What is the difference between Tax Preparation Services?

I whent to H&R block they told me I would only get back $430, then a buddy of mine told me to go to his moma pop shop tax services and they got me back $1200. Why can one get more than the other. I am fileing the short form and both made the same inputs and such but got different results... why?

Public Comments

1. To put it simply, someone screwed up. Big time! Your problem now is figuring out who messed up.
2. Obviously, someone made a mistake. Did you claim yourself on one and not on the other? Did you claim someone else on one return and not on the other? There is definitely something different between them. Mom and Pop tax shops can be cheaper but sometimes they don't keep up on the rule changes. Also, if their fee was based on how much you got back, there could be something fraudulent going on.
3. wow. GO over them both again. no matter who wrote it up you get to sign off on it saying you agree. H & R block people are HUMAN and they make mistakes just like anyone else. Also H & R block might have put all the fees on your taxes for the RAL and the other advances. The interest on those can be 140% in some cases. Most of the workers there are something else during the rest of the year. They take a class for a month or two and then they do taxes. YOu could do what they do buy buying the box yourself I would suggest that you do that ($29.00 from walmart) and type in the figures taht you have and see what you come up with it~ it is not hard at all. Ideally you will find out who was write when you do this GOOD LUCK
4. I am a manager for liberty tax service and the reason you would get different results at a different place is because of preparer knowledge. For example...someone who does not know about the rules for the EIC would input information in such a way that you would not get it when in fact you may be entitled to it. another example of this is if a preparer indicates that you can be claimed as a dependant on someone else's tax return when in fact that is not true, then you would be robbed of a $3300 personal exemption. Simply put you would be taxed on an additional $3300 of income. If you were to go to 2 different places and deal with 2 equally knowledgeable preparers then your refund results would be the same since we all use the same information from the IRS and the state(s). I hope this answers your question.