what should i do if my taxes was filed wrong?

Question

i have filed my taxes with jackson hewitt this year and i got back a little over 1200 for my fedaral and a little over 500 for my state . I made about 20,325 and they took out about 4,372 dollars in taxes. I claimed my mother who is disable and my brother who is 20 years old. I did the estimate on H&R block tax estimator and it said that i should have been getting a little over 5,000 back for my claim and also for the claim as head of household. i want to know if what jackson hewitt gave me back sound about right or H&R block. and if it does not sound right what jackson hewitt did then is there some body that i can speak to about this problem after i have already filed my taxes or will i have to take a lost.

Answer 1

The tax estimator is just that, an estimate. The only way to know what your tax liability actually is is to prepare a tax return and calculate it.

Without seeing your tax return or having ALL of the information on your return it's not possible to say if the return as filed is correct or not.

If your filing status is Single, your tax liability would be about $528 based on the information you provided. If you filed as Head of Household it would be about $288. But these numbers are ONLY estimates. They assume that you can actually claim your mother and your brother as dependents.

If you cannot claim them, your tax liability would be about $1,404. If $4,372 in income tax was withheld from your pay, your refund would be $2,968 even without the exemptions for your mother and brother. Make sure that that $4,372 doesn't include the Social Security and Medicare taxes! Those don't factor into your income. If the $4,372 is actual Federal income tax withheld, your $1,200 refund is wrong. You should have Hewitt file an amended return and get it right this time. They should not charge you for this as it would be their screw-up.

Answer 2

It sounds like maybe the tax estimator was assuming that your two dependents were dependent children, so was showing an Earned Income Credit based on two children. That's about the only way you'd get back more than you paid in. If your brother was a full-time student for at least half the year, or is totally and permanently disabled, you might be able to claim him as a qualifying child and get EIC - otherwise, no. And even if your mother is disabled, you can't get EIC because of claiming her. You should have been able to file as Head of Household, from the info you give.

Since you don't say how much of the withheld taxes were federal and how much state, or whether your brother is a student, and what state you are in, it's impossible to calculate what you should have gotten back. Post again with that info and maybe someone can help you.

If your return was filed incorrectly, you don't have to just take the loss - you can file an amended return to correct it, and would get any extra refund that you have coming. And if you gave the correct info to Jackson Hewitt and the made mistakes on it, then they should prepare the amendment for you without charging you any additional money.

Answer 3

Claiming your mother and brother are different than claiming a child as a dependent. You don't received much credits from Federal. However, if your mother is diable and you're supporting her than you might claim most of her medicals, things such as co-pays; out of pocket expenses; overnight emergency expenses..etc...is she receiving any type of medicares? or disability benefits? In that case you're not entittle for a whole benefits. Is your brother working with any incomes? If he's not working then you're entittle to claim him as a support but not dependent. If he's working but his income not enough and needs an additional helps then you're claiming on his behalf but not fully benefits as your own child. Sounds like you're overpaid on your federal and state, around 32% which is too high for your income. Therefore, adjust your income taxes down a little more like around 22% ( that will add an additional 10% more to your income ) and file for supporting your mother and brother next year and also claiming as capital loss carry over from previous year, that will compensate some of your loss, in that case you'll receive an additional refunds on your part. For this year, if you have not turned in your returns and feel that Jackson & Hewitt incomplete your filing than refile it with a different firm.

Answer 4

My advice would be to take it to an H&R Block and have them do a double check challenge. They do this for all their clients, you just have to bring in your tax paperwork so they can look at it. The only way they charge you for this service is if they find you more money. I would start there.
I just have to say this for the person who posted below me, REGARDLESS if you have children or not, if you qualify by income guidelines, you can still get EIC. Here is a link to the IRS website that tells about it.
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc601.html
Here is another link to tell what exactly a qualifying child is since some people don't understand.
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=133298,00.html

Answer 5

I'd go do it yourself on completetax.com or one of those places, and just don't do the filing part, you can still get the amount that you are looking for- to see if it matches up to what you get back.
(its easy to do- pretty much self explan..)