Last July we received a visit from the an agent from the Department of the Treasury, he informed us that our company name IRS/State Tax Relief Associates, Inc was potentially in violation of a U.S. code regarding the misuse of Department of Treasury names, symbols, etc. The fact that the IRS approved our name years ago and apparently that the IRS was not even aware of the code makes this more amusing and the fact that hundreds of tax returns have been sent to IRS with our company name as preparer had no bearing on how the code was to be interpreted.

After several months of not hearing back, we contacted the agent to ask when we would receive the determination and he informed us he was still working on the file. We did get the chance to voice our frustration that time could spent on our name while dozens of “phony tax firms” were all over TV & the radio every day promising impossible outcomes and stealing from clients while the U.S. Treasury watched without interference was a strange to say the least. We met today to discuss what we should do and decided that a name change is inevitable so we have put the name change process into motion. Now we have to decide on what to change it to. This is a pain! We are sure there is a silver lining to this mess, guess we just have to look harder. More to come.

The IRS sends out this warning out one or two times a year to remind taxpayer that the IRS does not use e-mail to communicate with taxpayers. The link below is to the IRS site.

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=211669,00.html

This article appeared the other day and I found it interesting. It is plausible that if employers are scanning the internet to check up on employees that collection agents would do the same.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/AvoidAnAudit/tax-collectors-trolling-facebook.aspx

Several times a month our firm receives a call from a “marketing or lead generation companies” wanting to sell our firm leads from their Television campaigns. Our policy is not participate in this form of marketing for several reasons. First, the company that the TV viewers are responding to isn’t really a tax firm, they are only a firm that sells the information to tax firms that have a boiler room of sales people. We don’t have a boiler room of salespeople that earn commissions by selling “promises” they can’t keep. Second, the TV commercial content is normally filled with half truths and unsubstantiated promises of “pennies on the dollar” and elimination of interest and penalties. These commercials are unethical and they and the firms they are selling to are ripping off of desperate people, who are merely seeking help with their tax problem and deserve to get real representation.

Bottom line. Be very weary of firms that advertise on TV and Radio. Do check out any firm with BBB and other “rip-off research company” internet sites. Do check to see how long the company has been in business. Never do business with a firm that has been in business for less than a few years. Some of these “boiler room” firms play the company name change game.
The good news is that in many states the Attorney General is putting the screws to these firms.

The IRS will make changes to Allowable Living Expenses, Transportation, Housing and Utilities, on October 2007.  The new standards are not completely known at this time, but the some of the changes are regarding health and living expenses, cell phone use, and transportation.  The IRS will have a new standard for health expenses for taxpayers under 65-years-old and thankfully a separate standard for taxpayers over 65-years-old.  The proposed changes for Allowable Living Expenses are vague at this point, the IRS is stating that “it will be more fair” for all taxpayers and that household income will not be determining factor anymore.  With transportation changes will be the area of the allowance for public transportation and operation costs for a second vehicle.  Cell phone expenses are now being included as an allowed expense. These changes will impact Offer In Compromise and Installment Agreements.  It is not known at this time of existing OIC’s will reviewed under the new standards

Last week a client called us because they had just gotten off the phone with un-named firm (hint they advertise on TV and claim to have offices across the country) and they were suspicious of what they had been told.  The salesperson from the firm, asked how much they owed, the caller responded $29,000.  The salesperson from the firm without asking any other questions said his firm would reduce the taxes reduced to $2,000 to $4,000 “if they qualified”, and the fee would be $3,900.  The truth is unfortunately most people don’t qualify for an Offer in Compromise and paying $3,900 for most tax solutions is WAY over priced.  The “if they qualified” statement is a clever sales tactic to avoid promises or guarantees of results. This is done to protect their hard sales process, but will get bad results for the caller. Expect to pay a reasonable down payment or retainer, and then pay as you go and as the firm produces results for you. Never pay full in advance or agree to a contract that has an umbrella fee structure, and always double check if it sounds too good to be true.  BTW, this client never would of qualified for an OIC, but we were able to help them with reasonable payment plan, and yes they only paid for the service that was provided.

The Internal Revenue Service today alerted taxpayers to the latest versions of an e-mail scam intended to fool people into believing they are under investigation by the agency’s Criminal Investigation division.

The e-mail purporting to be from IRS Criminal Investigation falsely states that the person is under a criminal probe for submitting a false tax return to the California Franchise Board. The e-mail seeks to entice people to click on a link or open an attachment to learn more information about the complaint against them. The IRS warned people that the e-mail link and attachment is a Trojan Horse that can take over the person’s computer hard drive and allow someone to have remote access to the computer.

The IRS urged people not to click the link in the e-mail or open the attachment.

Similar e-mail variations suggest a customer has filed a complaint against a company and the IRS can act as an arbitrator. The latest versions appear aimed at business taxpayers as well as individual taxpayers.

The IRS does not send out unsolicited e-mails or ask for detailed personal and financial information. Additionally, the IRS never asks people for the PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for their credit card, bank or other financial accounts.

“Everyone should beware of these scam artists,” said Kevin M. Brown, Acting IRS Commissioner.  “Always exercise caution when you receive unsolicited e-mails or e-mails from senders you don’t know.”

Recipients of questionable e-mails claiming to come from the IRS should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the e-mails. Instead, they should forward the e-mails to phishing@irs.gov (the instructions may be found on IRS.gov by entering the term “phishing” in the search box).

The IRS also sees other e-mail scams that involve tricking victims into revealing private personal and financial information over the Internet is known as “phishing” for information.

The IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration work with the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) and various Internet service providers and international CERT teams to have the phishing sites taken offline as soon as they are reported.

Since the establishment of the mail box last year, the IRS has received more than 17,700 e-mails from taxpayers reporting more than 240 separate phishing incidents. To date, investigations by TIGTA have identified host sites in at least 27 different countries, as well as in the United States.

Other fraudulent e-mail scams try to entice taxpayers to click their way to a fake IRS Web site and ask for bank account numbers. Another widespread e-mail tells taxpayers the IRS is holding a refund (often $63.80) for them and seeks financial account information. Still another email claims the IRS’s ‘anti-fraud commission’ is investigating their tax returns.

A new law makes Private Mortgage Insurace payments deductible for loans that originated in 2007.  This will eliminate the need for those borrowers who can’t put 20% down to obtain a second piggy back loan.  To claim the deduction you will need to itemize and have a HH income of less than $110,000.  Contact your CPA to learn more.

Boiler Room -“ Just by the filing the Power of Attorney by our firm will get the Levy Released the IRS (or state). Surprise the sales sleaze hired by this firm also want a large fee in advance by asking for caller’s credit card or checking account number.

Reality -Unfortunately that it is nonsense, the Power of Attorney or POA is a form to allow a firm to communicate with IRS on the taxpayer’s behalf, it doesn’t have any inherent magical powers nor do these firms. There is defined process to get a Levy release, in some cases complicated and in others very simple.

The only reason the lie works is because client is desperate for help and hears what they want to believe. Having your paycheck or bank account Levied is powerful tool used by the IRS and the fear it generates is understandable, exactly what the “boiler room” firms are counting on. Asking good questions about the process will help you find a reliable firm.

The IRS in an effort to streamline the OIC process or as some claim to cloud the process further made some small changes to the OIC process.  The doubt to liability option will not be included be on the new form nor we dual OIC’s be accepted.  Nothing earth shattering about the changes, the $150 filing fee and OIC offer amount options still exist.  The offer mill firms, firms who crank out bogus and doomed for rejection OIC’s and charge clients in advance for them may have a few more hurdles to overcome convincing the naïve client to sign with them.