Stay Away from These Tax
Resolution Firms That Will Say Anything to Part You From Your Money
Frankly, we're frequently embarrassed by the companies
in this business. We welcome good competition and good tax resolution firms
exist, but by and large, we honestly believe that the IRS should shut down the
majority of businesses that want to represent you before the IRS.
As we find businesses that don't deserve your money, we're going to list
those companies and the reasons why we would stay as far away as possible.
We're not perfect and we've had unhappy clients as well, but that isn't
the problem. The problem is businesses that choose to lie, cheat and steal as
the way they do business. We turn away more clients than we take and that's
because we prefer to sleep at night and to make money without screwing over
people that already have serious financial problems.
1) American Tax Relief (americantaxrelief.com,
10save.com, 92save.com, 84save.com, 9save.com & 28save.com). They solicit through lies. We recently read a postcard they
sent out which states, "The Congress has recently passed NEW laws, making it
easier to settle tax debts. We are now finding that many people who did not
previously qualify for tax relief can now take advantage of these NEW changes
and settle for much less." The only problem is that it isn't true.
There have been NO changes in the law that make it easier to get your IRS tax
debt settled. In fact, the IRS has made it far more difficult to get Offers in
Compromise cases accepted as noted elsewhere on this site.
SEE THIS
COMPLETE ARTICLE ON HOW AMERICAN TAX RELIEF STEALS FROM ITS OWN CLIENTS
Their lying TV ad states "you have ONLY one
chance to settle with the IRS". More lies. In addition, they put the names of
unlicensed salespeople on their IRS Power of Attorney forms. These guys are pure
trash.
According to the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau, American Tax Relief is so
bad that they give them a rating of "F".
The LABBB also says, "we
believe this company misrepresents their ability to negotiate settlements or
offers in compromise with the IRS. Many complainants state that they make
promises concerning their ability to negotiate these settlements when they have
no way of knowing whether or not they will be able to deliver on those
promises."
American Tax Relief
posts on their web sites "as seen on CNN & MSNBC". Sorry, boys, but
running an ad doesn't qualify. They want you to believe they've been talked
about in a story which couldn't be further from the truth.
2) Tax Incorporated aka
Tax Inc. (TaxIncorporated.com) Here's
another company that lies through their solicitations. They falsely state in
their mail solicitations that
“The IRS
has recently changed its settlement procedures. This means many taxpayers who
previously did not qualify can now take advantage of many new, generous relief
options to settle their tax debt for much less than before and save thousands of
dollars.”
This is
nothing more than a complete fabrication and they damn well know it. It's
designed to get you to pick up the phone and call them. Nothing more and nothing
less. I'm sure I'll be hearing from their attorneys soon. Let 'em threaten me
with legal action. My response is simple. Prove your lying statement is truthful
and my statement comes down.
On October 31, 2006, I
received a call from a Tax, Inc. employee named Yulia Diaconu (the way she said
her name sounded like "Julie"). Yulia, whose phone number
is 323.857.5809, told me to "stop harassing their client". Of course,
Yulia
doesn't know the whole story. I have been calling "their client" for two months
asking for a return call or for a phone number and name at Tax, Inc. You see, my
client was President of a corporation that was owned by "their client". "Their
client" fired my client and ran the corporation himself. Seems that the
corporation has unfiled employment tax returns and the IRS is looking for those
returns. My client doesn't have the records since "their client" changed the
locks and took control of the business and all the records.
To make a long story short, I did speak with
Yulia, but of course, she had no useful information whatsoever. What she did
tell me was comical. She told me that
"our enrolled agent is going to do a Doubt as to Liability Offer for our client".
I told her that was impossible since
we were talking about unfiled employment tax returns and her client didn't owe
the IRS anything yet. She then told me
"well, that's what our enrolled agent is going to do"
and hung up on me. That's nice. And you wonder
why this industry has a horrible reputation. Let's just submit an Offer when
your client doesn't even owe anything yet. Just another reason to avoid the
clowns at Tax, Inc.
***November
7th, 2006 update***
How do you
feel about a company that runs an ad that refuses to even state their own name?
Well, that's what the people at Tax, Inc. are doing. I just saw a TV commercial
run on Fox News. The ad states that "Many tax
resolution firms offer quick claims of pennies on the dollar settlements only to
disappoint their clients". They go on to say
"...and poor representation could cost you thousands of
dollars in overpaid taxes or even worse your settlement could be rejected".
They also say, "don't hire a tax resolution
firm that over promises and under delivers". I couldn't agree more.
Especially when that company won't even say who they are in their ad. Instead,
you have to go to their web site, StopIRSDebt.com or call 1.800.410.8821. Try
going to that site and it bounces you over to TaxIncorporated.com.
Well, one
thing that have done is state in this ad that the IRS has become more aggressive
which is true. Of course, they still falsely state that you only have one chance
to settle your debt and the fact that they won't disclose who they are in their
ad is enough to not even consider hiring these jokers.
