H&R Block biffs their taxes

[royalfan5]

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BCB86D64B%2D88E6%2D4F51%2DB6C1%2 DC4AE7BBB1933%7D&siteid=google&keyword=

Not a real good move to inspire confidence among their customers.

[TopDaugIn2000]

oh good.......

[Mjcpr]

I have no problem with them. Anybody that gets me a $97,000 federal refund on a $50,000 salary is OK in my book.

[Widescreen]

Since they're a direct competitor of ours, I find this really funny.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

Okay, with Turbotax out there, why would anyone use a tax prep service?

[Taxman71]

Okay, with Turbotax out there, why would anyone making less than $50k/year use a tax prep service?

Fixed.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

Why 50K, what's the difference if it is 120K?

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

i think the biggest thing is how complicated your taxes are. if you are straight W2, have very few write offs (house, prop tax, tags, sales tax, etc.) then its the way to go.

if you have rental property, certain capital gains (worthless stock, foreign companies, etc.), partnerships, S corporations, it would be wise to move to someone else to deal with it...

[Taxman71]

Why 50K, what's the difference if it is 120K?

Just a random figure. Most people below that figure don't need "tax planning" which is really what tax pros are for. The low marginal tax rate doesn't warrant spending money to save $50.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

Oh, tax planning...Yeah, after years of doing my own schedule C, I learned a few things about the tax code. Not that I'm a pro, but when I moved to Houston several years ago, I didn't get a good feeling when the CPA person was surprised at how well organized my receipts and information was...I thought the tax implications from the move warranted a professional, today, I think I could have done the same with my knowledge and TT...

Now financial planning is another thing, but I wouldn't go to a tax person for that. I think a CFP or some other "certified" type person would be better. I wouldn't think that service is done by the tax box stores.

[Taxman71]

You are right, you can learn most individual tax issues without a pro, especially with TT, a decent IQ and a willingness to read tax forms/instructions. Most people simply won't do it. Besides, the vast majority of tax preparers are not CPAs. Thus, no certification is required to prepare them.