Four years ago this H & R BLOCK TAX SERVICE company office moved from it's original location at the strip mall next to the Big & Tall Mens Shop on Sagamore Parkway to it's present location in the K-Mart Plaza on State Road 38, but it still has the same people working there that it did at the previous location. We had gone in there to have our taxes done back in 1999, and at the time we supplied the tax person with all our tax info and papers.
When asked if we had won any monies in a lottery or been gifted any monies, won contests etc. I answered YES. I won a story-writing contest and supplied her with the paaperwork that the awarding company had issued me for tax purposes. She looked it over and imput some info into her computer and then went about conversing on my story and prize money, excited to be speaking with a "bona fide published author" quote, unquote, HER description, NOT mine.
After a few more minutes of conversation she informed us that we would be getting a refund of "X" amount of money and offered us the "quick pay" option of money within two business days, we declined, and left happy to be getting a refund and went home to await the IRS process of issuing us a check. Imagine our surprise when we recieved a letter from the IRS stating that we OWED money for back wages as a "Self-Employed Writer"! I was NOT nor have EVER been a self-employed writer. I simply won a stupid contest.
When I called the IRS to inform them of the mistake, they instructed me to get back with H & R Block, and inform them of their mistake. I went back to the same woman and she was busy, so the manager told me to leave my contact info and they would check into our records and call us. The call never came, and so I returned to the same office, only now the manager was a different person and she acted as if she had no clue what I was talking about.
When I refreshed her memory on the H & R Block Guarantee of "any mistakes on your taxes and we will fight the IRS for you", she again stated that she did not know anything and could not comment so for me to leave my contact info again and she would make sure someone called me within 48 hours.
Meanwhile the IRS is breathing down my back for these "alleged" back taxes owed. H & R Block never called, surprise, surprise. I fell ill, and H & R Block disappeared from the radar, and the IRS refused to accept my many letters of dispute and have been taxing us on these back taxes for a false job description that H & R Block's customer service person filled in incorrectly on our tax returns, to this day.
Now here it is almost 7 YEARS of paying fees and INTREST on a false job description caused BY H & R BLOCK TAX SERIVCE and I still can get NO assistance from H & R Block [they have since amended their "Guarantee" to read different, ] and now they are sticking to the story that they know nothing about "back then", and that the "guarantee has changed, so it doesn't count anymore!". DOESN'T COUNT FOR WHO! Certainly NOT their previous customers who encounter problem's with the way THEY filled out the tax returns, entrusted to them by people like us.
Fast forward to last week [01/20] I am now disabled due to my illness and was recently awarded SSI. I waited with baited breath for my first check which arrived in October of and was surprised at the measley amount I was given, not enough to survive on, had I been by myself, like so many others in the same boat. All in all though I was just happy to be getting some money rather then none.
Well that feeling was short lived, the following month in December, holiday time, money needed badly for heat as it is winter in Indiana, and gas is extremely high, plus electricity and food too, I anxiously awaited my SSI check to be able to pay bills and have some sort of Christmas dinner, however small. Imagine my SHOCK, when instead of a check I received a letter from the Social Security Administration notifing me that my check had been taken to pay off the remaining balance on the "BACK TAXES OWED FROM 1999"!
NOW I'm not only being PUNISHED for something H & R Block did wrong, but the IRS isn't happy to leave it at interest compounding at a rate of 12% per DAY, for the last 6 YEARS, but now they have issued a "determination" WITHOUT OUR KNOWLEDGE and have taken my Social Security DISABILITY check as well. Money deperately needed, and counted on, for which the utilites that were going to be paid from, still not paid and now threating to disconnect any day now. Still H & R Block refuses to even acknowledge that they DID OUR TAXES back then, so their story gets wider and wider and full of even more lies then before, and now they have the IRS on their side, and us the "little guy" stuck.
I'm terminally ill, and fear that this will cause a hardship on my husband [if he doesn't keel over from the stress caused by this H & R Block mess and it's side effects of Diabetes and High Blood Pressure] if and when I finally do die. I do not want this to continue any longer, it was NOT our fault, it was an H & R Block mistake, that they falsely advertized they would take care of if such mistakes ever happened, and they refused to help us period. They're "guarantee's" mean nothing! Do not trust them with your personal tax info. We disputed this "incorrect assessment" from H & R Block to the IRS for close to 6 YEARS being charged intrest and fees for non-payment on a DAILY BASIS, only to have them TAKE my DISABILITY PAY from me. I thought they couldn't touch disability pay because of the fact that I am disable and unable to earn an income?
Boy, was I wrong. Can anyone help me get back my disability pay and all the interest and fees that we have had to pay to the IRS for 6 years now, going on 7, based on a error created by H & R Block Tax Service? Please, I do NOT want to die having this hanging over MY head, since it was me that insisted on going to H & R Block in the first place, based on my having "bought their LIES of professional work" and it was ME that entered that stupid contest and eventually won. Please can anyone help me, before I die?
Thank you for your time.
Anonymous
Lafayette, Indiana
U.S.A.
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