Have you been waiting for your tax refund? You may be one of about 600 thousand people whose refund will be delayed this year. It's all due to a filing error made in software used by H&R block and other companies.
You may be impacted if you filed the 8863 Education Credits form before February 22nd. Taxpayers who are waiting for their refund said they're pretty frustrated.
Phil LaBar received an email from H&R Block Wednesday morning saying there was an issue with his 8863 form. It read, "which has affected and delayed your tax return. We sincerely regret this inconvenience and want to assure you that we are doing everything possible to work with the IRS and to resolve this issue quickly."
A friend helped him file his taxes using H&R Block software in early February so he was hoping to have his money by now. "We're on a tight budget and any little bit helps," said LaBar.
LaBar said he needs the refund to fix his car. "Both my wife and my vehicles are down. We're anticipating this refund so we can get vehicles running." Plus there's something else he needs the money for...to celebrate his kids' birthdays. He tells his kids, "as we get our tax refund we'll do something for your birthday. We just don't have the money right now. So he's not happy about the wait. "This is really frustrating."
We called H&R block's district office in South Bend Wednesday for comment but haven't heard back. The company did release a statement on their website and Facebook page. It says in part, "H&R block has confirmed with the IRS that there was an issue with a limited number of software company products that affected some tax returns." It goes on to say, "H&R block has worked with the IRS to expedite a solution to this issue for our affected clients."
The IRS also released a statement saying, "We are taking special steps to help taxpayers. This means the IRS may need as much as 4-6 weeks from this date to issue a refund to the taxpayer."
For LaBar 4-6 weeks isn't a good enough answer. "Just give me a date. Give me a date when this is gonna be done," said LaBar.
And LaBar is certainly not the only person frustrated by all of this. There's even now a "Club 8863" Facebook page that has over 4,000 likes.
To view the full statement from H&R Block and their tips for people waiting for their refund click here.
