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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