In December of I went to Instant Tax Services for the holiday loan that was being advertised via a radio endorsment. I received a loan for $300.00 and it was instructed that I could either pay the loan back to Tax Tree (the originator of the loan) or pay it back directly to Instant Tax Services.
On January 17th I received a call from a representative of Instant Tax Services informing me that they had my W2's and to come in with my identification as well as social security cards so they could file my taxes. At that time, I explained that I did not need for them to file my taxes because I personally had been doing my own for the past 5 years free of charge.
She continued to tell me that since I had received the holiday loan, I was required to file my taxes with them. I inturn explained to her that the agreetment I filed to receive the loan did not indicate that this was their standard practice and to please not file my taxes. She acted as if she didnt hear me and repeated that I needed to bring in my forms. At that time, I asked to speak to a manager.
Upon speaking to the manager, he basically explained to me the same thing she did. That as a condition of receiving the holiday loan, I was required to file my income taxes with them. I asked him to read to me from the agreement I signed where it states that which in turn he could not, so I told him the same thing I told the other young lady "please do not file my taxes."
On January 24th I personally filed my taxes through H&R Block online only to receive an email 10 minutes later which stated that the social security number used on this tax return had already been submitted. I immediatly called Instant Tax Service to ask if the had filed my taxes (after I told them not to) and they said they had because there was no note on my file to indicate otherwise. To say I was livid was an understatement. I asked them how were they able to file a income tax return without all my information. I paid daycare fees (deduction) paid into a 401k (deduction) as well as had 3 children to claim instead of 2 (deduction). Of course they couldnt give me and answer but asked would I like to come in for an appointment to clear the matter up which I accepted.
In this meeting, the first thing they did was pull the tax return up in which they filed and there was an immediate RED FLAG! The total for my YTD earnings was off by atleast $1000.00. I asked where did they get that figure from if they had my W2's? He begin to explain that they didnt have my W2's per say but that they had gotten the information from various websites. So not only were they being deceptive when they called me to tell me they had my W2'S, they also filed a fraudulent document (Federal document at that). Then how professional was that on the part of their staff to use that false information when they had my last check stub from 2011 which basically told them my YTD earnings. All they had to do was double check the information from the "various websites" to that.
Im totally out done with their deceptive practice. They essentially preyed on those who came in for the holiday loan, for whatever reason, all in the name of the old mighty dollar. Not even caring if those individuals were later audited. But would they? Their not coming after them for filing a false return but after us.
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