SALT LAKE CITY — A software glitch at H&R Block has put a delay on tax returns for 600,000 customers. One Utah couple had a disastrous return from vacation and weren't able to pay their bills because of the delay.
Rob Colomb and his girlfriend are both students at the University of Utah living on a tight college student budget. The couple went on vacation for spring break only to return home and find that their electricity, gas and cellphones had been shut off. The couple also had difficulty paying to retrieve their pet dog Dimitri from the pet lodge.
Colomb said they were depending on their tax returns that they said should have been refunded three weeks ago.
"We were expecting to easily pay that with our taxes," Colomb said.
Colomb and his girlfriend planned on receiving more than $3,000 to cover their expenses for their Disneyland trip, but because the money never came, the couple still have no gas, hot water or heat in their apartment.
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H&R Block glitch causes large delays in tax refunds
Some H&R Block customers are frustrated after a glitch in the company's software has left thousands without a refund weeks after they filed their taxes.
"They gave us the 100 percent guarantee that there would be no errors," Colomb said. "So we thought, 'Oh great.' We know there's nothing wrong with them, so it's going to go straight through, and we're going to get it in time."
H&R Block said the problem came from the 8863 form for education credits. A computer error caused one box on the form left unchecked when it should have been checked.
"I think they should take a lot more responsibility for what's happening to people," Colomb said. "At least an advance on the refund, that's what I was asking for. And they pretty much told me, 'Sorry, we don't do that. We don't give advances.' "
H&R Block CEO, Bill Cobb, has issued an apology on the company's Facebook page saying that they are working with the IRS to resolve the problem. The H&R Block clients could possibly have refunds in the next 48 hours.
Colomb said the only compensation he's been offered by H&R Block for the delay is a $60 refund on the software he used to file taxes.
