I wish I had known about this website years ago. I would have posted my story and hopefully steered some people away from JK Harris & Co. If you are reading this and considering doing business with this company, please take my advice and DON'T DO IT!
My story in a nutshell. Through my own negligence and laziness, I failed to file my taxes in the late 90's for two consecutive years. I didn't owe very much, but at the time I was living on crumbs and working 3 jobs (2 full time and 1 part time) just to make ends meet. My employer didn't withhold federal taxes from my pay and I encountered April 15 with a tax bill of over $3000, which is about $3000 more than I had at the time, so I didn't file. Dumb mistake, I admit it.
After a few years of feeling guilty and getting my financial house in order, I decided to clear this situation up voluntarily and put it all behind me. I had not heard anything from the IRS by the way, I just wanted to be honest and get my life in order.
I contacted JK Harris after reading an ad in the newspaper, and I had one meeting with a "representative" who "analyzed" my case, and naturally he pressured me into signing a contract that day and giving him my checking account number so that the company could start deducting money from my account on a monthly basis (I believe it was about $178/month). I think I gave them about $1000 upfront as well.
Naively thinking that they would "negotiate" on my behalf with the IRS and "settle" my balance due for "pennies on the dollar" I sent them all my financial records, W-2s, etc... And waited.
And I waited.
And I waited.
And I waited.
Finally, after about 11 months (paying monthly, I might add) I received the paperwork from JK Harris. They had taken my W-2 and filled in a 1040 for the year in question and told me to send it to the IRS. That was it.
Well, la de da folks, thank you very much. For this bit of accounting magic and legal expertise, I paid over $2000?
But, here is the part that gets my goat. Any attempt on my part to contact JK Harris was met with a stone wall. I wanted to speak directly with the "caseworker" who was working my file, but the operator will not do that, and neither will the company tell you who is working on your case. All correspondence from the company is signed "JK Harris" and all signatures are absolutely illegible. The company will not respond in any significant or reasonable way to customer complaints, and if you are unhappy with the results, well tough s$%t.
I later went to the IRS directly and cleared everything up. They could not have been nicer. I also asked if they could find out if JK Harris ever contacted them on my behalf. They had no record of any contact.
Trust me, please. If you have a problem with the IRS, then deal with them directly. I found out that they are really not that bad and if you 'fess up (as they say in Kentucky) and work with them, they will work with you. JK Harris just wants your money and in exchange, you get NOTHING!!
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