So I Owe The Government... HELP?

[orv]

So last year, me and my hubby did our taxes at H&R block... and about 4 months ago we got a letter stateing they made some mistake and requested a bunch of stuff from us and claimed we owed them a bunch of money.

my mistake, i never sent them what they needed nor have i paid the money they requested, so when we do our taxes this year, will it just be deducted from our refund?(it was like 400$ or so) or will they request the information to correct the error(even though there was no error there just idiots, i dont know why i pay someone to do my taxes when they SCREW IT UP!)

im horrible with numbers and anything finance related, so anybody with suggstions on what i should do would be great

[Prairie girl]

Doesn't H&R Block have a guarantee of some kind?
I'm sure you're not that bad with numbers - you use coupons and save money, don't you?
Anyhow, take a deep breath, submit your paperwork (to the government or H&R Block?) and then if you owe money from last year, and are due to get a refund this year, they will simply deduct it from your refund. It sucks but it beats having to take it out of your pocket. Also, if you don't get a refund, you can also make arrangements to pay it back. If you get EI, they may claw that back to get their money back too, so watch out.

BTW, I always do my taxes on Quicktax on-line. Takes a while but it is not that complicated as long as you have all your papers together. The on-line version is cheaper than the CD version and you can file online and get your refund faster (and not give your hard earned money to someone else!) From one year to the next, your tax info will be imported to the next time.

[Hepatica85]

Do you have a friend that's accounting?

[srishayini]

we had the same problem. we got the refund, then after 3 or 4 months, we got a letter from CRA that there was an error and we owe them approx. $655.
Which we didn't delay, but paid it as we didn't want to get into their bad books, just in case a future dealing arises.
Yes, they will deduct this amount from 2009 refund and an interest will be charged.
Correct me anyone if I'm wrong.

Edit: CRA keeps introducing new rules all the time and they would mention the reason for payment and then you can verify the mistake by referring to the clause mentioned.

[nanoush]

We did our taxes with H&R block only once. A few months later we got a letter saying that we owed the gov't a little over $9000. DH looked in all the papers that we had kept in a file and, sure enough, the guy from H&R Block had forgotten to put one of the receits it the package he had send out to the gov't. It was for the exact amount we were supposed to owe... After a lot af time spent on the phone with the gov't people and faxing the proper receits, we ended up not having to pay but, I agree with you, if you pay someone to do your taxes, they should do them properly... DH now does them online and he says it's not that hard. At least if something gets messed up it won't be someone elses fault. Good luck!

[Colsgirl]

When we moved to Canada we were going to go to H&R block for our first return. I spoke to someone at work and they told me you are more likely to be audited and checked if you use them because they make so many mistakes. So we do our own with Quick Tax.

H&R only agree to pay any late penalties etc that you may incurr. If they have wrongly calculated your tax return, you have to pay the amount they miscalculated by.

[WandaM]

Quick tax is the easiest way it steps you through everything. If you have questions just call Revenue Canada.

[Woofy]

Hi, orv. I am just reposting from a post I posted in a tea room thread.

I am not sure if this will help, but I will give you a brief overview of a tax audit that I had to go through on behalf of my FIL back in 2007.

There's no easy way around tax audits, other than to just slowly work on it. With the government, you just have to work with them and give them what they want. Don't try to argue or be too defensive with them. It only makes things worse.

It's true that you can go to H&R and get them to go through the audit with you, but honestly, I think you will be better off doing this on your own, as you can learn about the process, and you really are the one who have your own best interests at heart.

My FIL was audited before, and I had to make a few phone calls to the tax agent in Halifax. She was actually very nice about it, and her name was the same as mine too.

I had to gather all his stock transaction receipts for 3 years, do up a spreadsheet, and then send everything to her. I told her it'll take me some time as I have to go over all the piles of paper. And I update her regularly as to my progress.

In the end, the matter was resolved. She was a happy agent, and I am pretty sure that since that audit, I can safely say my FIL's file will not be touched for a very long time to come!

Anyhow, it was an interesting learning experience for me. I learnt a lot about tax audits then. And I also learnt that tax agents are very much human, just like me. There is no need to be afraid of them.

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[JumboShrimp]

H&R Block is horrible. My husband got his taxes done by them once before he met me and they screwed it up so that he ended up having to owe the government money instead of getting a refund. When he went back to H&R Block to complain, they said that it was too much work to fix it and that it would be easier for him to just pay the money!!! WTH!?!

Anyway, I don't really have any great suggestions for you. If it were me, I would submit whatever paperwork they are asking for and pay the money I owe them. Hope you get it figured out!

[kasha100]

If you are stuck, fill out what you can on the income tax form, put in all reciepts you can think off and mail it off to the governentm, they will fill it out for you, add everything up ect, especially good if you are a young adult and dont have much just a t4 maybe rent cheques

[eriluo]

H&R Block does have a guarantee. I would investigate that as well as they shouldn't shroud their responsibility. I use HR Block just because I can't do math to save my life I do call H&R Block H&R Blockheads if that's any consolation... Hope you are able to get everything resolved.

[Mistress Mya]

thats why I use Liberty Tax for thepast 10 years....never made a mistake!!

[Ricko]

Even though H&R Block can make mistakes, CRA can as well.

One year, my accountant did my income tax for me and I was suppose to get a refund of approx. $2,600. God knows how she calculated that but she said that was my refund. My wife and I were so happy.

Anyway, CRA came back saying that I owed them $1,600. So now, instead of getting a refund of $2,600, I owed them $1,600.

Went to see my accountant and she verified the papers and confirmed that CRA made a mistake.

Took quite a few months to fix this error but finally got my refund of $2,600

Never thought CRA would make mistakes in this area as they are supposed to be the experts.

[ashedfc]

Even though H&R Block can make mistakes, CRA can as well.

One year, my accountant did my income tax for me and I was suppose to get a refund of approx. $2,600. God knows how she calculated that but she said that was my refund. My wife and I were so happy.

Anyway, CRA came back saying that I owed them $1,600. So now, instead of getting a refund of $2,600, I owed them $1,600.

Went to see my accountant and she verified the papers and confirmed that CRA made a mistake.

Took quite a few months to fix this error but finally got my refund of $2,600

Never thought CRA would make mistakes in this area as they are supposed to be the experts.

CRA does make mistakes too. Mostly, they are computer mistakes.

[epic1]

even with tax programs you still need to know how to do taxes to make sure you are getting what you have coming
tax programs you are only data entering,, there are still little tricks that can be used, if you know what and how