Ghost Town Sage

2025 Taxes Nightmare

3 online services were wrong.

I've been doing my annual taxes with one of those on-line tax services, starting about 20 years ago. I started out with Turbo Tax, but then in 2016 I ran into a problem getting my refund check, and so in 2017 I switched to HnR Block. HnR Block seems easier to use than Turbo Tax, but both are more difficult than just doing it with pen and paper.

At any rate, April 2025 I was using HnR Block to do my tax return, and it turned into a nightmare. In 2024 I was getting paid as a contractor, and I prepaid about half of the estimated taxes during the course of the year.

So as HRB steped me through the long sequence of screens, I needed to add this prepayment somewhere, but it never asked me. I started over from the begining, looking specifically for this screen, and still I couldn't find it. I asked the AI Chat where to enter this info, and AI had no idea what I was talking about, suggesting ways to make a payment rather than log a payment already made. So next, I asked a real person on the phone about prepayments, and this went no where. I eventually made eight phone calls to the service line, lasting several hours, and no one knew what I was talking about. But after starting over from the begining again I eventually figured it out on my own.

However, after two solid days working on this, I get to the last screen and HRB tells me I owe the IRS $1200. This is nonsense - that same screen says my taxable income is $1300, but my tax due is $1200 ???

So I started over from the begining again, double checking every single number along the way. And it told me the same thing: taxable income = $1300, tax due = $1200.

So I hopped over to Turbo Tax, where I still have an account, and starting over from the begining yet again I filled it all out again. And TT told me the same thing: taxable income = $1300, tax due = $1200.

So I hopped over to Tax Slayer, and opening a new account, I started over from the begining yet again, filling out all their forms. And TS told me the same thing: taxable income = $1300, tax due = $1200.

All of this was pure nonsense. My income was very low that year (transitioning into retirement) and I should be getting a slight refund. So as a last resort, I made a trip downtown to the IRS building and picked up all the paper forms I need to do my taxes manually. And sure enough, the IRS agreed with me - They Owe Me $400.

I don't know what the problem was but they must have been counting my contractor wages twice, all three of them. So not only did I save myself $1600 by doing my taxes my self, but I also saved another $75 that those on-line tax services would have charged. And the paper forms took less time than any of the three.

M. Henry June 2025.