You definitely do not want to go to fast food when you can fix a meal yourself. Another wrinkle is that, if you visit a fast food outlet, you don't receive much, but you do receive something for your money. At storefront "fast food" preparation firms, whose goal is to get you in and out in 15 minutes; take your money, get you to take a monstrously usurious RAL, get a loan on a fraudulent card, not prepare you for future years, you pay TO PAY HIGHER TAXES. That's right: it's that bad. I've had ex-block and ex-jackson-dimwit taxpayers come to me and I've seen their work.
Do FreetaxUSA, Free1040now, or TaxAct on line. Click "no" when the software asks you to upgrade to "deluxe" and all that. Some states do not have free eFile on their website. One taxpayer emailed me and said it was only 10.00 to do BOTH Federal and State on FreeTaxUSA. Turbotax is 30.00; 60.00 if you need to print out and eFile; TaxAct is 17.00; 32 if you wish to print your State return as well as eFile Fed and state. H& R ripoff's taxcut is 45 and there have been complaints about the software and even the accuracy of the software. Several States do not charge on their website to do income taxes. So you may be able to iFile {eFile} the State return for free. If the IRS accepts your return, you should get your State back in 5 business days {except NY} and your Federal in 10-15 business days depending upon how late in the season and what date you actually submitted the return or they received via U.S. Postal mail. This also depends upon the software not messing up. You have to keep checking to make sure it went through. I've bought very expensive software before {Drake } and it didn't go through. I got all kinds of lies and excuses for why it didn't go through, depending upon which rep answered the phone.
H&R rip off the taxpayers and many of them poor must cease to exist. Firstly, the firm is not to print the SS# of the client on any of the Tax software they send out.
Secondly, they are not to advertise "refund anticipation loans". Not only were they never necessary, they are not ethical and the interest rate annualized is outrageous. Senator Schumer testified that it is as high as 1700% APR.in addition, it is unwise to do what boiler room sleazy, unscrupulous so-called tax pro tax preparers do. Their motivation violates IRS ethics in IRS Circular 230. Block should not want to be associated with such unconscionable shenanagans.in the case of refund anticipation loans, the motivation is NOT
to help the client. It is reprehensible. If the taxpayer is due a refund, it means that the taxpayer has given the government an interest free loan. Rather than show the client the importance of keeping their money and the time value of money, block, jackson-hewitt and a few other storefront seasonal preparers fast talk the prospective client in to getting a loan on money that is the taxpayers! The taxpayer overpaid his income tax.instead of receiving his money back with interest, he is bilked into getting a loan on his own money which has not grown! His income tax liability has been fraudulently increased!!! The income tax liability has not been increased by the government, but by nefarious shysters. It should be made illegal, but our do nothing Congress has no interest in serving nor educating their constituents. Furthermore, the client is seldom informed that he/she may be turned down for the loan due to a government agency seizure or the IRS wanting to examine the return. That means you pay the ERO and bank fees in vain.
Back-up: "In I had HR BLOCK do my taxes. The refund they projected was a little over 4,000. The IRS ok'd it and HSBC sent me the check. Now in 2008 Im receiving documents that I owe HSBC over 4,000.00 because IRS never sent (HSBC) them the money for the RAL."
Here's a couple that may be decent: Free1040Now, TaxAct {but double check it if you buy and sell or rent out}, FreeTaxUSA. Not block's Taxcut! They are free so long as you only do the Federal and ignore all the pop-ups to go to a deluxe or use Lasser and do not have to print out. Unless you are in a complicated tax situation, you do not need expensive software. Go to an EA, if need be. I found this out the hard way.
Outrage! One thing to watch out for: refund anticipation loans {RALs}: Don't do it. What they do is USURY and should be illegal. These "emerald" loans are just as unsavory as the mutual life whole life insurance companies.instead of being remorseful and ceasing to attempt to bleed the public, they came out with universal life. An out and out "stick 'em up! Now, Block with their refund anticipation loans, instead of ceasing such things, have come out with the emerald loans, emerald card, emerald debit card. The hucksters want to trap you in to having no choice but to return to them. So don't go to Block. Here is a testimonial:
"If you got an emerald advance line done from them in December probably yes {you're trapped in to returning to that outfit! }. If you can, do not go to H&R Block this year. My sister got an advance done in December and she paid through the teeth this tax season. She paid almost double what she did in 2006. Also, they are not issuing checks anymore, either. They are giving the early anticipation loans now on a debit card. My advice for you is to go to a local private tax preparer who will probably do the return for under $100. They can e-file the tax return and you won't have to pay the outrageous fees. So if you did have H&R Block do an advance in December you'll have to have them finish the other part of the return for 2007. If you didn't then you won't have to return there."
Another testimonial. Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. Certainly applies to H&ripoff: "Beware of the H&R Block Emerald card. Tell your friends!? {sic. Means! Or! } I got my 2007 taxes on the H&R Block pre paid {sic} emerald card. I was buying my wife a car and had the guy run the card. The card machine didn't say or print anything. We didn't know what to do, the guy said 'for some reason this card isn't working'. We paid with a different card. When I got home and checked my account, the money had been deducted from the card and put on hold for an 8 week length to be paid to the dealership. We essentially have paid for the car twice! The dealership has done everything they can to get the money released. My wife has went {sic}into the h&r block office and made dozens of calls to the 1 800 number. Most calls you get hung up on. All I want is for them to release my money back to me so that I can pay off the other card. I am being charged interest on the amount. I am thinking about taking them to small claims court and exposing them to the media! Warn everyone you know... This card is a hoax!"
Any one working for H&R ripoff is to get out right now. When you know you are working for a dishonest business, you get out. Have some principle. Your
grandparents did.
Http://nextaxpro. Spaces. Live.com/
By the way, this website won't work for "&": AT&T H&R Block - like that. You have to file under "HR Block" or "Block".
When my former spouse and I went to H&R dilldocks at 230 Main St, Luray {Block there has since moved}, we found we "owed" a large tax bill when we did not. They calculated penalty and interest for us! That's up to the taxpayer and the IRS! We had claimed a few exemptions. Then the H& dumbbell rep said "drop 'em". That's what she said. All the things you can legally do to save on your taxes; all the deductions and credits; all the ways you can save on your income taxes and you can find more ways every year. That's what she said: "drop 'em" {!!! }. No questions; no time consuming, exhaustive, digging earnestly and more and more diligently for deductions; no asking about receipts and diaries of expenses; no list to prepare to save on taxes in future years, no advice, no giving of their time to their clients: worse than worthless! In a subsequent year, the moron told us that we were employers and had to withhold social security from our babysitter. The limit for reporting income then was $400 or $500 per quarter. We didn't have to file Schedule H! So we didn't have to withhold Federal taxes! H&Ripoff lying thieves are to make restitution for the double charges plus interest and penalty! We only paid around $50 to the babysitter for the entire year, if that much. Yet H&R nosey nit wits told us that we were employers and had to withhold tax from this poor lady! We were NOT employers!!! We did not have to fill out a W-2 nor did we have to fill out a 1099, for that matter. They did not tell us to get a second opinion!!! Those idiots did not know the income tax laws that they profess to know! Further, the brain dead and thief told us that their company {H&R ripoff} would graciously amend our income tax return. We didn't need the return amended! They didn't even know the tax law for child care providers! Then they charged us the equivalent fee without any advance warning! They said they would do it. They did not have to; they lied. Then they made it appear as if they would do it without a fee, since there was only one entry to "change". They lied to us! We did not need to file a Schedule H!!! Whether we babysat or not was none of their business! They had no business even asking that question!!! They added interest and penalty on that we were not liable for!!! They certainly are not interested in you the client paying the least possible legal tax! The fact that they are still in business show how illiterate taxpayers are about their taxes. That's what started my business. I got tired of overpaying frightfully on my taxes. I went into competition with H & dishonest and exposed them. If they had been right, they would have mentioned the state unemployment tax administration that employers are required to pay in to!!! They did not mention the state nor FUTA!!! H&R lying, abominable criminal thieves are the most lying, conniving, double -crossing lowlife on earth! They have no business calling themselves "income tax preparers"!! Don't tell me I'm ranting. Put your money where your mouth is. I'm telling the truth. If you still think good is evil and evil is good, then YOU make the restitution to I and millions of others who know that we were ripped off by leeches whom are determined to fleece, extort and do all manner of stealing from mostly low-income taxpayers!
Another testimonial. You see how this all ties together. H&R is not looking out for you, the taxpayer: "Dont! They work with the government to screw you! Yes I've had them done there. I also have a {sic} accountant friend who worked there one day and quit when she saw how they were doing people. She was trying to help save people money and her boss pulled her aside and said 'we don't do that here!' "
And I won't forget this as it doesn't apply to but a very few blockhead outlets but it DOES apply to some Jackson-dilldock franchises: There's a lot of riff raff coming out now telling the public to bring their last W-2 and they can do their taxes. That's nonsense. No confirmation with the W-2 when it comes; no questions; no digging and digging for deductions; no tax planning; no telling you what you need to do to lower your tax bite in subsequent years; and, to make it infinitely worse, pressure on you to get a refund anticipation loan {RAL}. The usury is frequently over 1000% if you take in consideration the fees and annualize the interest. Now, there's this "emerald" stuff. H&ripoff digged up refund anticipation loans and now they've gotten worse with these "emerald advance lines", another idea from the nether world. They are giving the early anticipation loans now on a debit card.
The solution is not to go to shysters whose motivation is to fleece you. I call them boiler room operators: HR Block, Jackson-Hewitt, Liberty {owned by Mr. Hewitt and a few others} Block is the only one that is not seasonal, but it turns for many reasons that that is not a plus for Block. It really is important to learn how to do your taxes yourself or least have an idea what's going when you do them on your software. You can do your taxes yourself unless you are in a complicated situation - a proprietorship, partnership, lot of real estate deals with depreciation, foreign taxes and regulations, own a mutual fund - along that line. If you are not comfortable, get on the National Association of Enrolled Agents - naea.org - web site. Click on "Find an EA". Type in your town, state or zip code. Enrolled agents do not work cheap, but your taxes will be done right and they will go with you if you are audited by the IRS. Not always are they lawyers but have the power of attorney with the IRS. Enrolled agents are professional tax practitioners who have technical expertise in the field of taxation, and are licensed to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service at all administrative levels. Moreover, enrolled agents are the only tax practitioners required by Federal law to maintain their expertise through continuing professional education. Tax attorneys and CPA's used to have that requirement, but lobbied and no longer are required. It was too hard for them to pass the EA examination and to maintain their EA certification through continuing professional education. A CPA is worthless to the taxpayer unless that CPA is an Enrolled Agent. Note all the scandals. Accountants can't account. Ask an accountant to do taxes for a taxpayer who lived in 3 different states last year. They cannot without a computer, unless they are EA's. I've been to seminars where the EA's did the 3 states by hand! The reason is that the computer is not going to try to find the lowest aggregate Federal and State income tax liability overall. Lawyers lose on your behalf and lose radically. Bankers are insolvent. Journalists can't report: they never tell the truth. Economists can't predict recessions and depressions. There have been ZERO scandals in the vast majority of enrolled agent chapters since the founding of the NAEA in 1982.
Block's online taxcut: "Has anyone else had an absolutely HORRIBLE experience with H&R Block premium online service? I am amazed at the mistakes the program made with my tax return. The mistakes didn't cost me money, by finding them I will get a larger return, but it made me realize how awful the program is. Then the customer service is as bad or worse. Some of the employees try to help as best as they can, but most of them don't have a clue. I talked to a supervisor who told me that I was refunded 19.95 for the program that I paid for, however I didn't pay 19.95 for anything. He was obviously lying, but why? { You were charged more and he wanted to get away with giving you only a fraction back -Nextaxpro} I highly recommend NOT using HRBLOCK premium online service. Unless you did your taxes yourself and you can check the program to confirm that it did everything correctly, which rather defeats the purpose."
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