Contracted with J.K. Harris in 2008 about some back taxes. I was taken in by their TV ads as I imagine many others have been.
Never once did they attempt to negotiate with the IRS on my behalf to reduce the amount I owe. All they have attempted to do is work with the IRS to get an installment plan worked out, which is something I could have done.
After several times sending paperwork that they said they needed, I thought they finally had everything they needed to get it finalized. While waiting, the IRS levied part of my wife's Social Security benefits and then, when I really thought things were ready, the IRS levied part of my checking account, freezing what was left in there and leaving me with no money for 1/2 of the month.
After many attempts to come to an agreement, the IRS finally came back and said that they agreed to an installment plan, but at about 3 times what we had wanted to pay per month. We had no choice but to agree to the amount.
In this last week or so, I have contacted the people at J.K. Harris several times to try and get the levy released and they finally told me that the levy on the Social Security would be released in September. I replied to them, what about the other levy? They acted like they were surprised and finally told me that the IRS very rarely releases these types of levies unless I can prove some type of hardship.
I went down to the local IRS office and asked about this and they told me that they release this type of levy all the time if there is an installment agreement in place and, in fact, I found a statement on the back of the levy notification, to me, that states just this.
I'm thinking that the people at J.K. Harris have just lied to me because they completely missed this levy (even though they DID know about it) and didn't want to be bother with it.
Bottom line is this... There is nothing that J.K. Harris can do that you can't do yourself with the IRS, although, in some cases, I'm not sure how competent they are, either.
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