American Tax Relief sucks! They are a scam and will only take your money and run! They will not solve anything with the IRS!
This recession really hit my janitorial services company hard and made it so that we ended up short in paying the taxes. The IRS does not like it when you come up short with their taxes owed. So they garnished by regular salary at Microsoft where I am a computer programmer during regular hours and they put a tax levy on my house in Houston Texas.
I was watching TV and saw this advertisement for American Tax Relief. They promised that they could settle my taxes for far less than I owed and that they could remove tax levies and garnishments. So idea them a call at their one 800 number, 1(888)393-8908, and told him that I owed around $78,000 in back taxes to the IRS.
They told me that wouldn’t be a problem at all and that on average the people that they help end up paying no more than 20% of what they really owe on their back taxes to the IRS. They said they could easily settle with Kyra’s for far lower amount and it wouldn’t take long at all. They also said that he would be very easy and quick to get the garnishment and tax levies removed.
Then came the hook – I knew it wasn’t going to be a free service. They requested that I send them $5500 to open my case and take care of this for me. They also requested that I send them a power of attorney filled out and signed in case there were any additional expenses that they had to charge. I did not fill out the power to reform and would not because I do not know these people and they are not located locally to me.
They said that was okay and that they would make due with what they could and bill me for the rest. A week later they called me up and stated that they needed more information as to why I am behind on my taxes. I gave them as much information as I could just like I previously had in our initial conversation.
A few weeks later I received a letter from the IRS stating that my offer in compromise was denied. I called up American Tax Relief and they said that I had not provided all the information they needed and that the IRS had determined that I was untruthful. There was nowhere on the letter from the IRS word said anything about being untruthful. They just said that it was denied.
And as to the information that they requested I sent them everything that they needed except for the power of attorney which I was not comfortable signing off to them. They told me that they had closed my case because I was untruthful and did not provide all the information that they had requested. That is a complete lie.
I have since tried to get my money refunded from them because basically all that they do in American tax relief is fill out a cut-and-paste offer in compromise to the IRS. This is something that you can do yourself and do a far better job than American Tax Relief could ever do. The proof for this is simple. I went and filled out my own offer in compromise to the IRS and they actually accepted it. No I did not get 80% off like they claim in their TV ads. I ended up with more like 40% off. What was still better than I owed, but I wasted $5000 on the scumbags at American tax relief!
Do not use American Tax Relief to do and offer in compromise with the IRS. It will not get approved and they will just take your money and run!
