Tax Hell

So I'm pretty good with numbers considering I have a degree in mathematics and have done accounting for a small business that I once operated. Nonetheless, my taxes have become so complicated over the past few years, that I've been promising myself that I'd find a tax accountant.

Well this year (as in years previous), I decided that I do it on my own for just one more year. First I did my BF's, which was relatively easy, then proceeded to do my own using TurboTax. A few of the sections were a little confusing, but I labored through it. In the end, my doubt caused me to pay an extra $50 to have it "reviewed" by an accountant. The review came back a few days later that drew attention to 3 areas. Of course these were the 3 areas in which I was expecting. The biggest thing that came from the review was that I needed more help. So after paying $50 for the review and $100 to TurboTax, I made an appointment with H&R block.

The H&R Block website allowed me to see profiles of all of their tax preparers. I selected what sounded like a Vietnamese man with a long history and who specifically specialized in some of the areas that I needed help with. The earliest available appointment was for April 15th, the due date for filing taxes.

When my appointment came around, the preparer was late and didn't see me until 10:20, 20 minutes after my scheduled start time. This made me nervous, because I knew that this would take a while. When she (BTW: it wasn't a man) realized the complexity of my return, she pleaded to the receptionist to re-assign me to someone else because she had an 11:00 appointment that she absolutely had to take. The receptionist answered that there was no one else and that she had to help me. Eventually, the branch manager was called in and confirmed this.

We started our work together and as we worked, I had to correct several errors that she made. I was also a little worried because there was a language issue as well. After a half hour, her 11:00 appointment arrived. She asked me to wait for 1/2 hour while she finished up with her next appointment and I did.

At 11:50 (20 minutes later than she said), we resumed. We worked for an additional 10 minutes then her 12:00 appointment arrived. She asked me to wait again. I repeated asked her at what time we would complete my return and all she would say is that we would finish it that day. I wanted to know the exact time because I did not want to keep waiting there for the next 12 hours. She said we had about 1.5 hours of more work to complete. I estimated that this would take all day if we kept getting interrupted and only accomplished 10 or 15 minutes of work each hour. She assured me it wouldn't take all day, but couldn't give me a specific time. I asked her to assure me that we wouldn't be interrupted again, but all she did was to assure me that we would finish it.

I decided to wait 1 more time, but as I sat in the waiting room, I wondered why I continued to wait for someone that was wasting my time and performing a sub-optimally. In the end, I took a "request for an extension" form from the receptionist and walked out.

When I got home, I filed for my automatic extension and called my company's accountant, whom I trust very much. He said that of course he'd be happy to do the work. I'm not sure how much it'll cost yet, but I'm sure it'll be hundreds.

So, after 2 weeks of work, countless time, and $150 so far, I still don't have my taxes done. At least one positive thing came out of all this, I guarantee you I won't attempt to do my own taxes next year. Oh year, I'll never, ever again go to H&R Block. At least I am comforted knowing that at the end of this process will be a nice refund.