On or about July I received a letter from Tax Solutions Group (TSG) of Santa Ana, CA to negotiate IRS issues on our behalf. When asked how they got our names and address and circumstances, they admitted that they used an IRS database. We were 3 years behind on filing taxes due to a mortgage investment gone awry in FL. Our property manager fled to the Caribbean. TSG proposed a FIXED FEE of $1500 as tax attorneys to negotiate a payment schedule and/or reduction with the IRS. We needed time to obtain the data and the legal services seemed appropriate. They also proposed to complete all taxes for a fee of $360 per return. On or about August of we were able to provide enough data to complete the 2007 returns using TSG's services, the first of 3 pending returns. We verified the return prepared by TSG with our regular CPA and discovered that they omitted to port over figures from 2005 and 2006. TSG continued to send reminders that they were in contact with the IRS and that completing the additional returns was necessary. After three months of chasing, we obtained the books and produced data and losses to complete our 2008 and 2009 tax returns using our regular CPA. We subsequently submitted the additional two returns to TSG on or about January (6 months after TSG took our case). Two weeks later, TSG wrote and claimed that they could not continue unless we submitted an additional payment of $1000 on top of the contractual $1500 FIXED FEE paid back in July. When asked for a complete detail of how the original $1500 was spent to justify the deviation from the Fixed Fee: i. E Call logs, calls to the IRS, Case number with the IRS, mail, email, correspondance with the IRS, name of IRS agent spoken to, proposed payment structure to the IRS, rebuttal or counter proposal from the IRS etc... TSG produced nothing substantial to justify the additional $1000, a 66% increase from the $1500 fixed fee stated in their contract.in summary, TSG scammed us into paying $1500 of legal services that were never performed as a guise to obtain our tax preparation services. When we used a reputable CPA for the remaining 2 returns, TSG claimed that the IRS negotiations required more money in direct contrast to a contract to their fixed fee of $1500. Tax Solutions Group should be ashamed of themselves. Don't use their services. They are NOT tax attorneys, or at the very least, they have not given any evidence that they are able to perform duties as tax attorneys. They only thing they were able to do was prepare a tax return without paying attention to losses from previous returns.
0 comments