Maybe you've seen
their
commercials ("We solve your
tax
problems"). The
Texas
Attorney General has charged the Houston based company
with
misleading customers and unlawful conduct, citing nearly
1,000 customer
complaints about Taxmasters' business practices:
According to the state’s
enforcement
action, the defendants
unlawfully misled customers about their service contract
terms, failed
to disclose its no-refunds policy, and falsely claimed that
the firm’s
employees would immediately begin work on a case – despite
the fact
that TaxMasters did not actually start to work on a case
until its
customers paid in full for services, even if that delayed
response
meant taxpayers missed significant IRS deadlines.
“In the midst of a national economic downturn, TaxMasters
used a
nationwide marketing campaign to offer services for
distressed
taxpayers who needed help dealing with the IRS,” Attorney
General
Abbott said. “A state investigation and nearly 1,000
customer
complaints indicate that the defendants routinely misled
customers
about the nature of their tax resolution service agreements
– and
worse, attempted to enforce those improper agreements
through unlawful
debt collection tactics. The state’s enforcement action
seeks to
prohibit the defendants from continuing to violate the law
and seeks
restitution for the financially struggling taxpayers who
were harmed by
the defendants’ unlawful conduct.”
The attorney general's allegations paint a picture of people
taking
unconscionable advantage of taxpayers in distress. The
AG says
that the company refused to reveal the terms of their
contract until
after their customers had provided a credit card or bank
account
number. Their service contract provided that the customers
could not
get a refund of any amounts paid, even if they decided to
terminate the
contract before Taxmasters provided any services.
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