Jackson Hewitt
Reviews and Complaints

Being that I have a college education in accounting, I thought it would be a good idea to take a part time job at Jackson Hewitt to get some experience working with taxes. Big mistake. I signed up for the class only to be told that there were not enough students to have a class so I would be taking classes ONLINE. That's right just me and a book to read and a test to take online. This is what Jackson Hewitt uses to train new employees.

Most of the information I learned in college and had no trouble passing the tests. The problem is that what the book says and what happens in reality are 2 different things. When it came to preparing taxes, I had only 3 hours of practice with the computer program that they use. And there is no grading system to determine if the "practice results" were done correctly. I felt very unprepared to assist anyone with their taxes.

There are some warning that customers need to know about Jackson Hewitt. First, the person preparing your taxes may not be trained properly or even qualified to do their own taxes let alone yours. Secondly, these people (tax preparers) are commonly paid minimum wage and work there for extra money. Third, you are not protected from fraud, lost refunds, stolen refunds or an audit even if you purchase the "Gold Guarantee". Every store is INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED. This means if you have issues or an audit, you may be on your own fixing it. You have to contact the owner of the franchise to have the gold guarantee claim filed for you. This is at their discretion as to whether it is filed or not. Finally, you need to be VERY vigilant with your money and your personal information. Jackson Hewitt is not required to a background check on their employees. You have no idea who you are giving your information to.

ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS! Think about the worse case scenario and ask the "what if" questions. Pay attention to what is going on during the tax preparation. Notice if the person makes a mark on each document they touch, or if they have a system of laying out the documents to ensure that everything you offer them is accounted for and has been inputted into the computer. Know your rights. Go to IRS.GOV and look up your taxpayer rights. Jackson Hewitt can not keep your tax documents FOR ANY REASON, unless you file with them; then they have to have copies. DO NOT SIGN anything until you read it. If you don't understand it, ask them to explain it. Most of all, rememeber if they screw up, YOU ARE HELD RESPONISBLE!

Jackson Hewitt and H&R Block are scams in one way or another. Be ware and know your rights.

I have used the company for yers and paid for the gaurntee and I receicved a letter from the irs ans I had to pay them $428. I drove to the office in Jefferson, Ia. two times and it's three hours round trip. This has been going on for eight months now with resolution. Aster countless phone calls wit no responce I'm going to be forcwed to call the better busniss folks.I have tried to keep all my tax filing down to one company to make it easy, but as this lack of responce I've gone else where.

Jackson Hewitt in Sycamore Illinois, part of the Dekalb branch, prepared our taxes in 2008. We paid for their "gold guranatee" with the understanding that if we were to be audited that we would be protected. The lady that prepared our taxes did not include all of the W2's that we gave to her in the paperwork to the IRS. We were audited and this year they took $1400 out of our tax returns. That is a lot of money for working class citizens like myself and my husband. When we asked the owner, John Saponari, to help us out since we purchased the protection from them, he initially said no problem. He would for sure get us our money back. We trused him enough to go back there to get our taxes done this year with the understanding that we was working on the situation for us. HES A LIAR AND A SCAM ARTIST. When we saw that money taken out of our check we demanded that he not take out the money for this year until we could sort the issue out. He told my husband via text, "dude, the money is already out." We spend two days trying to get a hold of him, with no response. Eventually I got him on the phone and he said there was no way in hell we were going to get our $1400 back. He said that we didn't turn the forms in to the lady. WHY THE HELL WOULD I NOT TURN A W2 INTO THE LADY WHEN IT WOULD MEAN MORE MONEY FOR ME? He is being sneaky and trying to get his way out of a mistake that his company made. I am going to be getting a lawyer. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY, THEIR GOLD GURANTEE IS A SCAM AND A FRAUD!

I decided to go to Jackson Hewitt this year because H&R Block wasn't doing the rapid this year. Well, after the lady filled our 1040A form out she charged us over $500.00 in preparation and fees. Although we got a $1500.00 check the next day, it took us two weeks to get the rest of our Federal. And the state check is anyone's guess. The IRS states that they mailed it on 02/09/2011. Jackson Hewitt said we would pick it up at their office. No one has seen it since the ninth day of February. Can anyone tell me where my money is. Needless to say I will never use Jackson Hewitt again. And H&R Block, I am so sorry and if you'll have me back next year I'll see you all then.

I worked for Jackson Hewitt for one season as a tax preparer. The training consisted about 30 hours of classroom training doing returns by hand, we never saw a computer during the entire class nor had any explanation of how the software worked.
My first day in the office the manager stated you better start practicing doing returns on the computer and then she left. No instructions or guides on how to use the software. No state return software was loaded in the system for more than a week.
Because I was part-time I was not always present when a return was not accepted by the IRS and no one else in the office would touch it because we were paid a commission. Several of my customers applied for the RAL and had problems with their return not being accepted and all the office did was leave a note on my desk for me to find a few days later (I only worked two days a week). By the time I got the message the customer was steaming mad because the refund they paid hundreds of dollars for never arrived and no one would assist them.

I will never pay for tax preparation because they just hire people off the streets and give them minimal training.

Had same cpa for 5 years she had charged us $100.00 for the same tax return (she retired.) we went to jackson hewitt they charged us $200.00 for the same forms and when we questioned the price he said he had more education than our past cpa he repeated this several times I think that was a very arrogant attitude he was rude when my husband questioned the cost I will never recommend them to anyone or go to anotjher jackson hewitt again very bad experience stay away from them you pay more because he has college loans?

I went to jackson hewitt to get taxes done the lady who did my taxes had to keep getting info from the manager on-site at the desk behind her should've been the first clue to go somewhere else to get them done but since i was already there i let them do it so i waited the 8 to 15 days and on mytaxmanager it said my money was deposited but it was not in my account so i called the bank several times a couple days in a row and when i went to give her the account number off the paper that jackson hewitt gave me i was told that there was one number missing so the girl who did my taxes missed the last number on my account so now i have to wait for the funds to go back to their bank and now i have to be issued a check for my federal and my state now i have to wait even longer cause it will have to clear in my bank before i can spend the money i had told the manager that i think this is unfair and that i should be compensated some money back for their mistake and she told me since i signed the paper that had my account number on it that it was my fault! I am so pissed i will never use Jackson Hewitt ever again they are rip offs and they need to train their people better!

They advertised as low as $38, I figured that okay and maybe state $30. They talk about a smart card I said cool did all the paper work for me to sign and said that it is all explained in the paper work. By the time they got finished with me I ended up paying $124. Okay my mistake I will never go back. Still waiting for the the bank to put the money in my smart card, they said it will take 8-15 days. This is the 12th day. I know 3 more to go but they say that there is a web site I can go to and it's not there. I'm just praying that I didn't get taken.

I came upon this website while doing research against Jackson Hewitt as I totally intend to file complaints with the PA Dept of Banking, the BBB, the Dept of Treasury and any other governmental agency that will listen. I also see where reps from Jackson Hewitt are even responding. So, I DARE YOU TO RESPOND TO MINE JH. We have always done business with H & R Block. He has never been denied a RAL, doesnt owe the government either through arrear taxes, student loans or child support. This year, I was going to do his taxes, but he wanted to do the RAL to get a 50" flat screen to watch the Steelers play the superbowl. I am totally educated and actually do others tax returns for free just to help, so it is reasonable that the ONLY REASON we would even consider going to a tax prep place would be the RAL. I contacted 6 locations, all of which stated, "yes, most all are being accepted. So that, coupled with the other reasons, felt we did our due dilligence about this RAL and went to Jackson Hewitt. We were also told that an itemized tax prep would be $75, and it turned out to be $250. FIRST LIE. The next day, he was denied. I contacted the manager and she said that "many first time customers are being denied." Then, it all made sense to me as to why he was denied as that would be the only reason. So, we ended up watching a small TV for the superbowl, paid $250 for something I had actually already done before we even went to JH and got nothing but rude and ignorant employees afterward. But hey, they already got our money, so why be nice?

This is a complete and total racket. The lure of the RAL brings people into tax prep places and unlike H & R Block who told you prior to doing business with them, whether or not you would be able to recieve the RAL, JH does not. YOu HAVE to do the tax prep, THEN they tell you if you were getting a RAL. That is NOT a choice. From what I have been reading, most people are charged an average of $250 for tax prep. They even charged $10 to hold your tax information, which we NEVER asked them to do nor do we ever intend to walk in this deceptive business ever again. So, thats $10 just pissed away to these low lifes.

The government would love to get rid of these RAL's and I intend to help them along. I am filing complaints accompanied with many as I cannot include them all, complaints all across the internet about the experiences the American taxpayer has had with JH. I KNOW they will listen and hopefully we will put them out of business. I also urge all of you reading this to file your own complaint with your states atty general, your stated department of banking and any other consumer agency that will listen. FIGHT BACK against these jerks that are misleading the general public.

So, if there is a Jackson Hewitt rep reading this, make sure you got my name as you WILL be hearing from my complaint. We, the consumer are sick and tired of being taken advantage of, gouged with outrageous fees and spoken to like we were garbage. Wait till the tables are turned against you and your bankers. You know what they say, Paybacks are a ***.

Every Year we have went to H&R Block but because they are no longer doing the rapid we decied to go to Jackson Hewitt What a big rip off we were told we would recieve some of our refund on the smartcard within 24-48 hours its been 8 days now and still nothing i have checked the IRS website and my state website about our returns they have both been processed Still no money Next year back to H&R block I will never recommend Jackson Hewitt they told us we would recieve the RAL Yet everyone i have talked to has never recieved it i dont see how this 2nd largest tax prepaer can get away with robbing people espically to people who are really needing the money.

I went into the tax place on 2/14/11 @ 2:00 pm and asked for a Refund Anticipation Loan (RAL) when I was filing my taxes. I had a new preparer (Vince) that had to ask his manager lots of questions to get the forms filled out. He told me the loan would had to go through a credit check and to call back in 24 hrs. to see if the loan was approved. I called back today 2/15/2011 and was told it was never filed for and that there was nothing they could do about this. This service to do my taxes and apply for the loan cost over $4oo dollars for a simple return. I have bills that I am now going to have late payments and increased interest rates as well as negative reports on my credit rating due to their neglegence.

I thought I would try Jackson Hewitt over HR Block this year. Been using HR for 9 years. I was in Walmart and asked the lady if I could file my taxes. She rolled her eyes and said I guess. RUDE. She then said "Do you have your w2's and social security cards? If not I not help you." I said yes I do and she made a grunting noise and said.. huh. I asked if she liked her job and she just stared at me. I left, back to HR Block. Thanks Marina in Lawton Oklahoma. I will never go to Jackson Hewitt or refer it as I know now they hire anybody.

Jackson Hewitt is fraudulent, I applied for the rapid refund loan this year and was told they do not use credit I felt from the beginning that this was a scam and low and behold they charged me $320.00 and I was denied though I have never ever been denied before, the bank got $50.00 for denying it and Jackson Hewitt made off with the rest, I complained about it since the bank could not lose by denying it since they got $50.00 either way and Jackson Hewitt gets the fees for doing your taxes I am pissed off and will never ever use them again long as I live and I will make sure everyone I know hears about this bogus crap.

Jackson hewitt on 8th Minnesota, KCK is taking money from mexicans to do there taxes when the fee comes out of the refund. I know someone who was in the business at the time and they said that the tax preparers are charging Mexicans up front so they can make money on the side. They brag after the client leave they he can't speak english so they take advantage of them. The IRS or the corporate office of Jackson Hewitt need to put an stop to this type of practice soon. When people get wind of what is going on Jackson Hewitt will be blown out of the water. This has going for years at this location.

Jackson hewitt lied to us and told us we would have our money in 8 to 15 days and charged us$229.00 and now were being told our taxes will take almost 3 weeks thats not right we'll never use jackson hewitt again they lead you in by telling you one thing and all they can say is oh well its not there fault well im telling you it is they tell you something thats what you go by.i did my taxes my self last year and should have done them this year had no problems on turbo tax but people are always out to screw someone.

Jackson Hewitt is advertising on massillon cable that they are only charging 38 dollars for tax preperation but for some reason I was charged 90 dollars. I tried to go rapid refund and was told I could not because I did not get back enough. I never knew there was a limit. I also contacted a different jackson hewitt office first but they could not get me in in time. I did ask the first one if I could claim my school like I did last year, although I had to take a break from it since october. He informed me it would not be worth it. why cant I claim my online schooling? Thank you for your help

I have filled my taxes with Jackson Hewitt, for 8 years I was 9 months pregnant due any day when I walked in their office and as for my W- 2 form back, the manager refused to give me back my w-2 buy asking me why I wanted it back, she repeatedly kept asking why I told her because my husband wants it back to go some where else. They did the preview part of filing for me a day before this day, they never filled it yet they wanted to charge me 200.00 dollars befor they would file so i went back the next day to ask for it back. The manager told me I could not have it back unless I paid her 20.00 dollars firt for just looking at my w-2 for . Now you tell me how damn ### is that here I am 9 months pregnant stressed out and very upset she had no write to charge me 20.00 dollars for asking for my w-2 form back. and did not even write me a receipt. I could of given birth that day, thats how upset I was. Jackson Hewitt is a ### place to file your taxes in okeechobee. I recomend H 7R Block they dont treat ya like ###. Why am I complaining now and not then " WHAT THE HELL GOOD WAS IT GOING TO DO" tHATS THE PROBLEM WITH COMPANYS THESE DAYS THEY DO NOT TAKE THEIR CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS SERIOUSE ENOUGH AND DO NO INVESTIGATION ON IT EITHER. so good luck to all you Jackson Hewitt Fans.

After filing taxes with Jackson Hewitt in 2005 at a busy office, on 95 & South Western ave in Chicago, One of tax prep guys tried to bribe me saying he could get me out faster if I gave him some money $50.00 under the table. I declined, when I got called to him to do my taxes I heard him whispering to the lady next to him "she didn't give me ***, I'm gonna make her pay anyway". After he was done doing my taxes, Thank GOD that I decide to take the gold guarantee (much to his dismay). Long story short, the next year I was audited (taxes snatched) by the IRS because of a mistake he knowingly made. I made nearly 300 calls to JH corporate and local offices to have them make good on the gold guarantee. Because it was off tax season and the original filing office was closed permanently, I was sent from office to office. NO ONE at JH wanted to touch my claim saying I had a problem because the original filing office was now permanently closed and they did not want their office charged for the mistake, since it wasn't their offices mistake. Meanwhile, I moved out of state. I talked to several people in my new state and I threatened legal action against JH. Finally 1 lady in the whole of the JH company filed my gold guarantee claim. Finally, 2 months later, JH's insurance company decided to came through. I would finally receive over $4, 000 almost 2 years to the day the guy jacked up my taxes. DO NOT USE Jackson Hewitt the gold guarantee means nothing and they have too many shyster's working for them WITHOUT any accountability. If there is ANY TYPE OF A PROBLEM, they will shuffle you around and pass you from office to office until you decide to leave them alone! RUN AWAY FAST from any JACKDON HEWITT OFFICE. Let my and others experiences on this site be a warning to you!

Last year the majority of Jackson Hewitt offices did not offer RAL (Income tax loans) because the bank they were using was not able to get certification from the Treasury Dept. Well instead of telling customers the truth they lied and deceived people into believing that loans were available. After completing the unsuspecting client's tax they would make up an excuse or tell the client they were denied when in fact there was no bank offering a loan. Majority were dishonest and the tone started at the top. I would recommend that nobody uses this service again. This year 2011 will not be any different because once again the same bank doesn't yet have certification from the Treasury.

Jackson Hewitt Ipower card is a rip-off they charge you $2.50 everytime you dial the number on the back of your card., you can't even check your balance without being charge, you can't call and ask question or you are charge a fee, and every withdrawal is $2.50, I would like this to stop especially the fees they charge to prepare your taxes. I been a customer since 1982 and they been getting me out of my money with all the fees, they should be allow to charge so many fees! very angry customer, pissed!