If you were one of the hundreds of thousands of taxpayers affected by the tax season filing snafu involving education credits – and you filed using H&R Block – you might be getting some relief.
The tax preparation giant is offering $25 to its customers affected by the delay in processing individual tax returns claiming education credits. The $25 will be loaded onto Emerald Cards, the company’s signature debit card, which is also used for taxpayer refunds.
The company had this to say about the resolution to a situation that taxpayers and preparers alike are ready to be over:
This past tax season has been like no other in recent memory. The late passage of additional tax legislation and subsequent delay in the issuing of all tax forms pushed the beginning of the e-filing season back almost two weeks to the end of January. This alone caused a refund delay for close to 18 million taxpayers who usually file in January and receive a refund by early to mid-February.
The IRS has reported it has cleared nearly all returns impacted by the 8863 processing delay. We are confident more than 90 percent of our clients impacted by the form delay have either received their tax refund or received notice of a possible refund date. For those who are experiencing a longer delay, it is possible the IRS has identified additional issues with the return.
H&R Block appreciates that the issue involving the filing of Form 8863 this past tax season may have frustrated and inconvenienced impacted clients. H&R Block recently sent those clients who had their tax returns prepared and filed in company-owned locations its sincerest apologies and a $25 Emerald Card gift card to account for any processing delay and express thanks for their patience in this matter.
These clients can rest assured their tax professional prepared their tax return accurately and the tax refund was never in jeopardy due to this issue. The problem was a system disconnect in processing the form that unfortunately further delayed the return. This delay was not caused by something the tax professional did – or did not do.
Once the company became aware of the issue, it worked diligently on the clients’ behalf with the IRS to expedite the processing of those returns. By working with the IRS, most clients ultimately received their refund more quickly than originally expected.
H&R Block serves approximately 15 million clients in its offices and strives to provide consistent quality client service. Nevertheless, we will not stop working to improve that experience for all of our clients.
This was the second high profile statement from the company. In March of this year, H&R Block CEO Bill Cobb issued an apology to customers, admitting that the company “missed a step” but making assurances that “I want you to know that we hear the frustration of those impacted by this issue loud and clear, and we’re working every avenue we can to get your refund to you as fast as possible.”
Those processing delays were expected to hold up refunds for as many as six weeks. However, it appears that IRS was able to move affected returns more quickly than expected and most taxpayers saw their refunds in less time. By mid-April, almost all taxpayers who had been impacted by the filing problems had received their checks.
The damage was done, however, for a number of taxpayers. In particular, students hoping to use refunds to pay tuition and those relying on finalized returns in order to complete financial aid applications were angry and took to the internet to complain. At least three lawsuits have been filed by customers hoping to recover from losses suffered because of the delays. The company hasn’t responded publicly to the lawsuits but has continued to stress that the majority of customers were not significantly affected.
The delays, of course, made headlines for weeks in an already dramatic tax season marked by a late start, sequestration worries and last minute online outages reported by TurboTax customers. H&R Block hopes that, now that things have settled for most taxpayers, this gesture will help make up for some of the difficulties. So you tell me, will it?
