When you pay a tax relief company or accountant/attorney to represent you on your tax problem, you should pretty much expect that the fees that you are quoted cover everything (except tax returns) for a roughly one-year experience. Not all companies, however, operate this way. Omni Financial in Colorado, a tax resolution company in Colorado -- who we have respect for due to their A rating at BBB - here and their length of time in the business -- is one example of a company that charges fees down-the-road as circumstances change. They obviously get the whip out on their sales-people to ask for fees from their current clients in any way that they can. A recent story we heard from one of their clients illustrates this:

This client was charged $10,000 for tax representation for personal and business representation. A very high fee, made uglier by the fact that 1. Their business was already closed. Therefore, there was absolutely no urgency in their representation; and 2. They had NOT been assessed personally for the tax yet from the deceased business (these are called trust-fund taxes).

Well, after months, they were eventually assessed by the IRS personally for the trust-fund debt. But apparently, services to resolve that matter were NOT covered by their already HIGH FEE charged previously. Omni's "closer/salesperson" asked for ANOTHER $5,000.00 because they had to get a "new" attorney involved. $10,000 if not to mention $5500.00 should be enough to cover both the 941 tax issues and the trust fund taxes associated with that business debt. Asking for more money from you just isn't right and is frankly abusive. Be careful out there - ask what the up-front fees cover and read the "engagement letter" carefully before signing up.

Companies in Colorado like Omni cold call folks with tax liens. You can read more about that phenomenon here : Cold Calling People with Tax Liens.

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