By Tim Arnett
NORTH MANCHESTER,Indiana – The third time’s a charm for tax filers who have filed through the H&R Block in North Manchester. A total of three customers who filed their taxes in that location have won the “Grand In Your Hand” sweepstakes. One thousand customers a day win $1,000 nationwide – so long as H&R Block prepared their taxes before February 15th. While that date has come and gone, H&R Block is still drawing winners until Friday. There are two H&R Block locations in Wabash County with many more in the area. Yet, customers at the North Manchester store, located at 116 N. Walnut Street, are the only ones who have won the sweepstakes in the region.
While this is the first year H&R Block has had the “Grand In Your Hand” sweepstakes, Area Manager Amanda Coffelt said that it is amazing to have three winners from the North Manchester location. Each winner gets to choose the time and date to receive the $1,000, and the most recent winner, North Manchester’s Tad Penrod, choose Wednesday to accept his check. Penrod told MiBash News that he has used the H&R Block in town to prepare his taxes for the last three years. He describes his co-worker’s reactions to the news he won.
Previous winners include Mary Alice Anderson on February 10th and Sean Ison on Monday. Penrod, who works on a dairy farm in Silver Lake, said he’ll use the $1,000 for maintenance on his 2001 Dodge pickup truck. After buying his tax preparer an electric stapler, that is.
Coffelt said that she has informed each of the three winners that their contest winnings constitute taxable income and that they will receive a special form in the mail to declare such on their 2017 return.