The Tax Lady Roni Deutch Sends Open Letter to Secretary Paulson Detailing IRS “Horror Stories” of Poor Training, Poor Service, and Unprofessional Negotiation Tactics at the IRS

Nationally recognized tax attorney Roni Deutch, known across the country as television’s Tax Lady, has released an open letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to Department of the Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr.

North Highlands, CA – Roni Deutch has drafted a letter seeking to improve the IRS settlement negotiation procedures with IRS agents who make the process unnecessarily difficult.

In an open letter to Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, nationally recognized tax attorney Roni Deutch is seeking changes to how IRS agents behave during tax debt settlement negotiations.

“Negotiation with the IRS for a tax settlement is a mentally and emotionally draining process for a taxpayer,” claims Ms. Deutch. “Even in the face of quality evidence to the contrary many IRS agents will stand by their incorrect estimates and force taxpayers into unreasonable payment plans. Fortunately, when the attorneys at my law firm negotiate on behalf of taxpayers they can identify the IRS’ errors and fight for the correct settlement. However, when taxpayers do not have quality legal representation they often just follow along with the IRS’ estimates.”

Please enjoy the snippet below from Ms. Deutch’s letter. To read the complete letter, download the PDF attachment to this release.

“I am writing you today to express my concerns regarding the quality of service the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides taxpayers nationwide. My ‘concerns’ are in fact real life examples of what my law firm’s tax attorneys experience on a daily basis when communicating with the IRS in attempting to resolve the back tax liabilities of American taxpayers.”

“One attorney at my law firm contacted the IRS about a client with a tax liability. This taxpayer-client had previously attempted to resolve their tax liability with the IRS on their own by providing financial information and documentation. However, the IRS failed to follow-up on the taxpayer’s attempts, and instead, six months later, took action to pursue enforced collection action against the taxpayer in the form of an IRS levy on the taxpayer’s wages.”

“In order to get the levy released, our attorney, upon request from the IRS, provided detailed taxpayer financial information. In response, the IRS representative challenged the financials. The IRS representative reviewed the previous financials supplied to the IRS by the taxpayer six months prior. Instead of relying on the up-to-date financial information, the IRS chose the information gathered six months prior because it demonstrated that the taxpayer-client had an ability to pay a larger monthly amount.”

“Luckily for our client, our law firm’s attorney was prepared for this typical IRS tactic. In the six months since the client gave financials, the client had (1) changed jobs, (2) started paying health insurance, and (3) moved. The attorney previously requested documented proof of these events from the taxpayer-client prior to entering negotiations with the IRS. The attorney knew that all of these events dramatically altered the taxpayer-client’s financial situation, on which the IRS bases its IRS levy and monthly payment plan decisions. And yet, because of the prior financials given, our attorney also knew that getting the IRS to accept the new financials would be like “pulling nails” and would, at a minimum, require extensive documentation to prove the change in income and expenses.”

“True to form, the IRS representative refused to budge. Even in the face of a reasonable explanation and extensive documentation (i.e. copy of a new apartment lease with new rate and proof of payment, copy of new paychecks showing health insurance deduction, etc.), the IRS representative refused to believe that a taxpayer’s financial situation could change in a mere six months.”

“In the face of these typical IRS shenanigans, our taxpayer-client was again lucky to have retained our law firm. This is because our attorney knew that he was not getting anywhere and needed to request to speak with the IRS representative’s manager. While this request takes up to 24 hours, it does usually result in the IRS providing a more trained and – generally – more customer service oriented individual for the negotiation. While the attorney did have to re-submit financial information and the documentation to support the changes, in the end, the attorney was able to get our taxpayer-client the resolution he deserved. The IRS representative’s manager accepted the new financials, released the levy on the taxpayer-client’s income, and established a manageable monthly payment plan. The two negotiation attempts did take over an hour apiece, but in the end, we were able to effectively serve the taxpayer-client.”

Millions of people recognize tax attorney Roni Deutch as The Tax Lady. She has been helping taxpayers nationwide resolve their tax liabilities for nearly seventeen years. As an industry leader, she saved her clients tens of millions of dollars and has helped thousands of families settle their back taxes.

Roni Lynn Deutch, A Professional Tax Corporation is the nation’s largest tax resolution law firm and focuses on negotiating with the IRS on their client’s behalf. Since she first opened her law firm it has been Ms. Deutch’s ongoing goal to provide competent and professional services to the millions of innocent taxpayers that find themselves in trouble with the IRS.