www.irs.gov: Resident son filed "head of household" w/H&R Block.?

Question

For tax year '03, son B. and mother went to H&R Block w/their income records and records and death certificate of another son M.who died after fatal illness in '03. H&R BLock personnel said filing by son B. as head of household was appropriate and the result was a tax rebate of several thousand dollars. In '04 and '05 son B. returned to H&R Block alone and each time filed as head of household. In '06 mother was advised by town/state office in semi-related matter that '04 and '05 filings had to be corrected; that head of household was not applicable. Mother owed no taxes, but son B. should refile as single person because mother's income was not low enough to qualify as his dependant. H&R Block says it will cost him repayment of refunds as well as that amount that will be owed and payable under the corrected tax return he'll file as a single person. In '03 he worked only a few months and had his brother's dependency so they feel only two years will be involved. What do we do?

Answer 1

The first two answers said not to use H&R Block.

What you should do is collect ALL records from '03 to present to a good CPA or Enrolled Agent. You need to do each of the years correctly and find out how much you owe. If the amount is significant, you may be eligible for an installment payment agreement. A qualified CPA or EA will be able to advise you about that.

Answer 2

2004 and 2005 are pretty clear, and everyone seem to be in agreement that he should NOT have claimed head of household and will have to amend his returns and pay back what he got that he should not have.

For 2003, you said he only worked a few months. To claim head of household, he'd have to prove that he provided more than half the cost of maintaining the household, which might be pretty tricky to do after all this time, especially if his income was very low for the year. Claiming his brother as a dependent that year might also end up disallowed for the same reason.

But yes, you would be wise to talk to an accountant (NOT H&R BLOCK - THEY HELPED GET YOU INTO THIS MESS) to help sort this out.

Answer 3

I used to work for a brokerage firm. Every year we had H&R Block people calling in with questions about mutual clients. Some would even pretend to be the client so we would give details about the taxable info. I would not let these people wash my car.

Find a local, legit tax preparer or CPA (the CPA can guide you to someone who can help).

Answer 4

I hate H&R block for this reason.... Those people are being trained on your taxes. They have little to no experience before they sit down to do your taxes. I would find a local Tax Preparer. (NOT a CPA.) They are continually taking classes to keep up on the ever changing tax laws.
Usually they are cheaper as well.
good luck.
My boyfriend has owned a tax accounting firm for many years.

Answer 5

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