Our attorneys are currently investigating a potential class action against TaxMasters, Freedom Debt Relief, JK Harris and other “tax relief” companies that mislead consumers and falsely claim they will help with tax-related debts. Many Americans owe significant debts to the IRS. Although some reputable companies properly help people dealing with the IRS, many unscrupulous companies lie to people with tax debt, take their money, and do nothing to resolve the victim’s issues with the IRS. If you were victimized by this scam, please contact us immediately.
Companies like TaxMasters convince people to pay them thousands of dollars upfront, in exchange for lowering their debt to the IRS. Then these companies simply pocket the money and do nothing to lower their victims’ tax debt, all while the interest on the tax debt increases. To make matters worse, TaxMasters and other scam artists then use illegal and harassing debt collection techniques to try to get money from victims of their scam.
A former employee of TaxMasters blew the whistle, telling reporters that the company “told sales representatives it was okay to lie to potential clients to get their business.” ABCNews has exposed TaxMaster’s history of fraud and deception:
The scam is so blatant that the Attorneys General of Texas and Minnesota have both sued TaxMasters. The company recently settled with the Minnesota Attorney general, agreeing to pay over $500,000 for its wrongdoing.
The Texas lawsuit is ongoing and Texas’ Attorney General recently announced that a full “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.”
If you gave money to TaxMasters or another tax relief company and were then treated unfairly, you may have been a victim of fraud. Please contact us immediately to discuss your legal options.