H&R Block Tax Preparer lies about Federal Excise Tax Gainesville Florida

"I do not believe cell phone providers were charged the tax" and "While the preparer is technically correct..." is agreeing with me??? Didn't sound like it to me. There is nothing "technically correct" about being to lazy or stupid to follow up on a tax deduction that a client specifically asks about.

What amazes me is the excuses H&R Block employees give for not doing their job while taking large fees from one's wallet.

John,

You amaze me. I agreed with you, and you decided that I didn't know what I was talking about. It is evident that you do not want help, so you can fend for yourself. Good luck.

John,

You amaze me. I agreed with you, and you decided that I didn't know what I was talking about. It is evident that you do not want help, so you can fend for yourself. Good luck.

John,

You amaze me. I agreed with you, and you decided that I didn't know what I was talking about. It is evident that you do not want help, so you can fend for yourself. Good luck.

John,

You amaze me. I agreed with you, and you decided that I didn't know what I was talking about. It is evident that you do not want help, so you can fend for yourself. Good luck.

Then, apparently, you are also not aware of the tax law that involves the Federal Excise Tax refund.

Yes, cellular telephone companies did charge this tax. It is called "bundled" service. If you are an employee as you indicated in your response, I suggest you also learn about the tax law before you fill out any more tax forms. At least know the law before you advise anyone else about taxes.

Any service that charged Federal Excise Tax on Long Distance, or any service that bundled long distance in with other service and charged per-minute charges is eligible for refund.

Most cellular telephones did not distingush between local and long distance service and charged by the minute whether the call was across the street or across the country.

Therefore, your long distance service was "bundled" with your cellular telephone service.

I would suggest you pull up the IRS website and read about it. Even the IRS states that Cellular telephones specifically qualify.

Just to help you out, you can find it at:

irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=161506,00.html

The only services that are not eligible for refund is Federal Excise Tax charged on local service, prepaid cards and prepaid cell phones, and third-party services, such as a service that billsb per minute but didn't add the Federal Excise Tax after the fact. If those 3rd Party billers paid Federal Excise Tax on long distance or bundled service that included long distance, they they, as a corporation, can request a refund of the Federal Excise Tax.

There are some other Long Distance services that are allowed to collect Federal Excise Tax, but most of them don't exist any more and has to do with distance billing, not per-minute charges. I would expect anyone in the tax preparation business to know this and give the person the rebate if they state they paid Federal Excise Tax.

The employee was in NO way "technically right" about anything and was either ignorant or lazy. Either answer is not acceptable.

To state that only one company's telephone service was eligible for the rebate and all the others was a completely bone-head response.

As it turns out, we had to go to the supervisor who also told us that this employee was wrong and did a 1040X for him for free. Still, we have to mail off the form and wait 6-8 weeks for the $30. And, ofcourse, we had to spend our own .39 stamp to mail the form. H&R block was, however, nice enough to give us an envelope. Thank you so much for that!

The fact remains, H&R block employs lazy, incompetent, and poorly trained individuals. If you want to not get ripped off, you have to know more about tax laws than the people who work there. That is no way to run a business.

You are somewhat correct in your complaint. I do not believe cell phone providers were charged the tax, but that is besides the point.

The standard rebate applies for everybody who had a telephone. The IRS is not auditing the standard deduction, so essentially anybody who files taxes can get the credit. Even if you are not required to file, you can still file an 1040-NZ to get the credit.

This is a one-time credit that will not be applicable next year, so everybody should take advantage of the credit. Your son's tax preparer should have applied the credit regardless of the type of service he may have had.

While the preparer is technically correct, the standard credit should have been applied if the tax payer is not providing 41 months of phone charges.