Is “Refunds Now” the Nation’s Worst Tax Preparer?

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Friday, December 18, 2009

Is “Refunds Now” the Nation’s Worst Tax Preparer?

The IRS has filed suit against Refunds Now, a Rhode Island-based tax preparation firm, for allegedly filing returns on behalf of taxpayers that were riddled with inaccuracies or fraudulent claims. According to the IRS’s legal complaint, the agency closely examined 345 of the more than 24,000 returns completed by Refunds Now and found that 91% of taxpayers had not paid the government what they should have. Refunds Now advertises itself as “Home of the biggest and fastest refund allowed in Rhode Island,” but the IRS suit takes issue with the word “allowed.”

The bad filings were due to a variety of reasons ranging from improperly using the earned income tax credit (EITC) to fabricating or manipulating tax forms. Refunds Now is accused of using “financial incentive to understate their customers’ tax liabilities or to overstate the EITC as several of these employees’ compensation structure includes a bonus component equal to 5% of the total amount of tax refunds generated. This compensation structure contributes to an environment where employees prepare tax returns for customers without regard to the accuracy or the quality of the returns prepared,” reads the court filing.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

United States vs. Michael Brier, et al. (U.S District Court Rhode Island) (pdf)

Refunds Now Web Site

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Comments

Cyn 12 years ago

i have been getting my taxes done there for almost a decade and just heard about this. i had no idea there were any issues with them. worse is that i actually recommended them to friends. now i am scared sh!tless that the irs could decide to audit all of their customers.

Holy Crap 12 years ago

imatellithowitis- school, return and complete for the love of god, you give idiots a bad name, and stereo type rhode island as a whole.

manny 12 years ago

they still own me my state taxes and they never answers there phones. were is my money ? in their bank so now i have to paid for a affidavit to get the bank to give me my money. the worst tax prepares ever lock then all up please

bill 12 years ago

i didn't know that refunds now was under investigation. i went their to do my taxes for 2010 and they told me that all was well. i paid $129.00 fee for electronic filing and now the irs doesn't have information on the status of my return. did they dupe me for such an amount? oh, i will need to contact my lawyer and the us attorney on their case because it seems that they shouldn't be doing taxes and they're duping people and collecting fees from those who are not aware. they belong in jail.

imatellithowitis 13 years ago

ooh stop complaining yous know damn right yous knew what was goin on if it seems to good to be true thats cause it is now that yous got caught its refunds now fault its both of your fault yous both knew what was going on so stop playing dumb thats why everyone that goes to them goes there cause they know refunds now will do schemes to get them a bigger refund pay the money back and get over it

Junior 13 years ago

These guys fuck my taxes up now I owe money to the state of RI.. I think they should all go to jail...

sha 13 years ago

they did mine and now i owe the fedral gov.over 1300 they should have to pay that not me.and to top it all off i no someone who told me that they go there because there from anouther country and they give them birth records for kids that arent theres and claims them and gets a big refund they said they dont care and there is no way to check it out.there stealing our money right out from under us.unreal

jcg 13 years ago

check out providence business news nov. 8 2010. they're closing Refunds Now permanently.

Ruby 13 years ago

Does anyone know the outcome of this case?

T 14 years ago

Dont even get me started on refunds now. Mike Brier is a big crook and should be in jail for falsifying people's taxes. A hard middle class worker like me went to him and noticed he claimed false shit and i turned him into the BBB and he tried to another words say I was a liar and my taxes were ok. I then confronted him at his place of business on wickenden st. without an appt because he wouldnt return phone calls etc. It just got even uglier when i went there and he should be turned into the attorny general's office also. He deals with alot of welfare people that probably dont care of how much they get back and dont pay attention to their taxes....Definitely BAD BUSINESS! Don't go to Refunds now...Trust me.

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Is “Refunds Now” the Nation’s Worst Tax Preparer?

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