A tax company that spent millions on lobbyists to help shape Obamacare is set to "reap the benefits" of their efforts through Affordable Care Act taxes.
H&R Block, the world’s largest tax preparation company, is expecting its work and millions of dollars in lobbying to pay off due to the increased demand from individuals who may not know how to fill out their complicated tax forms in relation to the health care program.
"We think we’re going to start to reap the benefits of that investment," H&R Block chief executive Bill Cobb said Tuesday during a strategy session. Last year, the company upped their investment in marketing and training employees to handle complicated questions on the health care law and their impact on taxes, the Kansas City Star reports.
The company sees the IRS as being a facilitator of business of sorts, as the agency will be stepping up enforcements as penalties for not being enrolled in Obamacare increases.
"I have news for you: IRS enforcement is coming," warned Mark Ciaramitaro, vice president of taxes and health care at H&R Block. "The era of tax leniency with the Affordable Care Act is coming to an end."
H&R Block is heavily invested in the law as they spent millions on high-priced lobbyists who worked tirelessly in helping shape Obamacare. The company, in fact, was the only tax preparation company to lobby for the health care overhaul.
Up until 2007, H&R Block spent little in the way of lobbying. However, between 2007 and 2008, the company tripled its lobbying expenditures from $300,000 to $952,000. In 2009, Block upped their lobbying output even more, tallying $1,705,088 on the year before jumping up yet again to $1,960,000 in 2010. Since 2010, the company has topped $2 million in lobbying expenditures in both 2013 and 2014.
Due to the company’s involvement in helping craft Obamacare while seeking to benefit from the subsequent windfall profits, H&R Block’s practices have received criticism.
"This will help H&R’s growth and profitability because they’ll be able to charge all these consumers for more services, for more filing of forms," Gil Luria, the managing director of securities and investments company Wedbush told the Daily Caller.
"In addition, they may get some new filers that ordinarily would have done taxes themselves because those filers will be uncomfortable doing taxes on their own."
Competitors of H&R Block have taken it upon themselves to counter their extra fees for filing out Obamacare forms.
"We don’t think people should have to pay extra for ACA-related forms," said Debra Hammer, a senior health care communications manager at Intuit.