H&R Block tax filing mistake leads to lawsuit

By Mark Davis - The Kansas City Star

Wednesday, Mar. 20, 2013 | 11:13 AM Modified Wed, Mar 20, 2013 11:16 AM

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Two H&R Block customers have sued the company over its recent tax filing mistakes that are delaying thousands of refunds.

The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan, seeks class action status and claims more than $5 million is at stake.

H&R Block has acknowledged that customers' refunds are being delayed because it failed to check boxes on a tax form needed to claim education tax credits. The credit lowers a filer's tax bill.

An H&R Block spokesman said Tuesday the Kansas City-based company would not comment on the suit but was working with the Internal Revenue Service to "expedite" processing of clients' returns.

"We continue to contact those impacted directly as clients report funding dates and change in refund status since the IRS began processing the returns," spokesman Gene King said in an email.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE - Blank U.S. Treasury checks are seen on an idle press at the Philadelphia Regional Financial Center, which disburses payments on behalf of federal agencies.

Block's error didn't affect customers' taxes but has disrupted processing of their returns by the IRS and may delay their refunds for several weeks. The IRS has said the errors involved about 600,000 returns, but not all of those were Block customers.

Read more about the snafu from The Kansas City Star.

Check fresnobee.com/business for local business news.

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