belong. Box 14 is for informational purposes only.

So we checked the final pay statement for 2010, and lo and behold, the questionable amounts were employer contributions to our dental insurance, and employee retirement contributions. So the HR Block preparer actually added the entire employer contribution for dental to our return AS A TAX TO BE PAID! And 20% of our NON-TAXABLE RETIREMENT CONTRIBUTION as a tax to be paid!

Of course we immediately went back there to tell them to stop the return and redo it. After arguing for about 30 minutes, they finally admitted they made a mistake, but of course it was already too late to pull the return, so now it has to be amended, which will take 12 weeks. Incidentally, they made the same mistake last year, and that cost us $300. Both returns will be amended now, but of course HR Block won't reimburse us the preparation cost. This is the last time we're going to them.

So Caution to especially government employees with your W2's and box 12/14 confusions. It can cost you!

[JFN1]

45. How the hell do they stay in business?

Though it won't make a difference, I intend to file whatever complaints I can with whoever regulates (HA!) these assholes...

[Renew Deal]

43. I did my sisters taxes with it and I had lots of errors

and problems. I did eventually get them through, but it doesn't work well with Windows 7.

[cbdo2007]

44. You really need to hire a CPA next year...

and do it well in advance.

This isn't any of their fault, it is yours.

The only person I feel sorry for here is your wife who has likely had to put up with you angrily complaining about this all weekend and angrily putting them off for the past 3 months.