Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 15, 1991 TAG: 9102160027
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B/7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Her plans to pay a few bills, to get ahead, with her $1,000 tax refund appear mired in a Georgia-based tax preparer's computer files and the intricate bureaucracy of the Internal Revenue Service.
It seemed simple enough. She'd done it before with H&R Block. This year she tried Fast Track Inc. of Roanoke, which promised a refund within six days.
Fast Track completed the tax form and attached the W-2. It would file the form electronically, Winston was told, and then lend her the expected refund. The fees - totaling $95 - would be deducted from the check she should have received by Feb. 7.
A week later, she's still waiting. So is Shelly Jones, a single mother of two.
No one knows how many people haven't received their refunds, but a Fast Track official who would not give her name said 58 clients had received checks before the troubles started about five days ago.
So far, the company's clients have incurred no out-of-pocket expenses. But immediate plans for the cash have been destroyed, fueling uncertainty in uncertain times.
Fast Track's Williamson Road office has been besieged in recent days by taxpayers demanding to know the status of their files and, especially, their checks. Jones, a cook at Hollins College, is typical:
"I don't want to hear no excuses. I don't want to hear no explanations. I want to know what my status is," she demanded of Ronald Norris, the 2-year-old company's chief executive officer.
Norris came to Roanoke on Thursday to quiet angry clients, some of whom had threatened the local office manager.
"We have some software problems," Norris said in an interview. "Our check numbers are not matching with the bank's numbers, so they closed us down. So far, we're clean. We're just running behind schedule, and they want us to clean it up fast."
An IRS spokeswoman in Richmond confirmed late Thursday that federal officials in Virginia and Georgia are investigating Fast Track. The company does not have a license to do business in Roanoke, but was granted a license Jan. 15 in Augusta, Ga.
Fran Stephanz at the Better Business Bureau said her office has "had a ton of phone calls" in recent days from people who gave their returns to Fast Track and had not received refunds.
IRS spokeswoman Jennifer Toth counseled patience. "We are concerned and are planning to assist the taxpayers affected so they can get their tax returns filed."
Problem is, some of Fast Track's clients aren't sure their returns have been filed. It appeared Thursday that Fast Track wasn't sure, either. Clients who take their returns to another tax preparer may run the risk of paying for a service that may not be able to deliver.
Some Fast Track customers have gone to H&R Block. "I've told them that if it's already filed [with the IRS], it will be rejected," said Joel Lytton, H&R Block's district manager. "If it's not there [yet], it'd go sailing right on through. I've encouraged all of them to just hang on and see" what happens.
Toth of the IRS agreed, saying a second filing could slow processing.
Taxpayers receive refunds more quickly through electronic filings, although they pay transmitting and lending charges not associated with filings by mail. So-called rapid refunds are, in effect, loans that are repaid with the government refund check.
Banks and tax preparers make money on the loan fees charged on each refund. IRS rules say a particular company's loan fees must be the same for all clients and may not be a percentage of the expected refund.
Fast Track charges $50 for what the federal government calls "refund anticipation loans." H&R Block, by comparison, assesses a $29 fee.
"If you want a refund early," said Stephanz at the Better Business Bureau, "file early."
by CNB