H&R Block / HRB Digital review: tax prep 4

I will try to be brief. I relocated to Michigan for a new job in 2012. I had my taxes filed by Rob Mull at H&R Block's 338 E Lewis, Milan, MI 48160 location. He was recommended to me by family. He successfully filed my 2012 taxes. The issue that I am contacting you about started with my 2013 taxes. I will be upfront. I did not purchase the "Peace of Mind" plan. I own a small rental in Maine where I used to live. I purchased and put 87% of the house in service as a rental in 2007. The remaining 17%, I lived in as my personal residence. In 2010, I moved out of the house and placed the remaining 17% in service as a rental. The allocation of the percentage of the house for business use and the placed in service dates were all entered correctly in my 2012 return. In early January, while preparing my 2015 taxes, I discovered the error were the business use % from my 2014 tax return was 100% for both 83 Percent Building and 17 Percent Building. Upon further review, I found that the same mistake had been made on my 2013 taxes as well. I initially thought that it was a software glitch. I still do not know why this change was made. This led to me receiving a much larger refund than I should have in 2013 and 2014. It cost me $366.00 in 2013 and $491.25 in 2014 to prepare my taxes, and I owe $2, 633.43 in back taxes, penalties, and interest.

State of MI

TY2013 TY2014
Tax Due- $358.00 Tax Due- $394.00
Penalty- $89.50 Penalty- $98.50
Interest- $29.55 Interest- $15.78
Total- $477.05 Total- $508.28

Federal Gov’t

TY2014
Tax Due- 1595.00
Interest- $53.10
Total- $1, 648.10

After finding the error, I contacted Robin Gragg at the Belleville office. She verified that I was right about the error and helped me file federal and state amendments for TY2013 and TY2014. H&R Block has promised to pay for the penalties, interest, and fees, and I would have liked them to pay for the amount I owe due to their error in addition to the penalties, interest and fees.

When I went to the Milan office to talk with Rob Mull. He told me that he did not recall the details of my return, and that I should have looked more carefully at my return before filing. After that I decided to contact someone from the company’s national office to help me.

Initially, I had difficulty getting someone from H&R Block to assist me. I contacted H&R Block multiple times to no avail. I had 3 case number's closed (1197241, 1153982, and 1171170) without my knowledge requiring me to open a new case # each time. I only found out that the case had been closed after calling to checkup on my case.

On 3/10/16, I called H&R Block again for the 7th or 8th time. They said that they would have to open a new case number for me again. This time I talked with a manager, Carlitos (ID Number: X146861), who said that they would handle the case through the Block Advisors group.

On 3/14/16, I called H&R Block again to check up on last week's conversation with Carlitos. I spoke with Nicole originally. I explained that I was trying to get a hold of Carlitos. She said that it was not possible. She instead connected me with her manager Blake. I had a brief discussion with Blake outlining what had taken place up until that days call. He said that he would send an email directly to the escalation team and that they would contact me within 24- 48 hours in order to get the issue resolved. He said that he would reference case numbers 1197241, 1153982, and 1171170 in his email.

There were a few other additional calls and I was told that I could have the amount paid to have my taxes done at both locations reimbursed. I received a check for $419.25 from the Belleville office to cover the cost of filing.

I called again on 6/28/16. I told them that I would like to close this out once and for all. I told them that a check for $419.25 had been issued by the Belleville office for TY2014 tax prep, but I had not received $366.00 for TY2013 prep from the Milan office. I also need to be reimbursed for interest and fees from both locations.

State of MI

TY2013
Penalty- $89.50
Interest- $29.55

TY2014
Penalty- $98.50
Interest- $15.78

Federal Gov’t

TY2014
Interest- $53.10

They opened another case number 1264122.

I have called several times in order to talk with Juan since the last call on the 6/28/16. He is supposed to be the one responsible for dealing with the franchise disputes. As of July 31, 2016 I have not heard back from him.

The Belleville office has been nice enough to help me with some issues with my TY2014 federal tax amendment. I did not apply the correct supporting documents with my 1040X. However, this should be resolved.

This is a brief synopsis of what I have been dealing with H&R Block over the past few months. At this point I have only received the $491.25 from the Belleville office