If you don't have ACA insurance, you have to pay a fine. So if the daughter filled out paperwork saying that she did NOT have ACA insurance, then a line item should have been included in her return for a "shared responsibility" fee...fine.
"For tax year 2015, the ACA penalty is 2% of your total household adjusted gross income, or $325 per adult and $162.50 per child, to a maximum of $975."
It looks to me, from reading both the complaint and response, as if the tax preparer did not include the shared responsibility payment in the tax return and the IRS therefore got a little tetchy. Either you have health insurance or you don't. If you do have insurance, the tax preparer should include it. If you don't, they should include the fine.
Expose Tax Service should correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I'm reading here.
If my tax preparer didn't include an essential item in my tax return, and I was therefore assessed a penalty for not having included that fine, um, 'responsibility' in my return, then I might file a grievance too.
It seems to me that the claimant isn't really sure of what happened, she just knows something went wrong. The tax preparer SHOULD know what was wrong- it's their business to know what went wrong and how ACA applies to their clients, rather than simply playing defense.
In view of the fact that the claimant didn't pay for the original return (assuming that that's correct) then Expose doesn't owe her. The claimant has paid $127 for an amended return by H&R Block, which is really an entire return. Unless the claimant paid a really hefty penalty for not filing correctly I'd be inclined to say that both she and Expose should let this go as is-- lesson learned by BOTH.
Extra advice to the claimant: Personally, I'd trust the retired accountants who help people file simple tax returns at our local library, and probably at yours, as a service to the community.