Tax Question

Eek, the last thing I (or probably anyone else on here) want to do is give you financial advice that could backfire, and you would be audited.

A few suggestions:
IRS hotline or website
H & R Block hotline or website

Did you look on Turbo Tax? I can't recall if you need to pay for a product in order to be able to get their info.

Ug, I'm not the best with taxes either so I don't think I would have an answer for you, but I would suggest looking into TurboTax or the IRS hotline as well.

If you check out H&R block, don't apply for a "instant refund." They make it sound really easy, but what they don't tell you is that you're actually applying for a loan through Household/HSBC and they will take out a large chunk of your money for the "instant refund." I just learned about this and was really surprised. I'll wait the extra week to receive my check instead of having some bank take out $100 or so!

Has anyone else had similar experience with these "instant" aka refund anticipation loans (RALs)?

Jonsey- I am glad that people are beginning to catch on to this ploy. Nobody gives anything away for nothing. It's the same thing with paying off credit cards. When you do that, you are buying not only the item, but the money to pay for it. And it does not come cheap!

I agree! The worst thing is, the people who need "instant refunds" are usually on a tight income to start with. These predatory lenders are taking more money from lower income families. It doesn't seem right.

And to make matters worse, a friend of mine just told me about a similar type of charge she encountered when filing her taxes on TurboTax. Right when she was about to e-file her taxes she got an option to have it deducted directly from her refund. Turns out, if you choose this option you are charged $15.95 (TurboTax fee) PLUS $14.95 by HSBC. The $14.95 is just to do the transaction. She almost missed it because the warning was in tiny text below the box.

Isn't that crazy?