Q: Was garnished by state asked accountant for help he agreed to help and led me on for 6 months and did nothing.
I am still trying to get this straightened out. I paid H&R Block to handle back tax filings. They never file my 2018 return. Don't these people have a fiduciary responsibility? I suffered a significant financial loss due to their inaction. Do I have a case to sue them?
A:
First off H&R block are not accountants, they're return preparers regardless of their other certifications.
Second, they do have a responsibility but you're going to have file a lawsuit to get them to do much of anything once they've been paid. They do this all the time to people and it's a little infuriating.
The next question is what are your damages, which do not include the tax owed. How much did it cost you to fix this problem and how much of the interest and penalties could have been avoided if they did their job correctly the first time. Usually those damages are not high enough to justify a lawsuit. It's impossible to say without a closer inspection of the documents you signed and the facts of your situation.
I would look for a real CPA or tax attorney that cares about their clients and their reputation and hire them to get this fixed. While you're messing around with block the interest is running at the IRS, that's actually not true b/c of the pandemic but it will be soon.
You probably do have a case, I can't say either way, but it's likely your damages are too low to make a case worth the effort.
Find a professional you can have a relationship with and avoid the big name tax return factories.
Message me if you want to discuss further, I handle tax preparation and resolution in all 50 states.
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