If you didn’t get your taxes done in time, you only have yourself to blame . . . unless you’re an H&R Block customer.
H&R Block’s software CRASHED yesterday, the last day to file your taxes unless you got an extension. According to the IRS, “tens of millions” of people always wait until the last few days to file.
H&R Block says the glitch only affected customers who use the downloaded version of their software. People who used their website or went to an H&R Block office were still able to file. But THOUSANDS of people had issues.
The site DownDetector.com saw a huge spike in complaints starting Sunday night and extending into yesterday afternoon. That lines up with what H&R Block said happened. They say a “bad gateway error” popped up around 9:00 p.m. Eastern on Sunday and continued into yesterday afternoon.
They advised people to print their return instead, and go straight to the post office to mail it. That just frustrated people more . . . especially young people who’ve never mailed anything in their life. It also takes longer to get a refund when you don’t file electronically.
H&R Block finally announced the issue was resolved around 3:45 p.m. Eastern, and the deadline for most Americans wasn’t until 11:59 p.m. But anyone who didn’t have time to finish might face extra penalties and late fees from the IRS.
This stung too: Some customers also said their card got charged multiple times after they tried over and over again to file. H&R Block says those were just authorization holds, and the money should be back in everyone’s account . . . within 3 to 5 business days. So, all good? (???)
Obviously, none of that can be good for business. More than 20 million taxpayers used H&R Block to file last year.
(H&R Block customers in two states found the whole thing slightly less stressful. Yesterday was Patriots’ Day, which is observed in Maine and Massachusetts. And today is Emancipation Day in D.C. That means those two states still have until tomorrow night to file.)