ComplaintsforEA Tax Relief Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  09/26/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I hired EA five years ago to resolve a tax issue. At the time, I was told this would take no more than 1 year at $650.00 per month. FIVE years later and only after many calls to EA as to the status of my case, was it finally closed. I am STILL being billed even though my case was settled back on Feb 22nd. At that time EA only sent two of the four letters removing tax liens by the *** even though the *** sent documentation in February that all accounts were settled. After many calls to EA, on 6/28 I was finally sent the remaining two letters. I paid for March, April, May, June and July even though no work was needed. I have now been billed for August and September! I have told EA to stop automatically deducting money from my bank account but they continue. The excuse is there were billable hours. Then why did I pay $650. per month - even during COVID when many agencies were not working and for 5 more months after my case was closed! I want all of these months refunded immediately. This is now fraud.

  Business response

  11/01/2022

  *** & ********************* retained EA Tax Relief to represent them before the *** on their unpaid Federal taxes totaling over $120,000.00. In submitting a settlement/offer-in-compromise to the ***, we needed to first and foremost, make changes to the issues that saw rise to the tax debt in the first place. These corrections to a taxpayers compliance are necessary on any plan to submit an Offer In Compromise Settlement. As consultants, we can only make recommendations to a client on the changes they need to make to order to best present their case to the *** for settlement. On our F***T attempt to settle the ********** back taxes, it was shown that the ********* failed to follow our consulting advice as provided. The ********* continued to co-mingle personal expenses within their separate incorporated business. As a result, their first attempt at an Offer In Compromise was rejected by the *** following the *** Offer Specialists findings on their co-mingling. The case would have closed as a rejection, but the ********* expressed the willingness to make the changes necessary to file a 2nd Offer-In-Compromise. 
  
  Further time was necessary to correct the co-mingling that existed in the ********** bank statements. In the following months, the ********* began to make the necessary changes to their business and personal budgets in accordance with our recommendations. These changes subsequently allowed me file a SECOND OIC Settlement on their behalf. The 2nd OIC Settlement was filed on April 18th 2019. It may not need to be stated, but Id like to point out that we now filed a 2nd OIC Settlement on their behalf, which requires more billable time than if only one OIC Settlement was filed. Our Representation Agreements calls for a monthly retainer payment that is applied toward on-going case hours incurred during our engagement. The total amount of case hours worked during our engagement with the ********* represents the total bill for services. All monthly retainer payments that were made during the engagement are applied toward the totality of billable case hours. Any unpaid balance of billable case hours that exists after all monthly payments have been applied, is considered the unpaid case balance due at closure. Any remaining case balance due that exists, is allowed to be paid off at the monthly retainer rate set within our Agreement. We mailed the ********* a Final Invoice dated July 30th 2022 that explains their unpaid balance due. They can choose to full pay that balance in full, or continue the monthly case payments set within our Agreement in an effort to full pay the case balance. I hope this explains why monthly case payments continued past the July 2022 Final Invoice. The *** ACCEPTED the ********* 2nd *** Offer-In-Compromise Settlement on October 27th 2021, saving the clients well over $100,000 in back taxes. It is disappointing to see such success met with such a response to the costs needed to achieve such a result. In closing, I stand by the time and effort I invested into the ********* case that was necessary to secure their settlement with the ***. A copy of their *** Settlement Acceptance Letter has been attached, with no personal information shown other than their name and address, which they provided to the BBB in their complaint. If you have any questions, please contact me directly at **************. 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩