ComplaintsforThe Federal Tax Authority LLC

• Initial Complaint

  09/28/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed up for TaxCloud in the beginning of the year when I was thinking about moving my tiny brick and mortar store online to help recover from the pandemic. After a few months I realized that wasn't going to workout so I canceled the service. That is when the problems started. They DO NOT SEND INVOICES!!! They also hide their cancelation button and have other buttons on their site that make you think you are canceling but you are not. I thought after I canceled I was done. But, no.The cancellation never went through and they continued to charge me. Also, I thought the service was $10 a month. It isn't. They also charge sub fee for every time any action takes place in the shopping cart. EVEN IF YOU ARE JUST TESTING THINGS OUT!!!!!They send NO COMMUNICATION. So you will not know if your account is canceled, active, or even working. They also do not send invoices. So while I thought this account was canceled they were continuing to charge me with no communication that a bill is due. My bill is now $180.02! A $50 late payment fee is included in that. Funny because I've never received any payment requests from them! I've requested detailed invoices over 12 times now and have heard nothing back. I've used their customer service email and chat feature on their site and even called the customer service number. **************** reps ***** and ********* have provided no further information. They just want money with no explanation of charges. If you are thinking about using the Tax Cloud services by The Federal Tax Authority I would think again. This is not an appropriate way to do business.

  Business response

  10/03/2022

  Haute Beauty Guide by ***** registered with TaxCloud on January 24, 2022. The Terms of Service was signed the same day, acknowledging that the merchant had read, understood and agreed to all terms, including pricing for services while maintaining an open account.  The merchant was granted a trial period for the last week of January and all February 2022 before being billed.
  
  The merchant was billed and paid the minimum charge of $10.00 per month for March and April 2022.  Fees for **** June, July and August were slightly higher; activity on the account generated a total charge of $140.02 over those four months.  ****************** did not pay this $140.02. 
  
  As a result, the merchant paid a grand total of $20.00 for the ability to properly calculate, charge and collect sales taxes via her online store for the period February September 2022 (eight months of service for $20 = $2.50 per month effective rateabout the same price as a cup of coffee).
  
  The merchant received tax rates from TaxCloud through an integrated WPEasy Cart store periodically (whenever TaxCloud received calls during the period May -July) with the latest inquiry recorded on July 3, 2022,with no objection or inquiry to Support about the service. The merchant closed the account on September 24, 2022.  TaxCloud Support first received communication from the merchant on September 23, 2022, in 2 separate cases. Both Support representatives explained the charges.  At no point during the communication with Support did the merchant request assistance closing the account, and since the account was closed the next day, it is obvious that the merchant found the account closure button.
  
  We are sorry this merchant did not fully understand the Terms of Service contract she signed and acknowledged that she understood.  And we are sorry that she was not able to generate a meaningful ecommerce revenue stream for her business.  The fees that were charged, including those that were not paid by the merchant, were minor, fair and reasonable given the activity on TaxClouds infrastructure and they were also in compliance with the contract the merchant agreed to. 

  Customer response

  10/03/2022

   
  Complaint: 18143176
  
  I am rejecting this response because:still waiting for invoices from the company. *** requested them over ****************************************************************** about charges isnt a sufficient tax document. A tax provider, you should understand that. SEND THE INVOICES IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE. Why so sketchy? 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************

  Business response

  10/07/2022

  TaxCloud sends an email Advice of Charge to each merchant each month prior to collecting our fees.  This gives the merchants the opportunity to review their monthly invoice before being charged and to contact customer service should they have any questions.  It is not clear why ******************* did not receive these email Advice of Chargedetails.  Perhaps the merchant provided an incorrect email address or the merchants email system sent the TaxCloud Advice of Charge emails to her junk folder.
  
  As requested by the merchant, all invoices were emailed to the email address the merchant provided on September 28, 2022.  It is not clear why these were not received by *******************.  No email rejection or bad address reply bounced back to TaxCloud.
  
  TaxCloud again provided pdf copies of all invoices via email to the email address provided by the merchant on October 6, 2022.  Again, no email rejection or bad address reply bounced back to TaxCloud.  Hopefully the invoices have been received.
  
  ******************* only paid two invoices, for $10 each, during the merchants six-month service period.  Four monthly invoices were rejected by the merchant and not paid.  As such, TaxCloud received a total of $20 for services provided over a six-month period.  TaxCloud IS NOT looking to recover the unpaid fees for the four monthly invoices that were rejected. 
  
  We wish ******************* the best of luck with her business in the future.  Tell us why here...

• Initial Complaint

  12/10/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I will take legal action if I continue to be harassed by states seeking payments and charging me late fees. My account closed in July 2019. In 2020 ********* was seeking payments. I spoke with ************************* in 2019 who said my account was closed and sure enough I can't log in. Yesterday I received an email from Tennessee stating I'm in collections with their irs due to filing taxes late in 2019 (July Aug and October) it's an absolute nightmare scrambling to get this fee waived and protect my credit. They said because it's in my name it's on me. I never sold anything and it was a mistake signing up with tax cloud. How am I charged for late fees when taxcloud filed late after I cancelled my account!?Close my account. Erase EVERYTHING. and ensure there is absolutely nothng else I need to worry about. This is unacceptable.

  Business response

  12/13/2021

  Dear BBB

   

  First of all Happy Holidays in advance!

  As Vice President of ******** Experience at **********************, I am the ADVOCATE of our client base and I defend our clients internally within the company as well as with the state departments of revenue.  While we never intend to cause stress for a customer (or a former customer of ours as is the case with ***************) with issues tied to state and local taxes, this unfortunate situation IS REALLY helpful as we can immediately step in to assist if possible as well as use the situation as a learning experience. This is a long and detailed but accurate recap/response.
  
  HERE IS THE RECAP: 
  
  *************** joined us Sept 10th 2015 and fully completed her online  registration form filling in ALL THE FIELDS down to the level of detail that is required.Specifically, she even provided the Federal EIN # and went on to chose the correct North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)code for your product line 454110 Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses. I am not submitting copies as contains a FEIN # which is not secure in our opinion but we do have it as we filed state and local taxes for her company for over 4 years using it.  In fact we filed 25 state returns a month across more than 45 months.
  
  Her registration with us indicated *************** wanted to join the Streamlined State Tax program which entails the states covering her return fees as long as she agrees to have TaxCloud:
  

  1. obtain a state tax license for her in all ****************************** her firm

  2. calculate the state and local taxes at the time of sale anywhere in ****** including ** her home state.
  

  3. process her monthly state sales tax returns and remit any state or local sales tax funds she collected on sales into any of the 25 Streamlined states.

  4. Shield and Indemnify her and her company in the case of an audit by any of those states were there to be any under-collection, errors of any kind AS WELL AS (!) delays in filing due to our technology, all of which are a unique benefit of working with TaxCloud. NOTE: We are a state approved vendor known as a ********* Service Provider (CSP).  In fact, TaxCloud is only one of three companies among the dozens out there that can offer this added benefit and one of the main reasons we are so successful.
  
  In order to participate in the subsidized filing  package she was required to and did agree to our Legal Terms of Service Contract (a 31 page e-document) which was electronically signed Ms **************** same day.  
  
  As such our first response is to note that she REALLY DID sign up with TaxCloud in early Fall 2015 and use our service; and as we officially agree with her that she cancelled late July 2019 with Mr ************************* add that she was legally our client for about 4 years.  All in 45 months as our client.
  
  Whether she ever made sales during those 4 years is irrelevant - by filling out all those forms at registration in 2015 she authorized us to created an account in SST portal with her EIN  making her (via TaxCloud) legally required to file monthly returns into those 25 states remember, as mentioned in the prior sentence, the states require any business with a state sales tax license file a sales tax return even if no sales were made during the period covered by the return.

  The official term when there are NO sales is called filing a Zero Dollar Return (ZDR.)
  
   
  We were required to and did file ZDR's on her behalf into those 25 states every month; in all 25 returns per month x 12 months is 300 state and local sales tax returns per year for 4 years...so again, even if she had no sales; on a monthly basis we filed the legally required state and local tax returns for her EIN ...PLUS we did so at no cost to *************** to  ensure as requested by her in 2015,that she be fully compliant with the laws. 
  
   
  We 100% agree with *************** that in late July of 2019 she reached out to TaxCloud and in particular communicated with *********************** (no longer on our team) formally asking us to officially close out her TaxCloud account....

  We agree about her conversation with *********************** was was when she formally notified TaxCloud (middle of 2019) of her desire to no longer use TaxCloud to provide our free tax calculation algorithm to any sales she managed to make going forwards and that we would CEASE to offer our free MONTHLY tax filing and remitting services to the 25 Streamlined states as an official CSP effective July 31 2019.
  
  It is important to reiterate this: once a merchant is registered in any state we are required by law to file a return even if they have zero sales or revenues for the last month that they used TaxCloud.  In her case the LAST state returns were for July 2019 and would have been  due Aug 20th 2019.
  
  Once she finished with *****, he closed out her TaxCloud  account; it shows in OUR system that same day she was no longer our client. And it means  we triggered the request internally to file her last set of 25 returns. Normally monthly returns are due on the 20th of the following month, so her July 2019 would be due August 20th 2019. Oddly her JULY 2019 zero dollar returns were processed  slightly past the date of 20th of August which unbenknownst to us and *************** alike,  generated a $75 late  ZDR filing fee in *********.
  
  We do not find any record of correspondence about this matter of  state notices prior Friday Dec 10th 2021 when *************** herself reached out to our amazing customer support team inquiring about this matter.  

  We began immediately fully researching this and completely appreciate that this may be a stressful situation for her but we are, as always, immediately willing to contact the states in question to intercede and determine if there are any penalties or interest due on unfiled state and local sales taxes tied to the time during which she availed yourself to our service offering.   
  
  Today Dec 13th, 2021 we are working with not onlyl ********* but all *********************************************************************************** waived by our team. We also feel that her launching a BBB complaint after hearing from her in over 24 months and not having any knowledge of this from our internal TN contacts  seems a bit harsh,especially as we are always willing to assist customers or former customers resolve any issues if they are our fault.
  
  In conclusion TaxCloud will get any issues with TN taken care of and ALSO review all the other states to ensure that there are no other unpaid or late fees despite the fact *************** has not been listed on our active SST client list now for over two years to reconfirm she is not under any liens for issues tied to the time period during which we took care of her (Sept 2015-July 2019.)
  
  Obviously, we do not have all the details yet and clearly we do not have record of her business or sales transactions after July 22nd 2019 when we accepted her request to close her TaxCloud account. Understand that if subsequently we are told by any of the states that the fines or penalties are tied to taxes collected by ***************  on sales she made after July 22nd 2019 , we will of course share that with her urgently to suggest she negotiate with the states directly. 
  
  
  
  One final detail here: sadly for so many merchants not only working with us but with anyone or on their own seem to MISTAKENLY think that if they have no sales they do not have to file once registered.  Unfortunately, a lack of filing (even if there is no revenue due) will generate lack of filing penalties and late filing once rectified. 
  
   
  We appreciate the opportunity to use this experience to reiterate that our core values are tied to helping businesses navigate the complex world of State and local taxes in ****** and do so with confidence.  
  
   
  ***********************
  Vice President ******** Experience
  Team **********************

*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. ↩