Over 25% of H&R Block tax returns may be delayed
Source: USA TODAY
Up to 600,000 tax returns filed by H&R Block could be delayed by up to six weeks, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
The problem: Form 8863, which you must fill out to get the student tax credit. The credit -- which reduces your tax bill dollar for dollar -- is equal to 100% of the first $2,000 of qualified expenses and 25% of expenses over $2,000. Maximum is $2,500.
In previous years, preparers could leave a field blank to indicate "no." This year, they have to enter "n." If they didn't, the forms get delayed.
About 10% of the 6.6 million returns filed with form 8863 are affected, the IRS says. The government tax agency is helping to reduce wait time, according to Marketwatch.com.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/03/12/h-and-r-block-tax-refunds/1982323/
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Our son--who graduated from college in May--got a job making $12/hr right after graduation.
He was laid off from the job in early September. BUT he made enough money that we
were excluded from claiming him as a dependent--but when he was laid off we started
supporting him again.
So. This year we supported him from January-May as a full time student--then we helped him
pay his rent from September through December. BUT he made too much money (more than $3600.)
during the time he was working so we couldn't claim him as a dependent.
Who do you know who can live on that amount of money for 7 months?
Because he wasn't our dependent we couldn't claim the student tax credit; because
he is getting a refund on the taxes that were withheld from his paycheck, he can't claim
the student tax credit.
