Communications – Tax Resolution Firms
Communications – Tax Resolution Firms – we are willing to bet that all of our Circular 230 Tax Practitioner colleagues have a horror story about discovering someone that has been abused by a “tax resolution firm”. We discovered that a friend was is in the situation, and while we decided not to “go to war” with them directly as a first step, we did compose a set of questions that we suggested that they include in an email to the tax resolution firm that they were working with. Here is the list:
The following is a list of questions I would suggest that you ask and request that they respond in writing…an email is just fine.Get a copy of their Engagement Letter or Contract for the services that they were to provide.
Ask if there was any supplemental document related to fees, and for them to explain how their fees are calculated.
Ask for copies of Form 656 and Form 433A-OIC that they submitted to the IRS.
Ask if they ran the OIC Pre-qualifier and if so for a copy of the result
Ask for copies of any supplemental information requests they received from IRS with respect to the OIC
Ask and this one is the most important for a copy of the OIC approval from IRS [A sample of an approved OIC is attached to this email…and that is what we want to see if they have gotten an approved offer]
Ask for any supplemental communications that they have received in connection with your OIC.
I suggest you talk to them and then send the questions in an email in writing.As a little gift, at the end of the email please add the following sentence.“I appreciate your assistance in connection with this matter. I asking you to take a specific action, and I expect a response by the close of business on Thursday, February 9. If a comprehensive and complete response is not received, we are not going to go back and forth on the matter. My financial advisor has indicated that we will file a formal complaint with the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility asserting a violation of Secs. 10.33 and 10.51 of Circular 230 seeking an expedited suspension of your entire firm. I reviewed the contents of your Better Business Bureau file, and it appears that there is a pattern that meets the conditions of 26 USC 6694(b)(2)(B).”
We would be curious to get input and comments from our colleagues…the last quoted paragraph would be included in the first email we sent, but we did suggest to the client that they might want to hold back on it to see if the firm cooperates. We suggested that three business day should be more than sufficient for a response.