Compare Reviews for Tax Relief Services

The official credentials of a tax relief company can reveal a lot about its reputation and its success rate.

• Generally certified staff: In order to represent a consumer to the IRS, a company must have a properly licensed staff member on board, such as a licensed attorney, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or an enrolled agent.
• Specialized staff: Enrolled agents (EAs), (CPAs) and tax attorneys are the only tax professionals who have been licensed, and therefore the only tax professionals who can practice before the IRS. Any reputable tax relief company will have EAs, CPAs and/or tax attorneys on staff who can legally represent you before the IRS.
• No licensed staff: Some companies offering tax relief have no properly licensed staff on board, which means they are legally unable to represent taxpayers to the IRS. They are therefore completely ineffective because they will not be able to legally represent a taxpayer with tax debt issues.

Tax relief companies can have a range of reputations among taxpayers, often based on their success rates and customer service practices.

• Consumer-reviewed: There are many websites offering firsthand customer reviews of tax relief companies and consumers' experience using them.
• Calculated ratings: Several business evaluation companies have algorithms that take into account factors like customer reviews and company success rates to give tax relief companies calculated ratings, which are good indicators of a company's reputation and likelihood of success.
• Unreviewed: Some tax relief companies have little to no documented reviews or ratings, which makes it difficult for prospective customers to judge their previous levels of success or failure.

There are several ways tax relief companies attempt to sell their services to prospective consumers.

• Direct consumer contact: Some tax relief companies pursue business by contacting customers directly, often based on lists of liens filed with each individual county.
• Traditional advertising: Many tax relief companies adhere to traditional and ethical advertising practices to draw customers, such as placing ads in relevant newspapers or print publications, or optimizing web content to appear in search engine results.
• Advertising guarantees: One tactic some tax relief companies use to draw clients is guaranteeing successful tax relief, which should make consumers wary because it's impossible to make guarantees about tax relief without first making an official agreement with the IRS.

Tax relief companies ask for fees for their service, and the manner in which they calculate and obtain these fees varies from company to company.

• Time-based fees: Time-based fees are charged by tax relief companies based on the time it will take them to handle a consumer's case.
• Debt-based fees: Some companies charge their fees based on the amount of tax debt a person owes to the government.
• Upfront fees: Some tax relief companies ask their customers to pay flat fees for their services upfront before starting the tax relief process.

Tax relief companies often have many people on staff working to bring customers relief from their tax debt, and some companies vary based on which employees interact directly with customers.

• Interaction with salespeople: Some companies use sales people to interact with customers, initially assess their case, and offer potential consumers a deal before beginning work on their case.
• Interaction with tax experts: Many tax relief companies pair potential customers and paying customers with licensed tax experts who can assess their debt situation with knowledge and offer them specialized tax advice.
• Interaction with various employees: When bringing in customers, some tax relief companies allow salespeople to handle the initial transaction, while the follow-up communication is handled by a more specialized tax expert.

Many tax relief companies vary from one another based on whether they require a customer to sign a contract to work with them or not.

• No contract: Some tax relief companies do not require customers to sign any paperwork to work with them, allowing them to start and stop work at their own discretion.
• Contract-based work: There are tax relief companies that require customers to sign a contract before they take their case, requiring them to pay them a certain amount of money and complete work with that company.
• Fee agreement work: Some tax relief companies only require customers to sign paperwork to agree on an upfront fee, but does not require them to complete the work with the company, should they decide not to.