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A class action lawsuit has been filed against H&R Block by a customer who alleges that the company redirects low-income taxpayers who are entitled to a free tax program to their fee-based tax filing products.
Plaintiff Aaricka Swanson says she paid for H&R Block’s online tax filing software in order to file her tax returns, despite the fact that she was qualified for the IRS Free File Program.
The plaintiff states that she was charged $64.94 to file her taxes though H&R Block’s software.
Specifically, Swanson says she was charged $29.99 for a “federal return” and $34.95 for a “Refund Transfer Fee.” The plaintiff alleges that H&R Block should not have charged her anything because her adjusted gross income was under $66,000.
“Had H&R Block not misrepresented the nature of its tax preparation and e-filing services and informed Plaintiff Swanson of the existence of and her eligibility to use the Free File software, she would not have agreed to purchase H&R Block’s software,” the H&R Block class action lawsuit claims.
The plaintiff also states that she believed her only option was to use the paid software and that if H&R Block made the free tax filing program accessible, she would have opted to use it over the paid version.
The H&R Block class action lawsuit claims that, under an agreement with Free File Inc. and the IRS, H&R Block and other tax companies must offer 70 percent of United States taxpayers (currently, those with an Adjusted Gross Income of $66,000 or less) the chance to file their taxes at no cost.
The plaintiff alleges that H&R Block and other online-tax preparation companies created the entity Free File Inc., which was formed to work with the IRS to provide free electronic filing services for those who qualify.
The H&R Block class action lawsuit states that the agreement between the IRS and Free File was created so that the IRS would not have to start their own free-filing software.
“H&R Block, however, has been luring customers into paying for a service that it promised the government and consumers it would give away for free,” the plaintiff claims.
Swanson notes that H&R Block breached its contract with the IRS by hiding access to the Free File Program and redirecting taxpayers who qualify to the fee-based products. The plaintiff claims that H&R Block advertised one of its products under the name “Free Online” which led many taxpayers into believing that they were filing their taxes under the Free File Program.
The plaintiff alleges that she was then hit with charges after spending a long time entering information and preparing to file her tax return.
“After luring lower-income consumers to begin preparing their returns with the ‘Free Online’ software (which is not actually free for most taxpayers), H&R Block then manipulates consumers into paying for product upgrades and upsells,” the H&R Block class action lawsuit claims.
The plaintiff says that because of their conduct, H&R Block has made millions of dollars in “ill-gotten gains from persons who can least afford it.”
Did you qualify for H&R Block’s Free File Program only to be charged for preparing your tax return? Leave a message in the comments section below.
The plaintiff is represented by Eric D. Barton and Sarah A. Ruane of Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP and Yitzchak Kopel and Andrew Obergfell of Bursor & Fisher PA.
The H&R Block Free Filing Class Action Lawsuit is Swanson v. H&R Block Inc., et al., Case No. 4:19-cv-00788, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
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729 thoughts onH&R Block Class Action Says Free Tax Filing Option Hidden
Add me to this lawsuit.They been charging me 300$-600$ each year to file
Add me I have been charged 300-600 every year to file
Add me I paid for there services for years.
Hello. I have used H@R Blocks services for years also and every year their fee keeps getting higher my husband and i last year had to pay 500 to get our taxes done through them the year befor it was over 400 and about 400 the year befor that and we only have a yearly income of 30.00 with a special needs child. My son is single and he has two children he filed with h@r Block last year and he had to pay over 500 to get his taxes filed and that being a single father and only making 20 to 25.00 last year. This is in their office is this lawsuit only for the online site to fill your own taxes out with H@R Block or is it for online and in office because it only takes the tax preoarer 15 minutes to file out taxes in office and a total of 20 minutes from walking in the door signing few electronic signitures and getting our papers and walking out the door it takes her 10 to 15 minutes total and they charge us 500 dollars it is not right the total amount of fees we have to pay if we get a small advance loan turns out to be over 700.00 it is not right at all for them to charge these redicoulous amounts. But if this is a lawsuit for online and in office then i want signed up if not them im going to open a new lawsuit for overcharging customers loyal customers with an in come of 30.00 a year and charging them 500 and more for filing taxes peope who make less than the 60.00 a year income should get there taxes done for free also even if they go into an office and have H@R Block
do their taxes they should not be able to charge peole like this period. Plus other hidden fees and they do not even use all the tax credits or deductions that are allowed they never used my husbands retirement nor our land taxes or much of anything else that we can use for deductions and we should have and could have recieved alot bigger refund for years they werent even using all of our chikdrens infirmation abd deductions and chikd tax credit until i started telling them they will that we can use our taxes we pay on land and retirement and other tax deductible items they just never cared to put that infirmation in our tax papers or bother even asking questions about things we coukd have got credit fir and things that could ne ised for deductions they do mot care about theur customwrs rughts or if they get back anything ling as they get paid 50p or more dollars for crap my grandaughter can put into a computer and we always recieved a small refud when really we shoukd have gottin back a hyge refund my husband pays an additional extra 25.00 extra deducted from his paycheck every two weeks for federal taxes ti ensire he gets more paid in than what he owes but they have us almist paying in as much statw as he does alk the extra federal he paiys in already 3000 in just fedeal and i checked his pre tax caculate just ti see what they would say an estimated refund woukd be they have him jeedjng ti pay in an additional 2500 stoll owed instead of a refund thats over 5000 dollars in federal taxes that hr block isvestimating he will have ti pay in when he onky makes 38.00 a year they get us the smallest refund ever back for years until i found out what can be used for deductions to lessen what you owe to get more of our hard earned working money back. They are crooks.
Please add me to this
Add me
I personally have had a terrible experience with H&R block and the kickback scheme going on involving them helping my ex wife get access to my account with no barriers. She wiped me out in every financial account and it started pre-pandemic I just was working constantly and didn’t have the financial issues I have now. Alex Bermudez, Amber Bailey and Natalie Sosa have made a mockery of my situation and I can’t seem to get H&R block to respond and law enforcement won’t even make a police report on the issue. Since reporting ot to the federal government on what is at hand I have received death threats and I can’t seem to find a attorney to help me take them to court to recover my finances. My identity has been hijacked and need some assistance. God knows the evil they been doing and everything done in the dark will come to the light!
I have had many of the same issues happen with H&R Block and I even feel as though my income tax filing was changed by H&R Block later in the year and I have evidence to prove such. Not only was I charged the fees to “free file”,they also changed my tax documents and added false information to my income tax returns and false w-2s as well. H&R Block also recommended a new online banking platform created and backed by H&R Block to receive my refund and through the use of this they have stolen money from me,falsified statements,duplicated transactions&refuse to take my disputes. Now not only have they just disappeared approximately $2000+ from my tax refund they have also caused me to have a negative balance by saying that their investigation into the few disputes that they did actually allow me to make came back to show there wasn’t any mistakes but they have failed to explain why the money was not returned or where it went. So this caused the money to be removed again thus creating a negative balance. I should have had over $2000+ available and even the math from the transactions shown on the statements is incorrect as to what they are saying. I can’t get any help from them or H&R Block. I have tried since march on several occasions to resolve this and get no results. H&R Block agents act like they don’t know anything about the new banking platform they offer and have not had any training or knowledge of what I can do to resolve this.
Yea so I was gonna file online but u I found I could get a loan advance if I went I n and did my taxes so I did and we sat down I told them why I came in cuss the soul purpose was to get the loan advance and I got my emrold card they told me yah I qualified for the loan it should have came the next business day so I wait day after day and I call them as everyday I check my emrold card to see if my loan came I’m getting charged $2 so I call and find out that there is also another company that has to ok the advance loan so why did I even go in and pay there stupid fees on top of that it’s months later I getting these papers saying identity theft and my state taxes are rejected I need to send this and that in to prove I em who I say and it will be a additional 65 days to get my return .so I hope back up to h&r and the lady says I never seen anything like that and does nothing for me if I had a way to send a fax in I would just done my taxes myself so here I em to the day my federal taxes where exepted buy not my state and I was charged
How do I get help with this
i have nothing but good things to say about block they help many people at very little costs, people just choose to know what they have to file once a year. Why should someone work for you for free
Add me please
They messed up my 2021 taxes so bad I cant get my refund for 16 weeks . the lady but someone else SS# on my return and submit it to e file. I paid $266.oo for a simple return and they have not yet given me my filing fee back because of their huge mistake, I need some adivice . and sign me up for the class action suit.
Add me as well. I did my taxes online through the free filing on H & R block. I went all the way to the end only to be denied by the IRS. The reason they claimed why was cause it didn’t say anything about the 8962 form. I then after trying to figure it all out and was told by H & R block that the only way to fix the problem is to pay 69$ for the professional at H & R block to fix it for me. I however did not fall for that but instead printed the filled out tax forms from H & R block. And much to my surprise there amongst all my forms was the 8962 form and it was already filled out. I called the IRS for days only to then be told to print out the form once I fill it out online to print the 8962 form off and send it to the IRS along with my taxes filed out by H & R block. Even though I had mentioned to the IRS that the form they rejected me for was in my printed off taxes and that it was filed out by H & R block. So I will never miss do anything business related through h & r block again. .