Wednesday, April 4, 2012

TaxMasters

The ads are typical and grossly misleading. "Settle your IRS debts for pennies on the dollar." Yeah, right, 98 pennies on the dollar.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the better known (advertising does work) of these outfits filed for bankruptcy, "just as it was preparing to head to court to defend itself from charges of deceptive practices leveled by the Texas attorney general." Now, the verdict is in. A Texas jury as decided that TaxMasters has to pay $195 million in restitution and civil penalties. It remains to be seen whether anyone will face criminal charges.

In fact, if you've been hit with an IRS assessment for back taxes, interest and penalties then you probably should engage a tax professional to represent you. For administrative appeals within the IRS (the usual first step) an Enrolled Agent (EA) or Certified Public Accountant (CPA) can provide the assistance you need. If you're going to court, then an attorney will be required. 

Those IRS assessments are often wrong, at least in part, and a tax pro can help identify those errors. Even if the IRS is correct on the amount of taxes owed, it is still often possible to get penalties removed or reduced if your true story is good enough. In short, do not blindly assume the IRS is correct and send them a check. Get help FIRST.


There are plenty of local CPAs, EAs and tax attorneys who can help you if you have tax problems with the IRS. You do not need to go online to hire some outfit in Texas, Nevada, Tennessee or Kansas.

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