I would like to point out a little something that I have uncovered. H&R Block is running a HUGE scam. Their commercial claims that 1 billion dollars was left on the table by people who filed their own taxes last year. Well, lets just run the numbers, eh? 200,000,000 (Two hundred million) people file taxes each year. These are approximate numbers that I obtained from the IRSs website. Last year, approximately 40,000,000 (Forty million) people filed their own taxes for the first time. This number are people who e-filed using filing software or free forms to e-file for the first time. That means that H&R Blocks commercials are targeting this 40 million people. If you divide the amount of money left on the table by the number of people who they are targeting, you get a number of $25 per person. But wait, I hear it already, H&R Block says about 1 in 5 people have left off a credit. So, let’s explore that one. 1/5 or 20% of 40 million is 8,000,000 (Eight million). Now, divide that same billion dollars by the eight million people to whom it belongs. We get $125.00. Per person. One hundred and twenty five dollars. Now, lets see what its going to COST you to get that $125. If you are in fact one of the people who are owed an additional refund, H&R Block wants you to dig out your old tax records and bring them in. Lets say you know exactly where your records are (you dont have to look, you just have to open a drawer and pick them up). Gathering your records and getting to H&R Block will take about 30 minutes. This is based on an average commute time of 20 minutes. You will then sign in and have a seat. An average wait time at H&R Block during tax season is 25 minutes. This is based on a google search. I averaged wait times ranging from none to an hour. There were several responses. Now were up to 55 minutes. Then the tax-professional who amounts to nothing more than a data entry clerk who has read the IRSs instructions for filing forms, and really knows nothing more than that. IRS’s forms and instructions are available to everyone, not just “tax-professionals”. That person will not “look it over”. The data entry clerk will input your last year’s return numbers into their software. Sometimes it will tell them that you can claim a credit that you did not claim before. This will take approximately 20 minutes. If you can, GREAT! Remember, mathematically, we decided that this amount is going to be about $125. And you’ve already put 1 hour and fifteen minutes into finding this out. Now, H&R Block’s “Tax-professional” is going to offer to file an amended return. Your first question is, how much will it cost? They won’t be up front with you about it, though. They will tell you that it depends on the forms that we’ll need to prepare and file. But at this point, they already know what forms will be necessary. Essentially, they will file an amended return on your behalf. They will file all of the same forms you already submitted, along with one or maybe two additional ones. In the end, it will cost you somewhere between $50 and $100 for them to file your amended return. For our purposes, let’s take the middle of the road. $75. Now, your “tax-professional” has all of your information entered already, and it will only take a “few more minutes” to get the paperwork together, and get your amended return filed. You agree. You sit for another 20 minutes, signing forms, agreeing to pay for the services, allowing H&R Block to speak to the IRS on your behalf, and more forms, and more forms. But now, it’s all over. All in all, the process took approximately 1 hour and thirty five minutes. The IRS will send you a check. In approximately 12-16 weeks. They won’t tell you this one until the very end. The IRS places amended returns toward the back of the priority list. Now, it’s time to pay up. You write a check to H&R Block for $75 (middle of the road pricing). Suddenly, your $125 has been cut in half because of what it cost you to file the forms. So, now your refund is only worth $50. But wait! There’s more. You spend one hour and thirty five minutes of your time to do this. I’ve looked up the average hourly wage in the US. It’s $22.01. This divides out to $0.367 per minute. Let’s round it down to $0.36 (rounding down to give H&R Block a little leeway). We’ve spent 95 minutes to get it all done. So that was worth a US average of $34.20. Now that $125 check we’ll get in 3 to 4 months is only worth 15.80. Unless your filing status is married filing a joint return. Which is the case for more than 70% of the returns that are owed an additional refund. So now, we’ll need to add in our spouse’s time to get this done, because both people must be present to sign paperwork. To be fair to H&R Block, we won’t add the full 95 minutes, because only one spouse will gather the old return information. We’ll even say that one spouse will meet the other at H&R Block after work, and only has a 5 minute commute. We’ll go a little further, even. We’ll say that our spouse was running a little behind, and only had to wait for 5 minutes. So we have a 5 minute commute, plus a 5 minute wait time, plus a 20 minute period for the “double check,” plus 20 minutes to sign forms and finalize the transaction. Our spouse invested 50 minutes into this project. That cost a US average of $18.00. Uh oh. Now our check for $125 is worth absolutely nothing. In fact it cost us $2.20. And we haven’t even figured the cost of gas or mileage on our vehicle(s) or cost of public transportation. Now, I have a little advice for you. Take it or leave it, but the numbers don’t lie. If you believe that you may need to file an amended return in order to collect an additional refund. PLEASE DO IT YOURSELF! Go through your previous years’ tax returns. Line by line. Read the instructions for that year (available for free from the IRS) for each line, as you look over it. If you find a mistake, and find that you are owed more money, please go ahead and file an amended return. But do not pay someone else to do it for you. It is obviously not worth it. If you find a mistake in the IRS’s favor, do yourself a BIG favor and file an amended return and send them a check. It is always better to admit your mistakes and pay the penalty upfront, than to deal with an audit and potential severe penalties and interest and even jail time. Do the right thing, but don’t let someone do it for you. H&R Block does not care about you, or your money. They care about themselves, and their money. They are in business to make money from people who do not know any better. And their misleading marketing is duping these people into paying money that they DO NOT NEED TO PAY! This is worse than the, now illegal, tax refund loan. This is worse than the predatory loans that prey on low income workers and those with fixed incomes. Do not solicit the services of these monsters! Donnie Dojo Woodson
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 05:10:27 +0000
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