I have been dealing with Taxmasters since April. I found out that my accountant had made a HUGE error on my 2007 returns, and had been filing my corporation as the wrong entity, thus causing me to owe about $14000 to the IRS and state of Colorado. I filed an extention while I tried to sort the mess out with him. I contacted taxmasters again in October, and re-explained my case to them. I was advised by the saleman not to file my 2007's that they would do it for me, as well as negotiate my debt down to pennys on the dollar (. 13 per dollar is what he told me matter-of-factly). I paid them the sum of $4750, a bargain if they actually did what they promised. I filled out a personal profile for them and then waited. And waited. A month later, I recieved a call from them that the IRS had told them that my 2005 taxes were unfiled, and that the IRS would not work with them until they were. This was an obvious mistake, as I had filed via Rapid tax. I retained copys of these returns, verified their reciept by the IRS, and faxed copys to Taxmasters as proof. Another month passed, and nothing. I recieved a letter that my case coordinator had changed, so I called and left several messages. Finally at the beginning of January I was able to talk to a representative who told me that my returns were in the "Tax Prep Department". After all of this waiting, I got antsy and had a meeting with a tax attorney who informed me that the worst thing I could do was to follow Taxmasters advice of NOT FILING. An amended return could always be filed if mistakes were found on the original, but not filing caused huge fines and penaltys totaling thousands of dollars. Knowing at this point that I was obviously dealing with a dirty company, I had my attorney draft a demand for my money back, and waited.
I received a reply letter a couple of weeks later that they were "mystified" at my request, and the Tax Prep department was working on my case, (even though 4 months after I hired them, they had not asked me for a single shred of information about my 2007 income and/or expenses). They basically told me to stuff it.
I consulted an attorney in the Houston area who advised me on the case, and is going to pursue them on my behalf for treble damages, and maybe more. I will keep everyone posted who is interested. I have since filed a complaint with the BBB in Houston, and HAVE had correspondence with taxmasters in which they have lied about their reasoning for not issuing a refund, basically blaming it on me, and have actually claimed that they can't work on my case because I owe them MORE money (for nothing). I am considering filing charges for fraud and extortion, as they bait you with the intial fee (in my case almost 5K), and then refuse to work on your case unless you pay MORE. I actually have this on paper, so as evidence, it is the silver bullet that may slay this beast. If this is the case, I am hopeful that not only will many an innocent victim get justice, at least in the moral sense, but the perpetrators of the biggest scam that I have ever seen (or heard of) in this country will have their freedom stripped from them and they will be forced to pay back the thousands of victims they have left in their wake.
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