in this case
- Lance Croft hired H&R Block to prepare his return, but his tax professional completely missed a page of his retirement income, resulting in a staggering $14,000 IRS penalty.
- Even though the preparer admitted the mistake in writing, H&R Block repeatedly denied Croft’s claim under its “100% Accuracy Guarantee,” blaming him for the missing paperwork.
- Find out how a rock-solid paper trail and a push from our advocacy team finally forced the tax giant to honor its guarantee and cover the costly error.
When Lance Croft gets hit with $14,000 in IRS penalties, he discovers that his H&R Block tax preparer missed a page on his return. After two claim denials and six months of back-and-forth, can he get H&R to honor its 100% Accuracy Guarantee guarantee?
Question
H&R Block missed an entire page of my retirement income on my tax return. The IRS slapped me with a $14,000 deficiency notice.
H&R Block admits the error but keeps rejecting my claim under its 100% Accuracy Guarantee. How do I get it to honor the guarantee? — Lance Croft, Vero Beach, Fla.
Answer
H&R Block’s 100% Accuracy Guarantee promises to reimburse you for any tax preparation errors made by the company. It also covers any penalties and interest if H&R Block made a mistake. If H&R admits to making a mistake, this should be a slam-dunk.
You created a paper trail that made your case much easier to resolve. You saved every email, forwarded the IRS notice the moment it arrived, and kept the preparer’s own mea culpa.
Paper trails are always a good idea, but especially when you’re dealing with a government agency, and especially the IRS. So, for example, if the tax preparer had verbally told you that she’d made an error, then you would want to also get that in writing — which, fortunately, you did. (Related: StubHub said it sent my UFC tickets — but I never received them.)
You could have also taken this directly to a manager at H&R Block. I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of the relevant executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.
In H&R’s defense, the U.S. tax code is highly complex and often illogical. It’s easy to make a mistake. I have, and I’ve gotten audited. It was no fun, we had to file an appeal, and it took almost four years to resolve. But in the end, I didn’t have to pay any penalties.
What puzzles me about your case is that H&R Block admitted that it goofed but still wouldn’t help you. To me, that suggests there’s a bureaucracy at H&R Block that rivals the federal government.
It is unbelievable that a tax giant like H&R Block would try to blame the customer for a mistake their own professional already admitted to. If you pay a pro to handle the U.S. tax code, you are paying for their attention to detail.
Blaming Lance for “missing paperwork” when the preparer just skipped a page is a cheap way to dodge a $14,000 responsibility. They only “found” the right answer when a consumer advocate knocked on their door.
Read more insightful reader feedback. See all comments.
I asked the company what went wrong.
“We can confirm that the client has connected with their tax pro who guided them through the process of contacting the IRS,” a representative told me. “The client’s claim was denied as they failed to provide all necessary documentation at the time of filing.”
That wasn’t correct. The tax advisor missed an entire page of a document, which caused the error, and you furnished H&R Block with written proof. Apparently, H&R Block had missed another page in the file — the one where its tax professional admitted to her error.
I asked H&R Block to check again. This time, it had the correct answer.
“We can confirm that Lance will receive the maximum refund amount under H&R Block’s Peace of Mind guarantee for additional tax owed,” a company representative told me.
The lesson for everyone else is clear, as tax time nears: Keep every scrap of paper. Demand written confirmation of errors. And don’t take the first “no” for an answer. Death and taxes may be inevitable, but a tax penalty isn’t.
Lance Croft faced a $14,000 IRS penalty because his H&R Block tax pro missed a page of his return—and the company initially refused to honor its own accuracy guarantee.
Your voice matters
What you’re saying
Readers expressed outrage over H&R Block’s refusal to honor its guarantee, though many debated who ultimately bears the responsibility for reviewing a completed tax return before sending it to the IRS.
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The fine print of hiring a pro
M.C. Storm and The Brown Crusader blasted the tax giant’s operational failures, arguing that when consumers pay professionals to handle the complex U.S. tax code, they expect strict attention to detail. Ben shared a similar frustration with Intuit, noting the company rejected his claim by arguing its guarantee only covered “calculation errors,” not missing data.
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The ultimate responsibility
Despite H&R Block’s glaring error, Sheryl, George Schulman, and deemery pointed out that taxpayers must always review their documents before signing. They noted that an error large enough to trigger a $14,000 penalty usually involves a massive chunk of missing income—an omission the client should have caught during a basic review.
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Escalation and the paper trail
Jennifer emphasized the importance of keeping every written communication and bypassing standard customer service to reach executives. Berkinet added a helpful theory: because many H&R Block locations operate as independent franchises, local owners might stonewall expensive payouts to protect their bottom line, making corporate escalation the only effective way to get results.
