*$)%_#(%_(#@*$)!!!! [taxes]

The BBQ Pit
1

DogFucking bastards!

OK so I’m very lazy/procrastinator/scarred to death by/ but I filed my taxes on the 15th. (six month extension)

I went to H & R Block. A nice woman there helped me and we did my taxes and I’m actually getting a refund. (Phew!)

Except…

Over the weekend I get a call from H&R saying the Feds have rejected my return and I need to get a hold of my tax preparer TODAY (because today is the last day to e-file)

So I check and the office I used opens at 11. I call. Get a recording saying "welcome to HR Block, our hours are bla bla bla, oh and the phone system is down so call this other number to talk to someone.

So I call that number.

Same recording but then it says the message box is full.

I keep calling and nobody picks up. So noon rolls around so I walk over to the office. There is nobody there. Well there are some people there. Some construction guys are ripping out the carpet and cubicles lie dismantled in a heap.
So I call H&R’s 800 number. When I tell them that office is closed, their branch office, Their main West Side LOCATION that is clearly closed or undergoing remodeling, THEY DON’T BELIEVE ME.

You should go there.
I just went there, they are closed.
No they are not.
YES, they are in fact closed.
Are you sure?
Yes I’m sure.
Let me call them.

After a long wait the woman realizes the office is closed.

So she gives me the number to the office on 23rd street.

I call them, and when I tell them the office at 550 is closed, wait for it, THEY DON’T BELIVE ME EITHER!

After they finally conceed the fact that this office is closed, they give me ANOTHER number.

This person didn’t answer but at least I was able to leave a message on her phone machine.

I am so totally screwed.

The first Blockhead took my info from a W-2 and 1099, but she didn’t put the income from the 1099 on to my return. Which I sure is why the Feds have said, ‘excuse me Mr. Zebra’. Great $7,500 in untaxed income. I don’t think my $1,003 dollar refund is going to cover the taxes on that. I’m living from paycheck to paycheck as it is and my McDonald’s cup had Pacific Ave, AGAIN!

Obviously the universe hates me so you know what universe? SUCK MY ASS! SUCK IT! SUCK IT OUT CLEAN! Then go feltch a dead goat you dog murdering-baby raping-father stabbing-cancer giving-tax refund stealing-cheat code using-mutherfuckers. YOU GO HELL! GO TO HELL AND YOU DIE!

2

Don’t worry so much. You don’t go to jail or anything for fucking a return. Especially if a Blockhead did it.

You will, however, have to spend a weekend with the Pain Monster.

3

My new sig! :smiley:

Serious note: get documentation from the Blockheads, including all the stuff they futzed up, and present it to those in charge of assessing your return. This is really not your fault.

4

Changed thread title to be slightly more descriptive.

5

I am also pretty sure that you don’t get in trouble for being late when asking for a refund. Block will probably not charge you for the work either if you speak to a manager about the problem. They are pretty good about trying to make things right, I think.

6

But I won’t have a refund any more.

IF they ever call me back, which they haven’t.

7

I get the impression that a late-revealed chunk of income is going to drop the return out of the “refund” bracket, and into the “cut the IRS a check” bracket.

8

“H & R’s not here, man.”

9

I thought if a tax preaprer screwed up they were the ones in trouble. Aren’t they required to also sign the return?

10

Wait, if they screw up your taxes don’t they have to pay any penalties for them?

11

AIUI, the penalties, yes. The actual tax deficit, no.

12

Funny story,

When I did the return, she asked if I wanted the ‘standard insurance’ which means they pay the penalties and I pay any extra tax or did I want to pay $30 more right then for the ‘supremo insurance’ which means that they would pay the penalties AND taxes.
well, since $30 is a lot for me right now, guess which option I chose? I mean, I already plunked down $320 for the return and hey, it’s H&R Block, they don’t screw up. Right? It’s a suckers bet.

(sigh)

I just found out that the IRS problem is that my estranged wife, filed as married filing seperately. My preparer didn’t ask my status and just put single. So I need to add her name and social to my return.

I don’t think that will change my refund status.

13

Yeah but they might try to deny ever knowing about that 1099 income unless you’ve got proof that they knew about it. Hard to prove that, I’d imagine :frowning:

I come from a household of tax preparers. Mom went to work for H&R Block when I was about 10 after taking an evening class that lasted a couple of months. Many of their preparers had no more training than that. Mom took additional classes, and ultimately came to be one of their top people in the metropolitan area we lived in; she finally left them and went into business on her own. Every kid in our family did clerical work for Block during tax season. So I know the place (at least, as it was 30 years ago).

Once, as a 15 year old, I caught one of their preparers in a rather basic error (used short form vs. long form when interest income was above some ceiling, IIRC). I wasn’t even a filing clerk - my job involved making copies and stapling things. The fact that I caught a “pro” in an error like that is suggestive of the level of quality control among even the so-called professionals at such a place. I think most people are better off with Turbotax than the average Block newbie.

Also, most of the locations (there were about 10) simply ARE NOT open year-round (the area I lived in had about 2 year-round spots). So the person you got hold of shouldn’t have been all that surprised that the first place was closed.

Blockheads indeed :frowning:

On preview: so they did include the 1099 info after all? If so, PHEW!!!

14

It might, actually - I don’t know how single compares to MFS but MFS vs. MFJ is usually not advantageous.

Good luck tracking down the appropriate Blockheads!

15

I think you’re right - we do both of our taxes with some tax program every year (I can’t remember the name of it - the one that works on Macs), complete with self-employment and investment income, and it takes a couple of hours and costs under a $100. We e-file right from home, and get our refund cheque in a couple of weeks. Badaboom, badabing.

As far as I understand the deadlines, those aren’t for going to jail or something - those are for not being charged interest. Of course, you don’t really screw around with Revenue Canada or the IRS.

16

Well, they insisted that I meet a person at the office that was being renovated. I guess my return was made there and is on no other server.

She met me at about 5:45 and she went to the back room and low and behold, realized that she couldn’t get to a computer!
So she took the info and she was going to call someone else, and they will do it. Basically I have no idea if they will get this done in time.

Oh and my 1099 is stapled to the forms that the blockhead put together. So it’s there.

She never asked what my status was. I made the assumption that she copied and pasted from the previous year.

17

You probably should send in the form to arrange direct deposit. Since I started e-filing I’ve typically had my $ automagically appear in my bank account in a week or less and it’s never taken longer than 10 days.

18

I don’t want to do that - there’s a little part of me that isn’t comfortable with the government having access to my private bank account, even to put things in.