I was trying to see if I could locate any information online about a company that I worked for from February to mid- March. That company, one I'm sure you are well aware of, is Tax Inc. Aka Tax Incorporated aka Tax Alleviation Experts.
My job there as a "case manager" was to handle and screen incoming calls from "clients" who had signed up for tax relief. The calls came from a wide range of people. There were those who had just recently signed up for the "services" Tax Inc. Provided and wanted to get an update on their case; people who had signed up more than six months ago and were still awaiting the tax resolution that Tax Inc. Promised them; people who were furious that their wages were garnished or their homes were levied when Tax Inc. Promised them that it would be prevented; people still waiting on Tax Inc. To contact them about their OIC.
It was my job to essentially try to buy as much time for the company while it did as little as possible and made as many sales as possible. The "tax strategists" that customers speak to are truly nothing more than salespeople who know enough about tax lingo to make themselves appear like knowledgeable tax consultants. While on the phone with prospectives, the salespeople recorded all sorts of financial information down about the client, their social security numbers, their bank account numbers, how much they had in their savings accounts, even how much their homes were worth!
Based on the amount owed to the IRS, they would assess a "fee". The more you owed the IRS, the more money you actually had in your bank account (which you were asked) or the more credit you had, the higher the fees would be. I even overheard one salesperson tell a client to liquidate his stocks to pay for the tax fees because "it would be better than going to jail for taxes you owe." But generally speaking, the "fees" were assessed by how much the salespeople felt like they wanted to make that month.
If you didn't have enough money to pay the fees, you would be set up on a payment plan to pay in monthly or bi-weekly installments either by credit card, or most often the case, by electronic fund transfer. Once an initial payment was made, clients were sent a Power of Attorney form. The salespeople made the POA sound like it was going to be the magic bullet that would solve all their tax problems. Clients were often told that once the POA was sent back to Tax Inc., that Tax Inc. Could begin negotiating with the IRS to settle on their behalf. The truth of the matter was that once a POA was received, a file was created for that client, the POA was placed in it, and nothing more was done until the client called again to inquire.
At which point, clients would be asked if they filled out their "questionnaires" and had sent them back to Tax Inc. These questionnaires were nothing more than numerous pages of financial paperwork to be filled out - over 16 pages of paperwork, if I recall correctly. They could be either personal or business financial information. Along with the questionnaires, clients were told to provide the company with all pertinent receipts, bills, bank statements, etc.
Most often, these questionnaires were so overwhelming in the amount of information clients were asked to fill out, that it would take them months to send back all the information. My job as a "client manager" was often to tell clients that Tax Inc. Was not able to proceed with their case until all their questionnaires had been received. Or if we did actually receive their questionnaires, that we still needed some type of receipt, or we still required their tax returns, (Oh, you didn't file your taxes? Well that will put a delay on your case.)
And in that situation, the salespeople would try to "upsell" their clients for more money for more services rendered. And clients would have to then turn in all sorts of expenses and receipts for their tax returns.
Can you see begin to see the process of how Tax Inc. Would scam clients? They would make promises of quick and easy tax resolution, get paid upfront for services that they are well aware they are unable or do not provide, overwhelm a client with the burden of providing financial paperwork, and the client is often lost in the endless paperwork shuffle. Sometimes the IRS was contacted on their behalf. Most often, they were not until the client called back to check up on their case.
There were actually only 3 people people working with the IRS on behalf of clients at the time I was employed. 3 people who handled over 2,000 clients. Of the three, one was a former IRS agent, one was an accountant who had not yet taken his CPA exam, and another whose specialty was in preparing tax returns. And these were the people that Tax Inc. Claimed were "tax attorneys". None of those employees were ever tax attorneys. You can only imagine the stacks and stacks of files that sat on their desks. They were well aware of what the situation with Tax Inc. Was. One, the former IRS agent, worked closely with the top salesperson and received kickbacks.
Speaking of the top salesperson there at the time - he was nothing more than a white-collar crook. Because of standing lawsuits against him from clients of Tax Inc., he had his name changed legally so he could continue working under an alias and not have to take calls from clients who had sued him. I watched him once hide out in the office I worked in so he would not be served papers. He is mentioned several times in the following posts from usacomplaints.com:
Http://usacomplaints.com/results.Asp? Q1=ALL&q5=tax inc&submit2=Search! &q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0
Joe Caico aka Paul Valentine.
The name of one of founders of the company, David Urbas, is also an alias. The name he went by in the office is Justin Urbais. Light Silver was another owner - an aspiring film guy who used this scam to finance his Hollywood lifestyle. They do not care about the people calling in with tax issues. They tell their staff that "these people calling in are bad people anyway and most of them are crooks, so WE'RE the ones helping THEM." Crazy, isn't it? The owners paid lots of money to have their business advertised on CNN, MSNBC, and ESPN.
If you look at their website, notice that there is no physical address stated on it, no names of actual founders, no legitimate factual information about the company, its owners, its history - nothing but made-up claims.
The people working there TRULY DO NOT CARE about their "clients". They used to laugh hysterically at irate people who called in repeatedly. They erased voice messages left for them, they would hang up, or they would transfer the calls back to the "case workers" like Julie Chung whose specialty in the office was to be as nasty, rude, and condescending as possible.
I quit after 6 weeks of working there, as I could not stomach being involved with scam artists. Ironically, it took them 2 months to send me my final check.
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