ComplaintsforPolston Tax Resolution and Accounting

• Initial Complaint

  03/23/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I hired and paid Polston Tax to correct my 2020 taxes. From the beginning, the communication about my case was limited and there was no follow up to ensure my case was resolved with the **** Fast forward to today and the *** is stating the never received my amended returns that Polston Tax completed. The *** is now seeking $8,000 which includes back taxes and penalties for something I do not owe. Further escalations on this matter has gone nowhere. The have not return my phone calls and have not informed me of any updates of my case

  

  Business response

  04/05/2024

  We appreciate your feedback and the opportunity to address your concerns.
  
  In late July 2022, you retained us to prepare an amended 2020 tax return. Your Engagement Letter clearly states services include only preparing and filing the amended tax return, not legal representation before any tax agency for the balance owed prior to the amendment. We diligently worked on your amendment and completed it the very next month. We notified you multiple times in August 2022 that your amendment was complete and ready for your review and signature. You did not respond to us for 8 months after that. When we finally received the signed amendment back from you, we immediately submitted it for processing to both federal and state tax agencies in May 2023.We also provided tracking numbers to you at that time that prove the amendments were timely received by both the federal and state tax agencies.
  
  Since the pandemic, processing times at tax agencies have grown increasingly long. The *** advises that an amendment can take up to 20 weeks to process, but we commonly see it take longer. As discussed previously,the notices you are receiving are regarding the balance that existed before the amended tax return was filed. That balance will continue to exist until the amended tax return is processed. We have discussed this directly with you and offered for you to retain our legal services to protect you from levies while the amendment processes, but you declined this offer. We also provided you with advice on how to protect yourself and you confirmed you have not done what we advised. We again encourage you to heed our previous advice to protect yourself.
  
  We fully and promptly performed the services for which you retained us. No refund is due. If you are not willing to retain us for additional work that is clearly outside the scope of services and you are unwilling to take our advice on how to help the situation on your own, there is unfortunately nothing further we can do for you.

  Customer response

  04/08/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This company failed to mention their lack of response and the time line where I had to escalate to executive leadership to get a simple response.  Their response doesnt mention that the fact that I have on multiple occasions try to speak with a manager to discuss my concerns.  They are failed to disclose the processing times or length this process takes.  Not to mention the $2,000 that the *********** has already taken, following their amended return.  For me to retain for legal coverage I wouldnt incur additional cost.  

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  

  Business response

  04/09/2024

  We understand you would like clarity on the timeline in your services. We can further address that as well.
  
  You emailed us after business hours on a Friday that you had received tax notices that concerned you. We responded the following Monday morning asking you to provide the notices so we could review and adequately advise you on them. You did not provide the notices at that time. You emailed us two weeks later on a Saturday (replying to the same email in which we requested the notices from you) saying you had not yet received a call about the notices. We reminded you first thing the following Monday morning that you had not provided the notices as requested and we could not advise you on them until we received and reviewed them. Another two weeks later, we finally received the notices from you. Unfortunately, you filed this complaint only a few days later before we had a chance to review and discuss the notices with you.
  
  We then made multiple attempts to call and discuss it with you but you were repeatedly unavailable until last Friday, which is the first conversation in which you requested to speak to a manager. That was also the day we sent our previous response. Therefore, our response would not have mentioned that you requested to speak to a manager multiple times because that isnt true. We will be in touch soon to schedule a call with a manager per your request, but the solutions we can offer are the same as detailed in our previous response.

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I was advised upon retaining the services of this company that once my case was closed there would be no more payments pulled. I was told this information in our first call when explaining their services and then again once I was assigned a case manager. She plainly said once the case is closed I will not be charged. I am now being told that oops she misspoke ok well whose fault is that. And the person before you misspoke. So it took my case manager 5-6 days to tell me oops no refund. If not all of my money at least 50% I am not at all happy with this resolution and I regret contracting your service.

• Initial Complaint

  01/16/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  16 January **** Formal Complaint against: Polston Tax ********************************************* **************************************************************** Dear Sir/Madam:I am filing a consumer complaint against the following company: Polston Tax Resolution this company who contacted me about helping resolve my IRS Tax Debt. I *************************** signed an agreement to pay $400.00 down payment and a monthly fee of $395 in November 2021. Approximately 8 months later a representative by the name of ***** contacted me and apologized that no one had did anything with my case. Per ***** she was going to begin to work on it immediately well that never happened. I have paid them a total of $4,670.00 to date and no IRS tax resolution has been reached. I have had multiple account representatives and each time they apologize and state they are going to be begin work right away, well that has never happened. Each new representative would ask me for additional information which I have always provided. The last representative ********************* contacted me on Tuesday, January 9, ****, with the following proposals. 1. Polston Tax Resolution resolving my case and postponing the monthly fee for 6 months. 2. Cancelling their services and find someone else to represent **** told him I was not paying Polston Tax Resolution another dime and in fact I want a refund for them doing NOTHING!In closing, I would like a refund of all moneys and penalties paid to Polston Tax ********************************************* within 30 days. I am filing a complaint with my local ************************ and the Better Business of ******** and ******** I want a Full Refund and your business closed because of Fraud and False Pretensions.Best regards,*************************** *************************** *****, ** ***** ********************* ************** cc: *********************, Attorney General of ******** ************************************************************* Better Business Bureau Serving ******** ***********, ** *****

  

  Business response

  01/22/2024

  We appreciate your feedback and the opportunity to address your concerns. However, we must correct some statements and fill in important facts you omitted.
  
  We contacted you shortly after retaining us to update you on our research into your *** account. We advised that the *** showed two recent tax returns were still pending, and we discussed the importance of filing compliance. We spent the next several months monitoring your account for the tax returns to process and protecting you from collection action. Following the pandemic peak, the *** was very slow in processing tax returns. Despite this *** delay being outside our control and creating additional work for us, we also knew it was outside your control, and as a courtesy we paused your payments to us for an agreed period.
  
  It took a few months and multiple requests to finally get most of the financial information we needed. You also admitted that you have filed your tax returns as single even though you are legally required to file as married. You stated that you knew this was against the law but did it anyway and would continue to. We advised you to cease and correct it. In the same conversation, you refused to provide financial information of your spouse,which is required by the *** in our negotiation process. This limited our resolution options because most options require household information.
  
  Once we were able to discuss resolution options with you,we discovered that you had failed to file another tax return that had come due,despite our advice multiple times to maintain compliance. By the time you canceled services, we had performed a significant amount of work without the agreed monthly fees. No refund is due, and as you noted, one option we presented was for us to continue working a few more months to allow time for you to prepare to begin the fee again, but you refused.
  
  We truly regret when clients feel the way you do, but there is only so much we can do given the issues detailed above.

• Initial Complaint

  11/29/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I paid $1000 to resolve a tax issue. They arranged a conference call with the tax authority who refused to speak to us because I did not know which of my previous addresses they had on file. The attorney asked me to provide him with a list of other possible previous addresses that could be on file. Which I did the same day in an email. Then I never heard anything back and the company stopped responding to my emails.

  

  Business response

  12/06/2023

  We appreciate the opportunity to address this clients concerns.
  
  First, we have one clarification that the client retained our services to research, analyze, and advise on any tax issue we could discover with his tax account. ********************** of any discovered tax issue was not included in the services retained because we would not have known the work involved until we completed that research and analysis on his account. Accordingly, the agreed fee was for the research and analysis and any further legal services that would have been required subsequently would have been separate.
  
  We regret that he did not receive the timely communication he expected from us, but in the time since he filed this complaint, we have been able to connect with him, schedule and hold another call with the relevant tax agency, and secure the information he retained us obtain. We reviewed and advised him on this information. We are pleased to have served this client by completing his goal in retaining us.

• Initial Complaint

  06/27/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  THEY SETTELED A TAX OWEDTO IRS I RECIEVED ANOTHER BILL I CALLED THEIR OFFICE NW 63 *** LEFT SEVERAL MESSAGES NO ESPONSE THEN CALLED OFFICE IN ***** NO RESPONSE THEY EILL NOT CALL MEV

  

  Business response

  07/03/2023

  **************, we apologize that you did not receive a return call as quickly as you expected.  We have received and reviewed the notices you sent us. The notices indicate that the payment plan we negotiated for you a few years ago is in danger of being terminated due to missed monthly payments on it.  We understand you have also stated that you did not miss any payments. Sometimes this can be due to *** error and sometimes it is due to taxpayer error.  Regardless, the first step would be to re-establish ***** of ********* so we can contact the *** to find out what payments they think are missing and prove they were made if they were in fact made.  We will reach out to you directly to arrange a meeting or phone call to discuss moving forward with the above steps.  Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  05/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Contracted them to help with IRS back tax issues. Paid and never hear from the company except to ask for money or to say after a year and a half we need more documents. As far as I can tell the IRS has never been contacted by the company in nearly 2 years on my behalf.
  

  

  Business response

  06/01/2023

  We appreciate the opportunity to respond to these clients' concerns and clarify the facts.  The clients claim they never heard from us about their case, but that isnt accurate.
  
  We first requested necessary financial documents from the clients via email on 5/20/22. Having received none of the requested documents, we contacted the clients again via phone on 7/11/22, and they confirmed they would provide the requested documents quickly.  We also emailed them again that day to confirm the discussion and the requested items in writing.  On 8/25/22, we received via email a small fraction of the documents requested.  We emailed the clients the same day thanking them for the documents provided but reiterated that several documents were still needed.  We reiterated again on 8/31/22 via phone and email what documents were still needed.  On 9/19/22, we received via email another single document, leaving several documents still outstanding.  Having still not received the documents, we called and emailed the clients on 11/1/22, reminding them again of the documents still needed from them.  We called the clients again on 11/8/22, reminding them of the documents still needed.  At this time, the clients confirmed they would promptly provide the documents.  Having still not received the documents, we emailed the clients again on 3/7/23 requesting the remaining documents for the seventh time.  On 4/17/23, the clients advised they were going to mail the documents to us that day.  We never received the documents.  The clients called to cancel services the following week on 4/24/23.
  
  Per the terms of the clients engagement letter with us, the fees the clients had paid so far in the case were earned in full.  In fact, we provided a few months of free services as a courtesy in effort to work with them.  However, in the spirit of compromise, we are willing to refund $1,000 in the hope of parting ways on better terms.

• Initial Complaint

  05/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 03/13/23, I paid $600 in full to have my 2023 taxes done by this company. I promptly submitted my tax documents to ******************* via the drop box, but did not receive any communication from her. Despite my repeated attempts to contact the company, I was unable to get in touch with anyone until *****, the assigned tax accountant, finally responded. He informed me that he had lost my drop box, which contained my personal information. I found this concerning, but he later located it after two weeks. Unfortunately, my taxes still were not completed, and when I called for an update, I was told that ******* was on vacation for the week. However, ***** was responsible for my tax preparation, and I am still waiting for my taxes to be completed. its now 5/1/23

  

  Business response

  05/04/2023

  We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.  We apologize that you did not receive timely return contact.  That isnt our goal, nor our standard, and we regret that this issue has tarnished your experience with **.
  
  We wanted to also clarify that your documents were not lost at any point.  The Dropbox where you submitted documents cannot be lost as it is a secure cloud storage solution.  We apologize for any misstatement or miscommunication that led you to believe your documents were lost.  We assure you they were not.
  
  Since receiving this complaint, we see that our staff have been in contact with you and your tax preparation is being expedited,pending some additional documentation needed from you.  We have also offered the opportunity for ** to prepare two tax returns for your income-earning dependents for no additional fee.  We hope this helps improve your experience with our firm.  Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  12/30/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In 2012 we hired Polston Tax to help up with our IRS problem. We paid 12,500 for them to intervene and get an OIC for us. After getting them all the information they requested we would wait, hoping they were doing what they said they would do. We wouldn't hear anything for months so I would finally call and I would either get, oh by the way we need this or that, or I'd get, these things take time. Finally in 2016 the first OIC is submitted. By the way, I was advised not to pay the minimal IRS taxes owed for 2015 or the various state taxes because they were all going to be a part of the OIC. The OIC was rejected because someone forgot to submit some of the paperwork required. So now the process starts all over. Through all of this there is no communication from Polston, not even when new people are assigned to our case. I didn't even find out when our lawyers changed 3 times! To make a long story short, it is now 10 years of fear and frustration later and 3 failed OIC'S. So what do we get from Polston? Oh sorry, you are just going to have to pay the 110k we couldn't get an OIC for plus another 200k in penalties and interest from the past 10 years for the IRS, plus the taxes and intrest from the state taxes. In 2017 our parents bought us a place which we fixed up and then took advantage of the high market and sold it last June. After paying our parents back we were so fortunate to have enough to pay the IRS 309,000 to get them off our back no thanks to Polston Tax. They did refile a couple of the years they legally could so we got some of it back but Polston so far is refusing to pay the penalties and interest on the state taxes they were holding all this time that amount to 2496.20 and 6475.09 for 2011 and 2010 taxes. A couple of times throughout the 10 years I checked out the BBB comments and they put me in a panic because we were experiencing the same things the people were complaining about. Polston, your lawyers really messed up so please make it right.

  

  Business response

  01/05/2023

  Prior to this complaint, we don’t have any record of the client requesting reimbursement of penalties or interest on her state taxes, and we did not refuse to work with her on an equitable arrangement. We will reach out directly to discuss these details further. We hope these discussions can allow us to work with the client to help get the penalties & interest waived, and if not, assist in paying a fair portion of the amount based on the circumstances. However, we also need to address some of her other statements.
  
  To the client’s claim that she was advised not to pay her state taxes because they would be included in the IRS Offer in Compromise (OIC), she was advised the opposite of that. A relevant excerpt of an email sent to her on 10/13/2016 at 3:23 pm states: “On the state tax return, yes if you can afford to do so please pay it.” The client’s reply the same day: “I will send off the state taxes only.”
  
  The first OIC submitted was rejected in error by the IRS. The 2012 tax return had been filed prior to the OIC submission, but the tax return took much longer than usual to process. The IRS incorrectly rejected the OIC allegedly for the missing 2012 tax return and though we advised them the return had already been filed and was processing, the IRS refused to reopen the OIC so we resubmitted once the tax return had processed. The subsequent OIC attempts were frustrated by the client’s aforementioned gift of real property from her parents. OICs are contingent on an inability to pay, and this significant equity property materially changed her financial situation. We advocated as best we could, but this was a sticking point with the IRS.
  
  Due to the many roles needed in a typical case, we advise our clients that they can expect to work with multiple individuals during their case. In reviewing the case history, it’s clear that the client was promptly notified and contacted by any staff reassigned to her case as needed. We must disagree with the client on that point.

• Initial Complaint

  12/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I secured polston tax resolution to help me with my *** problems in early 2021. They initially contacted the *** and got some things resolved but didn't reduce my debt. After that they switched personnel on me and didn't tell me, made no progress for months and kept charging my credit card. I complained and they gave me 3 months without charging me but still made no progress. Over 12 months after I had secured their services I contacted the *** and they had not been contacted for ************************************************************** refund my money. They decided to cancel my contract. It cost me almost $4,000 and that doesn't include the penalties and interest the *** is levying against the debt I still owe. After that it took them a couple months to review the case and they decided I did not deserve a refund. So I asked him for a summary of work completed, after another month or so they come up with a page of excuses blaming me for why they hadn't been able to move the case ahead. At that point I asked them for my information to be returned to me it took them over a month to do that. The first time they sent a certified letter and it didn't get to me. The second time they sent a flimsy envelope and the flash drive fell out with all my information before it reached me. So I went down there personally and got my information and never got so much as an apology. I assume blatant encompetence is there standard mode of operation because they never acted like it was anything out of the ordinary or tried to make it right.They send out flyers in the mail telling how amazing they are at resolving tax issues. But they can't even seem to answer the phone or emails for their customers once they get them on the hook.

  

  Business response

  12/08/2022

  We appreciate the opportunity to address this former clients complaint and clarify information he omitted from his description of events.
  
  Client retained us to see penalty abatements from the *** allegedly due to his former CPAs negligence in filing his returns late. After a significant amount of time working under this premise, Client admitted to us that the returns were filed late due to him providing tax documents late to his CPA for the years in question. Obviously, this is entirely different and significantly dampens his grounds to request a penalty abatement. Even with the complete change of facts, penalty abatement was not impossible, so we requested information from him to proceed. He repeatedly failed, and at times directly refused, to provide the necessary information.
  
  Due to his repeated non-compliance with standard document requests and false statements for the premise of the penalty abatement request,we elected to terminate services and evaluate a refund of any unearned fees.Client agreed We reviewed the case notes and provided the client with a thorough summary of work performed. He describes it here as a page of excuses blaming [him], but it was three pages comprising an extensive list of actions we had taken on his behalf in furtherance of the services he had retained us to perform. We accurately advised him that according to the work performed and the terms of his Engagement Letter the fees paid to date had been fully earned and no refund was due.
  
  Client also seems to claim we are to blame for the ************* ************** losing or destroying mail in transit. We would like to assure him that we do not have any such control over USPS.
  
  Clients desired settlement is for us to stop advertising our skill and success in resolving tax issues. These advertisements will continue as they are a true reflection of what we can accomplish for any client who does not try to deceive us and provides simple documentation upon request.

• Initial Complaint

  12/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I hired Polston Tax to do an offer and compromise with the **** They charged me $5050 to do a payment plan I could have done myself. They asked me to provide tax documents. I was very sick. I didn&#**;t ever provide the tax documents, because I didnn&#**;t know how to get them, and no one from Polston&#**;s office would call me back OR ever proactively reached out to say they needed them. Finally, after months of paying them all this money, they come back and say that they can just get me on a payment plan and they don&#**;t need any financial documents. I am now on that payment plan, and I found out how much they ripped me off when they "attempted" to do my 2021 taxes. ************************* told me on November 4th I could just add the amount owed for 2021 to the other amount I owe. He said that is the kind of thing someone could set up on their own. So I said, why did I pay you $5650 if I could have done it myself? He started ************, saying things about my mental health, etc. He said, "I&#**;m just trying to save you from wasting anymore money." I said, "are you trying to tell me not to hire any lawyer but you?" He said, no, that he is my friend, that I didn&#**;t need a lawyer at all for this. They didn&#**;t do anything eccept collect money for a full year. In all the paperwork they gave me, it&#**;s all before 2021. They can&#**;t show me how they used my $5650. I asked them for a detailed list of how it was spent. They never gave it to me. Based on this and them messing up my taxes and missing the deadlines twice, I want every ***** back I have paid them. I will need it to get out of this mess. *********************** also told me NOT to complain to the **** association because "they can&#**;t compel us to pay." That&#**;s how my "advocate" treated me. They didn&#**;t advocate for me. That would have involved contacting me. All the paperwork they gave me to support this is from 2018. They did NOTHING for me that I couldn&#**;t have done CORRECTLY myself.I hired Polston Tax to file my taxes for 2021. I paid them $600 via ACH on 2.28.22. In August, I realzied they hadn&#**;t been filed. I was told "we will get you everything you need before the extention date." I have that in writing, in an email. They missed the first tax deadline of **** and when I called again on 10.27.2022, I found out they missed the deadline then, too. They processed my taxes with the Federal Transcripts in two days and they never gave me a copy of the taxes. I had a meeting with them where they said they won&#**; t ever speak to me again and "we are done." Well, they have to provide me what I paid for. And, now that they missed both deadlines, and I supposedly owe, they ALSO have caused me penalties and fees starting from ****.2022. I hired them in good faith and in good faith they did nothing for me. In the meeting we had, they said that they informed me they needed paperwork from me via their internal tool called "canopy" but they also knew that I hadn&#**;t logged into canopy in 8 months. I only logged in once. I was unaware on how to use it and I was suffering with extrememe Chronic PTSD. Instead of being my advocate and calling me or reaching out or doing anything - they just sent messages to the canopy thing that I didn&#**;t know how to use. They claimed they didn&#**;t owe me a refund because they did the taxes. YEAH, after they missed all the deadlines and they didn&#**;t even give me a copy!!! They need to refund me the $600 I paid them AND ALL OF THE **** I have accrured since ****.22. I have a separate complaint I am making about them because they have not only ripped me off once, but twice. I only hired them again because I was assured personal attention and no mistakes. This is their "personal atttention." They even sent me bible verses saying that everything would work out fine. It did not work out fine. They even disparaged me on their ****** reveiews and called me a liar.

  

  Business response

  12/07/2022

  Comment added by BBB staff member PNN..

   

  We appreciate the opportunity to clarify and correct this clients concerns and statements.

   

  Client did not retain our services to do a payment plan. They retained us to investigate and review all possible resolution options based on their financial information, upon which most tax resolutions are based. We performed the detailed financial analysis, but the client had secured more gainful employment after retaining our services and stated they were much more comfortable financially.  Based on their ability to pay, the client agreed with the payment plan resolution.

   

  We completed the paperwork for the payment plan and sent it to the client for review, banking info, and signature. The client wrote their banking info on the form, signed, dated, and returned it. We submitted it properly to the *** for processing. The client was later notified by the *** that the payments were not drafting because their phone number was entered as the bank account number. Without inquiry or merit, the client accused us of making this error. We explained that the client filled out the banking info themselves and we submitted that to the ***, so the error had to be on the *** end when they input the details into their system. Despite this being explained and documented for the client, they still somehow believe we created the error in the *** system.

   

  The conversation with one of our employees on 11/4/22 is both misleading and misstated. Despite the work performed, the client was demanding a refund because they claimed they would have to hire another firm to fix the payment plan, which they still blamed us for despite the cause being explained. Our employee was advising that hiring another firm was unnecessary because we were offering to help correct the ***s error and re-establish the payment plan. When the client said they would not accept our help, our employee offered to instruct on how to try to update the banking info for the payment plan through the *** website. The client now twists this to mean we said they did not need an attorney for the services we performed for them. The service we performed was investigation, research, financial analysis, and tax resolution, not this final clerical step the client is referring to. Further, our employee in no way told the client not to complain to the **************** The client stated they would go to the bar to get their money back from us. Our employee accurately advised that filing a complaint is up to the client but they should be aware that the Bar cannot compel refunds and the Bar does not engage in fee disputes for clients.

   

  The client also addresses our tax return preparation services, which we are also happy to clarify several facts omitted in the complaint. We requested tax preparation documents from the client on 2/28/22 via our secure client portal. We left a voicemail and emailed them on 3/2/22 to ensure they received the request. Having not received the documents, we sent the request again via the portal on 4/14/22 and filed an extension for the clients tax return. On 5/5/22, the client confirmed via email that they had received the requests and would provide the tax preparation documents and let us know if they had any issues with the requests. Almost 4 months later, the client asked for a status update and we sent the request via the client portal for a third time. We emailed the client on 9/1/22 to notify them about this third request for documents and it appears there was a typo in the email address and the email was not sent. We regret this error; however, the request was still refreshed in the client portal, which the client had previously accessed after retaining our services. Once the client provided the documents after the October filing deadline, we prepared the tax return within a few days.

   

  The completed tax return was offered multiple times to the client and they refused it. Seeing that they have changed their mind and now want a copy, we are happy to provide it. However, we will not refund fees for services already completed.

  Customer response

  12/07/2022

  They didn't do any detailed financial analysis in 2021 - 2022 because they said they never got any forms. They didn't file my taxes on time. The only communication they provided is detailed in the November 30th email. I need to know how that adds up to paying $5,650. I have asked for it and they can't show me. They missed all tax deadlines. I want a refund because they abandonded me and forgoteen me again, by their own admission, they didn't contact me AT ALL for four months. 

  

  Business response

  12/12/2022

  The client is correct that we did not receive the new financial information we requested multiple times. Despite that, we thoroughly reviewed the previous documentation the client provided in conjunction with the additional information the client verbally relayed to us about a large cash settlement to be received as well as new employment with significantly better wages. With this information and the clients reluctance to provide the requested financial updates, we let the client know of a resolution we could negotiate with the *** without providing current financial information. The client reviewed the terms and advised they wanted us to pursue that resolution, which we then established with the ***.
  
  We missed no tax deadlines. In fact, as detailed in our previous response, we requested tax documentation multiple times, filed an extension in April to give the client as much time as possible to provide documentation,and followed up again for documentation. Once the tax documents were finally provided, we prepared the tax return within a few days. The missed October deadline was solely in the control of the client. Not only had we requested the information from the client, but also they had affirmatively notified us that they would provide the information to us and let us know if they had any issues in doing so.
  
  The client claims to not understand how the fees were earned. We are happy to repeat our previous explanation in more detail. The services were fully completed. The client retained us to negotiate an *** tax resolution.  We completed that as previously described and even offered to assist the client as a courtesy when it was discovered that the *** input the agreement incorrectly. The client also retained us to prepare a 2021 tax return.  We diligently requested necessary information for that work and when finally provided we quickly prepared the return for the client.  The fees were earned because the retained services were completed in full.

  Customer response

  12/12/2022

  Polston wont answer my questions or provide me with proof of billable hours. They keep saying no documentation was provided, but then they say in their last response despite that, we thoroughly reviewed the previous documentation the client provided what documentation is that? If they mean the documents from the first time I hired them, in 2016, none of that information is applicable to me anymore. It continues in conjunction with the additional information the client verbally related to us about a large cash settlement as well as better wages; how can extensive financial analysis be done verbally? The recap of our conversations (email from *****) details that they sent 4 emails in total. The binder that they gave me to support all the work they supposedly did only has papers from 2018. Theres nothing from 2021 or 2022. Polston also said, we diligently requested information for that work and when finally provided we quickly prepared the return for the client. Thats NOT TRUE. Even they admit I didnt provide them with any documents! What actually happened was on 10.27.2022, I started panicking realizing that they didnt contact me with the necessary information before the deadline, like ****** promises he would in the email attached from August 30th. This is what he says Yes, we file a 2021 extension but still need to get you the tax return for our office to submit for processing. We will get that to you before the filing deadline.Even with what he says, somehow Polston still says its my fault! He even referenced a Bible verse about how its all going to work out! ****** then said he could do my taxes based on federal transcripts. Why could he not have done that back in April then?
  All I want is a detailed explanation of billable hours, and whatever they cant reconcile for I want to be refunded. I also want the fees refunded for the taxes because they didnt do them on time like they were supposed to, and I still havent received a copy of them.

  

  Business response

  12/21/2022

  Both in our responses to this complaint and directly with the client prior to this complaint, we have answered the clients many questions. They just do not like the answers. Regardless, we will repeat some of them here one final time.
  
  We do not bill hourly. For back tax resolution, the client was charged a monthly fee for the duration of the case until it was completed.In fact, as a courtesy, we stopped billing at the end of 2021 and continued working for several more months to resolve the case. For the tax return preparation, the client was charged a flat fee. The proof of work and fees earned is the fact that the case was resolved and the tax return was completed,which the client has already acknowledged.
  
  The financial analysis can only include information the client provides. In this case, the client provided financial information in 2018 from previous representation. They neglected or refused to provide updated information despite multiple requests. Knowing the previous information would not be fully accurate to the clients current situation, we spoke with them verbally about changes to their situation since the date of their previous financial information. Our analysis included every possible consideration within the bounds of what the client was willing to provide.
  
  Any statements or commitments to file a tax return timely is always contingent on cooperation from the client in providing necessary information. After requesting this information multiple times over the course of 9 months, the client asked us to just use IRS income transcripts to complete the return. We do not typically recommend this unless the client has no documentation to provide because it cannot account for all the deductions a client is likely eligible to claim. Regardless, the client requested we proceed this way, and we completed the return quickly as previously explained.
  
  We wish the client felt differently, but we have explained in every way we can that no refund is due.

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