I called Associated Tax Relief because I had a tax problem. I had zero income at the time and they said I qualified and that it was a guaranteed no brainer and I would pay $2000.00 to the IRS instead of $25, 000.00+. I scraped up $4, 100.00 and filled out all the paperwork requested. They sent back to me paperwork to sign but it was not even filled out properly and was missing all my figures I had sent them. Months went by and nothing was done. I was told it was part of the process. Then they contacted me about wages again and I was making about $50, 000.00 so I sent that in. Nothing was done again and no phone calls were returned. Months later they requested wage info again and I sent it in but I was making $75, 000.00. at the time. Again they sent me paperwork back to me with missing info and wrong numbers on the paperwork. Phone numbers that I were given to contact them were changed so I could not contact them. All mailboxes were full and they never answered any letters. They rotated phone numbers and fax numbers and never returned calls when I did get thru. I had paid an additional $150.00 for the "offer in comprimise". The IRS denied it because of lack of information...all the info I kept telling them they were omitting. Finally months later I talk to Stephanie and was assured this was part of the process, not to contact them and do not talk to the IRS. "We have plenty of time we will contact you. Multiple times I had to refill out paperwork because i was given new case workers. They had all my 2007 tax info and did nothing with it. Again they wanted more figures but now I was making $120, 000.00. The IRS denied the offer in because of lack of info. I had sent all info requested for over 18 months. Associated Tax Relief says I never helped them. I called again about all the missing figures and innacurate figures. "They will revue my case and get back to me". I was told don't worry about your 2007 taxes, we will do a settlement first. Months go by and it is impossible to get in contact with them. Then I find out they lead you in this direction and the fine print says all contracts are denied if all tax years are not done. I call the IRS and find out they only recieved one offer in comprimise and all contact with Associated Tax Relief had ceased. I filed a complaint with the Attorney General of California. I finally got some paperwork because of this complaint. Associated Tax Relief lied to the Attorney General. I started checking around about this tax service. They have changed names, addresses, phone numbers and fax numbers. I called some of the old phone numbers and none of the old numbers jived with any tax service. Even the addresses were all bogus.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
What has the Attorney General of California done? The CA Bar Association.
No one damn thing.
I recorded all of my calls and the lies they told me. After they failed to do their job, I was levied and finally sold my business to pay the whole bill-tax and penalties. The only thing Associated Tax Relief did was compound my penalties for two more years at 8% daily-the Federal Rate from [protected]
I will sue them
They promissed to help with my tax debet and after paying nearly $5000.00 and a year later I was told my attorney no longer worked there. This new attorney was on my case but was told she could not help me after the first attorney told me they could. Nor could I GET A REFUND AFTER THEY PROMISSED TO HELP.
You should never hire someone based solely on hype, advertising, or recommendations from "friends". Always do background checks on the people or firms you are looking to hire, before you hire them. In the age of Internet it is so easy to run their name through Google and see what you can find out about them and what complaints they have. One hour of research over the Internet may save you thousands of dollars and a lot of headaches.
I'm a licensed CPA with over 25 years of experience in tax problem solving and IRS representation. You can find a lot of useful free information and tips on IRS and tax problem solving on my website at: www.TaxProblem.org
I am having the same problem with ATR tax relief, how can we sue them ? Are they in business and have changed phone numbers and address.