E Tax Inc.

Tell us why here...The information provided to *** *** by our customer support staff was accurateThe return on eTax.com was locked and was not resubmittedIt remains in our system as “Rejected by the ***”The return was transmitted to the *** via eTax.com on 3/*/2015 and was rejected on the same day with no resubmission made thereafterThis information can be confirmed with the ***, who will also be able to provide *** *** with the company where the return was filed as well as a transcript of the return which was accepted.eTax.com will be happy to assist any law enforcement agency with their investigation

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been
resolved
Sincerely,
*** ***

The client's request has been honored and a check has been mailed on April **, 2016

The customer has been contacted and the issue has been resolved to customer's satisfaction.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and...

find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[Your Answer Here]
While I appreciate eTax.com’s professional and courteous response it is both unacceptable and makes no common sense. I would agree 100% that there should be a strict security policy when it comes to taxpayer’s information. There should also be strict security to verify a taxpayers identity when submitting an online tax return but that is an entirely different issue.  In this case the information in question is my information and has been compromised. At this point eTax’s security policy only protects the criminals and not the victim. The [redacted] has verified that a fraudulent taxreturn was filed under me and my wife’s social security numbers. It was rejected twice and then accepted. I was assured by eTax.com that our information would not be resubmitted to the [redacted] and it has. According to eTax.com there was a block put on the account. eTax.com knows that there is a problem and that the data entered is fraudulent. To use known fraudulent information to confirm a persons identity is not a strict security policy by any means. It is crazy to tell me that I can not verify my identity because I can not verify the fraudulent data in the file. Also the claim that customer service agents do not have access to account information before providing answers is not correct either. The customer service agent that called my wife provided her with the refund amount and my (wrong) birthday. When I spoke with an agent they were able to verify my social security number and my birthday. I was also given my wife’s place of employment and my (wrong) place of employment. I was asked if I worked for Century 21. I have never worked for Century 21 and I am self employed. So customer service agents do have access to this data. To not verify my identitybecause the file says I work for Century 21 when it is not true is just crazy.Lastly if this is just a matter of verifying my identity that is fairly easy. I can easily provide a copy of both my and my wife’s driver’s license. That is good enough for the [redacted] to verify our identity when we fileour actual tax return. If eTax.com would like to verify our identity in any other way except for against the fraudulent data they have we would be more then happy to provide that. At this point we have signed up for a credit monitoring service, put a fraud alert on our credit reports and had the [redacted] flag our social security numbers. We would like access to that fraudulent data so that we may determine where the data breach came from. Our accountant, our bank, Etc so that we can notify the proper entity. Taking the stance to protect fraudulent information from the actual owners of the information protects only the criminals. 
 In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We have honored the client's request on March **, 2016. The client was notified of such on the same date. The check is being disbursed on March **, 2016.

eTax.com adheres to a very strict security policy when it comes to taxpayers’ information. When speaking to a customer over the phone, in order to confirm the caller’s identity, the caller must answer questions related to the information which was submitted through eTax.com. If the...

answers provided are incorrect, the caller’s identity can not be confirmed and the customer service representative can not discuss a tax return. Furthermore, security measures are in place where the customer service agent can not access account information through their terminals without first providing these answers from the caller.If [redacted], or any taxpayer feels that their tax information was compromised or wants more information regarding a tax return filed under their social security number, they must contact the [redacted].

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the...

matter has been resolved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Review: THEY SAY TAX FREE FILE FOR TAX BUT AFTER I FINISHED FILING TAX INFORMATION IT ASKS FOR A CREDIT CARD >>> AS WITH THE CREDIT SCRORE SCAM >>> WHY DOES IT NEED A CREDIT CARD IF ITS FREE?????????????????????Desired Settlement: I WANT TO FILE MY TAXES >> I HAVE ALREADY DONE ON PAPER AND IT AGREES TO ONLINE NUMBERS >>>" I WANT TO GET REFUND QUICK AS POSSIBLE BUT NOT FOR $79. VS $.49 CENTS

Review: I filed a federal return with eTax this evening and have not received any immediate form of written confirmation via email or store-able document regarding my Federal file or my credit card payment to the company. I had come across eTax while searching for FREE FEDERAL RETURN FILING earlier this evening and they most certainly advertise their services as such when in fact they are not. I was also guided through their filing system with the option to also prepare my state taxes (there was at no point throughout this process information or mention that I would A- have to pay (at all, let alone additional) fees, B- would not be able to receive copies of my federal and state forms before the IRS accepted my federal file, or C- that I would then have to wait for, print out, and then file on my own the state taxes that I had already paid a fee to prepare. All of this aside, I discovered that there were fees for preparation when I had reached the end and was ready to file. At that point I decided to go ahead and file with them anyway (still not aware that I would not be able to save, print, or receive any documentation whatsoever ). The listed fees on the payment/file page were as follows $49.95 for the "filing package, and an additional $29.95 for the state preparation. Once I filled out and submitted my credit card and payment information, all of the visible charges and fees disappeared and I was taken to a page which simply showed the following message: "Your tax return has been submitted to the Internal Revenue Service for processing. Please check back in 24 to 48 hours to check the status of your tax return. Once your return has been accepted by the IRS, you will be able to download and print your federal & state tax returns." I was immediately concerned that there didn't appear to be any confirmation of my payment and called the customer service line and was told that they were not able to provide me with any form of written confirmation via fax or email and that if I needed an itemized receipt the would be happy to put one in the mail but only after the federal had been accepted by the IRS in 24 to 48 hours. I found this to be rather unacceptable and quite frankly it seemed like a scam but the woman I spoke with on the phone didn't seem interested in providing me with any record of the transaction and insisted that it was not possible unless I wanted to wait and see (and then afterwords receive a receipt by ground mail.) I then got off the phone and did a little research on consumer review sites and discovered that there were numerous complaints against them for false advertisement in addition to several folks who had had unresolved payment and charge disputes over similar issues. At 830pm 4/*/13 I called the customer service line again and asked to speak with a manager, demanding that I be immediately provided with proof of purchase or have my information and tax returns deleted from their files (of course I asked that in that event they provide some form of documentation of the deletion and "refund" occurring). I was told repeatedly that none of this was possible and that they did not have the ability to simply provide me with any guarantee of either the purchase or the services I had given my payment information for until after the IRS had confirmed my federal file in 24-48 hours at which point they would only be able to mail the documentation. The woman I spoke with, [redacted] (employee tax number [redacted]) repeatedly stated that they had never had this sort of problem before despite my pointing all of the consumer complaint which mentioned her name and continuously told me that giving me her word was all she could do. I was then told that if I would like to have any information or transcripts of our phone conversation provided I would be charged for it. There are a great many things about this experience that I find to be unsavory business practice (false advertisement, hidden charges, poor customer service, misleading information or lack there of), but My main concern here is the complete lack of and refusal to provide proof of purchase or written confirmation/guarantee of service or product purchased. I find it extreamly disconcerting and have a hard time believing that this business practice is entirely legal or legit.Desired Settlement: Right at the moment I would ideally like solid, legitimate, and itemized documentation of payments received, services provided for the fees, and a record of the incident on paper. At this point I'm under a pretty tight deadline and need (one way or another) to have my state and federal taxes filed in the next few days and I'm feeling as if I've just been ripped off with no guarantee that the task will be accomplished or that all of my information is in fact safe in their hands. In the event that my federal is rejected for any reason in the next 24-48 hours and I have to re-file I would like a refund from eTax and documentation proving that they are no longer in possession of any of my personal information or at the very least a legally binding guarantee that my information will be safe guarded and not used by them (or anyone who may have access to their system) for any further or future purpose.

Review: Me and my wife received a call from etax.com stating that our tax return was rejected by the [redacted] because of a wrong birth date. Problem is that we have not yet filed our taxes. We have never heard of etax.com. We checked with our accountant and he has never heard of etax.com either. So we have concluded that someone have filed a fraudulent tax return in our names in effort to get a refund. We consider this a major problem. etax.com has not been helpful in this matter at all. They said that they have put a block on the account but I have no proof or way of checking that is true. We appreciate the block but that is only a small part of what could be the start of a very big problem for us. We have been trying to figure out just how this has happened and how someone has gained access to our information. Even though this is our data (ss#,employment, etc) etax.com will not give us any information about what was submitted or where this refund was supposed to be sent. First I was told that they could not verify who I was. When I called back the next day I was told that the data is no longer mine and they could not discuss any of the details of this data breach with me. How can my most personal and secure information not belong to me any more? The people in customer service act like we are bothering them or something trivial. Someone having enough or our information to submit a tax return is hardly trivial. I would like access to the data that was submitted in our names to try to determine where the data breach happened and just what our exposure is. We don't even know if the [redacted] will accept our valid tax return this year at this point.Desired Settlement: I would like access to MY information that was submitted to etax.com so that I can determine how and why this happened and to determine my exposure.

Business

Response:

eTax.com adheres to a very strict security policy when it comes to taxpayers’ information. When speaking to a customer over the phone, in order to confirm the caller’s identity, the caller must answer questions related to the information which was submitted through eTax.com. If the answers provided are incorrect, the caller’s identity can not be confirmed and the customer service representative can not discuss a tax return. Furthermore, security measures are in place where the customer service agent can not access account information through their terminals without first providing these answers from the caller.If [redacted], or any taxpayer feels that their tax information was compromised or wants more information regarding a tax return filed under their social security number, they must contact the [redacted].

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[Your Answer Here]

While I appreciate eTax.com’s professional and courteous response it is both unacceptable and makes no common sense. I would agree 100% that there should be a strict security policy when it comes to taxpayer’s information. There should also be strict security to verify a taxpayers identity when submitting an online tax return but that is an entirely different issue. In this case the information in question is my information and has been compromised. At this point eTax’s security policy only protects the criminals and not the victim. The [redacted] has verified that a fraudulent taxreturn was filed under me and my wife’s social security numbers. It was rejected twice and then accepted. I was assured by eTax.com that our information would not be resubmitted to the [redacted] and it has. According to eTax.com there was a block put on the account. eTax.com knows that there is a problem and that the data entered is fraudulent. To use known fraudulent information to confirm a persons identity is not a strict security policy by any means. It is crazy to tell me that I can not verify my identity because I can not verify the fraudulent data in the file. Also the claim that customer service agents do not have access to account information before providing answers is not correct either. The customer service agent that called my wife provided her with the refund amount and my (wrong) birthday. When I spoke with an agent they were able to verify my social security number and my birthday. I was also given my wife’s place of employment and my (wrong) place of employment. I was asked if I worked for Century 21. I have never worked for Century 21 and I am self employed. So customer service agents do have access to this data. To not verify my identitybecause the file says I work for Century 21 when it is not true is just crazy.Lastly if this is just a matter of verifying my identity that is fairly easy. I can easily provide a copy of both my and my wife’s driver’s license. That is good enough for the [redacted] to verify our identity when we fileour actual tax return. If eTax.com would like to verify our identity in any other way except for against the fraudulent data they have we would be more then happy to provide that. At this point we have signed up for a credit monitoring service, put a fraud alert on our credit reports and had the [redacted] flag our social security numbers. We would like access to that fraudulent data so that we may determine where the data breach came from. Our accountant, our bank, Etc so that we can notify the proper entity. Taking the stance to protect fraudulent information from the actual owners of the information protects only the criminals.

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Tell us why here...The information provided to [redacted] by our customer support staff was accurate. The return on eTax.com was locked and was not resubmitted. It remains in our system as “Rejected by the [redacted]”. The return was transmitted to the [redacted] via eTax.com on 3/*/2015 and was rejected on the same day with no resubmission made thereafter. This information can be confirmed with the [redacted], who will also be able to provide [redacted] with the company where the return was filed as well as a transcript of the return which was accepted.eTax.com will be happy to assist any law enforcement agency with their investigation.

Review: On March **,2013,I went to the IRS website to use their Free e-file program to choose an approved tax preparer and found eTax.com.On the eTax website there were four options to choose from and I selected the Free Tax service option.Under the Free Tax option if you are filing as single with no dependents your state return would be done as well. I began my tax return and at no time during this process was I told that I did not qualify for the for the Free tax service or had to use their other options that charged a fee.When the return was complete,again there was no mention of a fee or additional charges. The following Saturday I discovered that $205.20 had been direct deposited to my checking account.My refund was supposed to be $250.00.That's when I learned about the $44.80 charge taken from my refund. I called them the next and was told the reason for the charge was because of what was referred to as investment income from five simple entries on Schedule B.Whether this was the real reason or just an excuse they did not explain further. This bate and switch tactic has probably been used by them on others.The IRS needs to monitor and better control their Free e-file program and list of approved tax preparers.The abuses and unethical business practices of companies like eTax.com needs to be exposed to prevent them from victimizing other consumers. Thanks for your time. Sincerely Yours, [redacted]Desired Settlement: Refund of the $44.80 charge.

Review: I went to E Tax that advertise a short 1040 was free online. We are retired & the taxes was very simple & we received just $140 back but only received just 12.20 which we thought the $140.00 would be deposited. No where on the filling out the tax mentioned a fee for filing an easy form or direct deposit. We didn't see the check until our bank statement was received 3 weeks later. I called the company & she told me I agreed when I agreed to their terms which weren't listed. My husband & I filled this form out very carefully together & neither one of seen a mention of fees of $127.80 We didn't see anything but free. If there were charges there they were hidden from view because my husband & I both went through the taxes forms.Desired Settlement: To receive our original $140.00. I know it's not much but we feel we were taken advantaged. We are retired & that money would help us. In fact we could have filled out the tax form ourselves. We always hear about senior citizens being taken advantaged of but never thought it could happen to us. I contacted them again & they said they gave us an invoice which we didn't receive & I also contacted them 2 weeks before for them to send me a copy of the charges which I didn't receive. I contacted them again today April **& the supervisor said she would return $59.90 in a check within a week to 10 days which I doubt I will see. She would not give me her name.

Review: etax misleads you to think their services are free and they end up hiding $125 worth of charges and fees in which they deducted from my return. There was no clear prompting of need of payment for just filling out my form online. Their customer service is rude and just continues to say that they can send the fine print over again for review. It should be removed as a recommended service from the IRS tax website.Desired Settlement: refund of $125 for false advertising

Review: I file taxes for my son and his wife this is the first time I have filed them on line. I enters [redacted] and the screen that came up had Free Federal Tax Filing [redacted] and I selected this site since I wanted a free filing site. The filing stated he would received $919 refund however the amount that was deposited in his checking account was $794.20 a difference of $124.80. After checking with the bank and the IRS I contacted etax at ###-###-#### and they advised me this was their charge for filing the taxes. Also advise me that I agreed to this, I remember seeing a screen that stated something about retaining my records for 3 years that I wasn't interesed in so I skipped the screen. [redacted] the person I spoke to stated there was a $29.95 charge for Federal Filing and $29.95 charge for State Filing and the remained was because they weren't supplied a credit card number. My question whatdoes the Free Filing pretain to. I guess I'm not computersavy enough to file taxes correctly on line. Talking to [redacted] at etax he was willing to refund me $29.95 but I think the completed amount should be put in [redacted] account. To me the web site is mis-represented and is taking the money of unsupecting victims. Can you see my problem and point of view on this matter.Desired Settlement: The desired outcome would be that the $124.80 be put into the checking account where is belongs and something done about this mis-representation on the web site.

Review: I FILLED MY FEDERAL IN COMTAX WITH ETAX.COM. THEY SAY I AGREED TO LE THEM ADD FEES. THE ONLY AGREEMENT WAS FOR A FREE E FILE, AND NOTHING ELSE. tHEY DEDEUCTED[redacted]. I AT NO TIME KNOWINGLY ALLOWED THEM TO DO THIS.Desired Settlement: I EFILED MY INCOMETAX RETURNS THROUGH ETAX.COM. I ONLY CHECKED THE BOX FOR FREE FILING. THEY SAID I HAD CHECKED A BLOCK THAT ALLOWED THEM TO TAKE OUT FEES FROM MY REFUND, BUT AFTER 3 DAYS HAD TAKEN THE CLAIM OFF THEIR RECORDS AND COULD NOT FURNISH ME A COPY OF THE AGREEMENT THEY SAY THE FILE HAS BEEN CLOSED. HAD I KNOWN THEY WERE CHARGING $114.85 I WOULD NEVER HAVE AGREED TO IT. THIS IS VERY UNETHICAL AF NOT FRAUDLENT

Review: I used the web site to file my income tax return. The home page led me to believe that I could file state taxes as well as federal. The web site indicated that the service was free. The home page indicated that there were various packages. Basic (free) up to deluxe. It indicated that the program would help me decide which was best. I imputed my information and at the end I found out I was being charged for an upgraded program. No where was I prompted that I was now in a more expensive program so that I could stop. I opted to pay because I it was tax day and I had invested Time. I was informed I was also paying for my state return. This is usual practice and I accepted that. I paid and was informed that my federal tax was submitted. Absolutely nothing indicated my state tax was done. I tried to figure out how to access my state return or determine if it was even done. I called costumer service and for the first time I FOUND OUT I COULD NOT ACESS MY STATE RETURN FOR 48 HOURS OR PRINT MY FEDERAL RETURN. Of course I ended up waiting and now my state forms are LATE. I got an e-- mail informing me my federal tax was refused so I had to make corrections and after that was done the 48 hours would start. NOW I realize that I could NOT ELECTRONICALLY SUBMITT MY STATE TAXES! What makes me mad was that these issues were not made clear at any point during the process. Going back I found some information in small print. I feel costumers are purposely misled.Desired Settlement: The company should make changes to the web site so costumers are clearly informed about what the program provides up front.

Review: I filed my income tax return with Etax.com. I had searched all FREE efiling web sites and this showed up. So I continued with my filing. They disclosed a fee if I wanted to file my State return, I opted NOT to have them efile my State return. I continued with the return information. I agreed to the information I entered in the required fields. I received my copies of Both my returns, signed my State and mailed that out. I received a refund but NOT the amount disclosed on my IRS return. I spoke Customer Service at phone #[redacted] today (4-**-2013) and was informed that I did not qualify for the free tax filing and agreeing with the information I entered I agreed to the terms and conditions of the Fees. I was not aware of any fees other than the State Filing Charge. I believe this was False advertising.Desired Settlement: That Etax.com would refund all the individuals that they mislead, the fees that they took out under FALSE pretenses.

Review: I filed my taxes online with this company. It stated that the service was free. I was to get back $527 but only received $419. When speaking with the customer service rep, she stated that there was a $70 fee for not using a debit card and having the check automatically deposited into my checking account. why would I use a debit card for a free service. then they charged $29.99 to use the website. I was unaware of these charges as it stated that efile was free. I am a student and if I would have know that they were going to be taking $110 of my tax return, I would have never used their website. I count on this money. Please help me out.Desired Settlement: I would like to either get the remainder of my tax return or I will send them the $419 and refile with another tax preparation company to get my full refund.