CPA FAQ's

IRS Relief?

Have you ever heard the TV commercial where someone says, “We can erase your IRS debt!”?

“I had a $100,000 IRS liability, and now I owe nothing!”

“We can make you pay only cents on the dollar!”

As a CPA, phrases like these from “tax relief specialists” make me cringe. Such statements are misleading to say the least (deceptive in most cases) and the fees charged by most companies offering those services are far too high.

In fact, the Attorney General of Texas recently filed a lawsuit against TaxMasters (a Houston based tax relief company) that calls for a permanent injunction to stop some of the company’s business practices and claims the company has repeatedly violated the Texas Debt Collection Act and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The suit also asks for financial penalties and restitution of funds to certain complaining clients.

It is unfair to judge an entire industry based on one company, but the TaxMaster’s lawsuit highlights how careful one must be in seeking professional guidance with the IRS. It is much safer and almost inevitably much cheaper for you to hire a quality CPA to assist you with an IRS tax problem.

The IRS has been alerted to a new email phishing scam. The emails appear to be from the IRS and include a link to a bogus web site intended to mirror the official IRS web site. These emails contain the direction “you are to update your IRS e-file immediately.”  The emails mention USA.gov and IRSgov, though notably, not IRS.gov (IRS-dot-gov). Don’t get scammed. These emails are not coming from the IRS.

Taxpayers who get these messages should not respond to the email or click on the links. Instead, they should forward the scam emails to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov. For more information, visit the IRS's Report Phishing web page.

The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email, texting or any social media.