Tax Masters – Multiple Locations – Review
Tax Masters – Multiple Locations – Review
Tax Masters – Multiple Locations – Review
- The BBB website lists several Tax Masters businesses. All Tax Masters listed here are separate companies from one another.
- Unable to locate a website for Tax Masters in general, however there are several that mention the name Tax Masters in their websites.
- CBS News Story: A Texas jury has found that the well-known and controversial tax advisory firm TaxMasters Inc., along with its bearded founder Patrick Cox, used deceptive practices in its bid to lure customers and has hit the company with a staggering $195 million in civil penalties.
- In a unanimous decision, jurors found that TaxMasters, its holding company TMIRS and Cox had violated the state’s deceptive trade practices act more than 100,000 times by misleading customers in television ads and sales calls about upfront costs and confusing them about the services offered, according to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
- The Houston-based firm was the subject of an ABC News investigation in April 2011 after Texas and Minnesota accused it of using misleading and deceptive business practices. In one example of a sales call provided to ABC News by Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson, a TaxMasters salesperson tells a potential customer who owes $19,000 they can get the payment down to “next to nothing” and says the company is 97 percent successful.
- “Not true,” Swanson said then. “This is a company, which is taking advantage of people, and unfortunately when people see it on TV, they do believe in it.”
- “Today’s decision marks a significant victory for the Texans and TaxMasters customers nationwide who sought help from TaxMasters with their income tax debts and were taken advantage of in the midst of a national economic downturn,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said after the judgment came down. “While the TaxMasters CEO made hollow promises about fighting for taxpayers and their pocketbooks in television ads, the evidence proved that the firm didn’t even bother to show up when it came time to fulfill those promises, but instead misled and defrauded their customers.”
- Just a day before testimony began in the case against them, TaxMasters filed for bankruptcy protection.
- As part of the $195 million judgment, Cox, the portly, red-bearded company CEO whose constant presence in TaxMasters’ TV ads was parodied by “Saturday Night Live,” is personally on the hook for nearly $46 million.
- TaxMasters signed a settlement with the Minnesota attorney general’s office last August in which it did not admit wrongdoing, but agreed to abide by a long list of business practices in order to continue doing business in Minnesota. In addition to paying $500,000 into a fund to be divvied up among former TaxMasters customers, the company agreed to record all its sales calls with Minnesota residents and hand them over to the attorney general’s office, stop using the phrase “flat fee,” stop referring to former IRS agents working for the firm except when warranted, and add no additional fees to customers’ accounts except when authorized via writing or recorded phone call. The agreement also applies to any other tax resolution firm “controlled” by Cox. Failure to abide by the settlement would make TaxMasters and Cox ineligible to do business in Minnesota and trigger a $400,000 penalty.
- An attorney for TaxMasters declined to comment for this report.
- Research Tax Masters in your area before signing up to ensure the company is still in business.
Some tax relief companies are considered disreputable due to the volume of customer complaints. These sinister players typically have high fees, give false promises, and some may even be downright scams. The tax relief industry indeed has some bad players that provide a black eye to the industry; there are also plenty of reputable tax relief companies with proven records of success. To help you tell the difference, we’ve reviewed 273 Primary Tax Resolution firms and 957 Smaller Tax Resolution firms. We score them on what is a fair criterion (listed below) to evaluate all firms. Next, we provide a scoring sheet to evaluate your top five choices that you have chosen to interview.
We believe that you should do your homework when it comes to working with a Tax Resolution Firm. We believe that you should narrow your list to probably less than five firms based on your chosen criteria.
Once you narrow your list, you should contact each firm to determine the;
- Do you get to talk to a professional who can discuss options, or are you talking to a salesperson interested in getting you to write as big a check as possible,
- Is the process structured in work increments where you will know in advance what each section of the work is to be performed and the cost?
The following is my opinion of how Tax Resolution Firms should be rated:
- The firms should have a good rating with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB rates firms from A+ to F.
- Why BBB Accreditation – the Better Business Bureau should accredit Tax Resolution firms. Accreditation with the BBB means the BBB has determined that the business meets accreditations standards, including a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve consumer complaints. BBB-accredited companies pay a fee for accreditation review and monitoring for continued compliance. (Click the Rating Matrix Column to see the BBB page)
- The number of complaints with the Better Business Bureau should be as low as possible. While it may be difficult never to have a complaint, it is crucial to see how the firm handles complaints. (Click the Matrix Rating Complaints Column to see the BBB Complaints page)
- The firm should disclose the ownership structure so that if you have a problem, you know how to address it. When the owner or owners are not disclosed, I believe they are hidden for a reason.
- I believe that a Tax Resolution firm should provide tax preparation services. Unfortunately, outside firms prepare returns based on their own priorities. We have tried over the years to work with the taxpayers tax preparation firm, especially with multiple returns, and it usually turns out to be a disaster.
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I have been avoiding getting current with Uncle Sam for quite some time. I knew I needed professional help, but who can …
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