H&R Block filing mistake delays 600,000 tax refunds

[Deleted]

From NBC News:

H&R Block filing mistake delays 600,000 tax refunds

[mwcpa]

maybe now they will stop all the advertising about all the mistakes they allegedly correct and how much better they are then others......they made a huge mistake here.....

One of the reasons I waited (and did not rush) to submit certain client e-file forms.... while IRS was "ready" software companies needed to catch up too....and we can all lay blame on Congressional inaction for much of this mess..... but I love it when the blowhards of mass advertising and stating information in an unfair way have to eat crow (in my opinion of course.  It is considered unethical if I, as a CPA, said I am better than H&R and other boxes (small and big), but they can in a "free market" way, I think the results here speak for themselves.....)....

[The Captain]

MWCPA - I gotta admit this is funny.  Feel for their clients, though.

None of my friends/family understand when I try to explain to them how effed up things were this year and how congress/the president really screwed over the tax profession and the tax payers.  I hate to see people suffer because of congressional/presidential bickering.

I have a friend of a friend who is one of the IRS's systems analysts.  While he can't go into detail, he did say this year was the most stressful and trying years he can ever remember.  I truly wonder how many processing problems there are that are going unreported.

[Deleted]

Congress has been getting worse and worse as each year passes, waiting until 12/31 to make laws that effect the previous tax year, or even waiting until after year end to make laws that effect the previous tax year.

How can they expect the system to run efficiently if they operate like that?

[rangerj]

You can be a convicted felon and buy a big block tax preparation franchise and hold yourself out to be a tax expert. Congress needs to put an end to this. The bare minimum for a paid tax preparer should be the Enrolled Agent and then there needs to be various levels of competency, e.g. basic return, business return proprietorship, business return partnership, business return corporation/LLC, payroll tax returns, excise returns, etc. ALL return preparers should be required to meet continuing education requirements on an ongoing basis. A 10 week tax class with a Publication 17 textbook does not a tax expert make. These pissant tax preparers think that they are above being tested for competancy and continuing education? REALY. It is to bad IRS does not have the employees to conduct a massive undercover sting of these box operations and uncover the mistakes they make on purpose! The headlines would be much worse than the above.

[TheOtherMe]

Mar 13, 2013 7:17:05 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Congress has been getting worse and worse as each year passes, waiting until 12/31 to make laws that effect the previous tax year, or even waiting until after year end to make laws that effect the previous tax year.

How can they expect the system to run efficiently if they operate like that?

So very true.  I received a corrected tax form last week that resulted in a larger refund for both the federal and state returns.  Now I have to file amended returns.  I had no idea I had anything that was affected by any of the law changes.

This was on our local news about two weeks ago, so taxpayers in this area must have started receiving letters and calling television stations around here.

[Deleted]

The tax code is much too complicated and f****d up for the big block tax preparation business model anymore.  This is truly a Congress problem.

[Deleted]

I had my taxes done by H&R Block and yes, my tax return was affected by this.  BUT, they did find an error that TurboTax wasn't catching and that made a difference in my refund.  I don't blame H&R Block, I blame Congress and the stupid tax laws.

[teen persuasion]

I read the linked article, and it brought up a point that I've found regarding college financial aid.  Colleges are preparing financial aid packages now, and at least 30% of students are chosen for verification, meaning that they must submit their tax returns to verify that their FAFSAs are correct.  In the past, we could mail in copies of our returns, but this year they are requiring that you go thru the IRS for copies of your returns.  While filing FAFSAs for 2 of my kids, the option to get numbers directly from the IRS said that if you had filed within the past 5 weeks, your return would not be available.  Yet the colleges want that info in the next 2 weeks!

Having all college students requesting copies of their and their parents' returns from the IRS won't bog down the system even more, right?

[TheOtherMe]

I read on another forum that Block is not alone in software issues this year or in previous years.  And the issues have all been caused by Congress and it's extremely late passage of tax law.