H&R Block office slates marathon for tax returns
Manhattan Blvd. site is to stay open 37 hours
2/6/2014Friday will be a long day for some tax preparers at the H&R Block tax service office at 525 Manhattan Blvd.
As part of a promotion to encourage early tax filing by customers in that area, the office plans to stay open 37 hours straight — from 8 a.m. Friday to 9 p.m. Saturday.
“We’re really excited, the tax professionals are really excited, and we’re ready to go,” said Charlotte Butler, district manager for H&R Block’s 26 northwest Ohio locations, including 21 offices in the Toledo area.
Ms. Butler said the Manhattan Boulevard office opted to hold the 37-hour marathon to get the tax preparation season moving along, but also to accommodate workers at Chrysler’s nearby Toledo Assembly Complex, which is running up to three shifts to build the Jeep Wrangler and new Jeep Cherokee.
Chrysler is using two shifts to build the Cherokee, and two shifts plus a third shift at the plant’s paint shop to build the Wrangler.
With some Jeep employees scheduled to work late into the night, Ms. Butler said H&R Block wanted to give those workers a time more convenient to their schedules to get their taxes done.
“We know that people these days work very different days. There’s a first shift, a second shift, and now a third shift over there. But even with different job schedules, people will still have a chance to come in and drop off their taxes,” she said.
The Internal Revenue Service began accepting tax returns through electronic filing on Jan. 31. Ms. Butler said the Manhattan office workers suggested a round-the-clock night a week later to encourage people in their area to get going early on filing their taxes.
Ms. Butler added that the Manhattan office already has been scheduling appointments and telling customers that they will be open all night Friday if that is the best time for them to come in.
“We did this once before when I was in Fort Wayne. We did an overnight thing and we did it in March. We think it’s better now to do it in February, but even so, when we did it in March we still had 25 clients that came in that night,” Ms. Butler said.
She said six tax preparers work in the Manhattan office and the company plans to have at least four and possibly all six working Friday, depending on need.
Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.