Consumerist
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refund anticipation loans
H&R Block's Refund Anticipation Loan Card Eats Your Refund
Poor Sam didn't take our advice. He let H&R Block do his taxes and then took out a refund anticipation loan. The money, which was deposited on an H&R Block Emerald Card, is now tied up by several inexplicable holds for transactions he didn't make. The companies supposedly holding the funds have no clue who Sam is, or why they'd be holding his money. H&R Block's only response is to charge Sam $2 whenever he calls their customer service line for help. More » -
taxes
H&R Block Screwup Costs You $10,000
Last year H&R Block told the IRS that reader Tuyen made $33,000 in charitable donations. Tuyen, who earns $60,000 per year, collected a huge rebate, but when he returned to H&R Block this year, he learned that thanks to the screwup he now owes the IRS $10,000 in back taxes. More » -
h&r block
H&R Block Offering $100 Coupons Or Free Software To Same-Sex Couples Who Were Denied Online Service
It's too late for this year's tax season (unless you're doing it wrong), but H&R has issued an apology of sorts by announcing it will give a $100 coupon or free TaxCut software to gay couples who were shut out of their online programs this year due to a programming oversight. Don't expect to take advantage of the offer if you were turned away online and went elsewhere, though—the offer is only good for "civil union, domestic and same sex partner clients, who started with TaxCut online and then completed their returns in one of our retail offices." If you fit that requirement, you can request the coupon or software here. More » -
followups
H&R Block Says It Does Not Refuse Tax Returns For Same-Sex Civil Unions
H&R Block recently got into trouble because when a Connecticut same-sex couple tried to file their taxes through H&R Block's website, the system spat back, ""We don't support Connecticut Civil Union returns." One of our readers wrote H&R Block about our post and their VP of Marketing actually wrote back to him to describe what she felt was media sensationalization of the story. She says that the problem happens because the Federal government doesn't recognize same-sex civil unions. The information for state tax returns gets inputted based on the federal, so in this specific case, it's not "flowing" correctly. It sounds like they're working on fixing that, though. Here's her email in full: More » -
If you're on SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) and used Taxcut Online from H&R Block to file for your stimulus payment, it may have told you to print out the wrong form. The right form is 1040A, not 1040EZ.
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e-filing
I-Can! E-File Not Quite Ready For Primetime
Last week we wrote about I-Can! E-File, a free electronic filing service for your federal income taxes. It's a great idea, and we're thankful to the Legal Aid Society of Orange County for doing something like this—but you might want to find an alternative this year and give them some time to work out the kinks. Today a reader emailed us to point out that icanefile.org's password system can be easily cracked, because instead of letting you choose an original password, it requires you to use your name and social security number to set up an account. More » -
taxes
I-CAN! Files Your State And Federal Tax Returns For Free
I-CAN! is a web-based tax preparation tool that will file your tax return completely free of charge. I-CAN has no eligibility criteria or income restrictions and will eFile your state return for free if you live in California, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania or Montana. It almost sounds too good to be true. So why isn't I-CAN! a member of the IRS' Free File Alliance? More » -
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yuck
Worst Tax Product Ever: The Refund Anticipation Loan Debit Card
Refund anticipation loans are bad enough, but H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt want you to get a RAL, and then put it on a fee-riddled pre-paid debit card. What a great idea! More » -
advertising
H&R Block Lures College Students With $10 In "Pizza Cash"
Kevin sent in this ad for H&R Block trying to market to college kids by giving them $10 in "pizza cash" if you file through H&R Block. This sounds tasty, except that due to their low income, most college kids won't have to pay any taxes and it's pretty easy to do with FreeFile through the IRS.gov website, for free, natch. But file through H&R Block and you'll probably be paying at least $60. So, you could buy yourself $10 of pizza, or pay $50+ for H&R Block pizza. They still teach math in college, right? -
subprime meldown
H&R Block Subprime Lending Division Loses $676.8 Million
H&R Block's subprime mortgage lending arm has reported a quarterly loss of $676.8 million, dragging down the entire company. In all, all of H&R Block lost $85.5 million in Q1. From BusinessWeek: More » -
taxes
Avoid Big Name Tax Places
We haven't been getting many complaints about tax places this year but as far as we know, they still suck. They're known for messing some people's returns up pretty bad, or encouraging people to take questionable deductions. Like making up a child, for instance. Here's a walk down memory lane, a lane that's definitely shady... More » -
refund anticipation loans
Tax Advance Loans On The Retreat
The number of refund anticipation loans declined 22.5% last year as consumers took advantage of cheaper and only slightly slower alternatives, NYT reports. More » -
secondlife
Update: H&R Block In SecondLife To Push Its Online Tax Prep Service, "Tango"
Peter Klaus, with Fleishman-Hillard Digital, apparently worked with H&R Block on its SecondLife branch I blogged about yesterday morning. According to Klaus, the SecondLife version of H&R Block gives pretty good deals on services (for whatever those are worth), plus tax advisors available on Tuesdays and Thursdays to give free advice. More » -
h&r block
H&R Block Opens Branch In SecondLife; Virtual Freakshows Line Up To Get Tax Advice
AllFinancialMatters reports that H&R Block is opening up H&R Block Island in SecondLife, where, according to the press release, there will be "digital tax professionals sharing free advice, providing access to the latest tax preparation products, and hosting tax-related events, tax time may never be the same." More » -
taxcut
Free No-Frills Tax Prep Software From H&R Block
H&R Block is offering Tax Cut Basic federal tax preparation software to directly compete with TurboTax. It's free, for a price. More » -
rfa
Avoid Tax Refund Anticipation Loans
The National Consumer Law Center and the Consumer Federation of America have issued a press release warning you to steer clear of Tax Refund Anticipation Loans (PDF): More » -
h&r block
H&R Block's Freudian Slip
The Consumerist has its fair share of typos, but at least we don't make them in a fixed medium. More »
h&r block
New York, 8:45 AM
Sun Nov 22
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