1. Sales Floor w/ No Listed Tax Professional -- INTOLERABLE SITUATION
These are companies with aggressive salespeople who do NOT list their tax professional's name or license on their website. This is the absolute WORST situation, where you are at the whim of the honesty (or lack of honesty) of the salesperson. Now, do realize that they will SAY that they have licensed tax professionals on staff BUT these tax professional's names and credentials will NOT be publicized. The anonymous licensed tax professionals who usually sign up with these firms -- are usually desperate E.A.'s or CPA's who are hired from monster.com ads. This set-up is a recipe for getting ripped off.
2. Sales Floor w/ Documented Tax Professional Handling Case -- TOLERABLE SITUATION
These companies have documented and listed licensed tax professionals - E.A.s, C.P.A.s or Tax Attorneys on staff. They do, however, have a sales staff to bring in business for the company. This is generally a tolerable scenario, as you are protected by the professional's license.
3. Direct Contact with Tax Professional - BEST SITUATION
In this example, the tax professional is the salesperson. That is the situation if you hire us, for example. I am the person 1. analyzing and quoting a fee to handle your case; 2. handling the customer service for your case; and 3. doing the representation and resolution for the case. There's no middleman, and my license is out in the open for you to see.
If you look at our list of 155 Tax Resolution Companies, you will see that ALL of the companies on the NOT recommended category are set up as #1.
