Optima Tax Relief LLC

SUMMARY -Optima Tax's management made multiple attempts to contact the client to address his concerns, but he has been unresponsive.  RESPONSE -Prior to the client filing his complaint with the Revdex.com, Optima Tax Relief’s management made contact with the client in order to...

address his refund request, his concerns regarding his case, as well as options we were able to present him. Unfortunately before we had an opportunity to discuss all of these matters, he abruptly ended the call. Thereafter, the client became non-responsive to the many attempts we’ve made to contact him. Contrary to the client’s allegations, Optima Tax immediately went to work upon the client engaging our services. Unfortunately, the IRS has placed a Revenue Officer on the client’s case, which means it’s in the highest level of collections. As such, our staff immediately made multiple attempts to reach the Revenue Officer so that we could prevent any collection activity. However, the Revenue Officer proved to be unresponsive to all of our attempts. We are disappointed that the client feels as though we have not performed a service for him. We will continue our efforts in making contact with the client to explain the actions we have taken and more importantly, come to a mutual resolve.  At Optima Tax we strive to uphold the philosophy that "clients come first" and all of our representatives go through rigorous training to assure we abide by that philosophy. We take all complaints very seriously, and we do our best to turn them around when possible. Optima Tax believes it has made sufficient amount of attempts to address the client's concerns appropriately. We are hopeful that the client will respond to us and that when he does, we can resolve this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact Optima Tax with any questions. Thank you.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
As Optima Tax Relief has stated, they did call me on February 19th. They discussed what had been done this far in my case and I requested a written outline, which was never provided by Optima Tax Relief. Further more, I emailed with Tax Associate [redacted], and have an email where she states that the services were not completed and could not be completed without beginning Phase 2, which would cost me $1995.When asked once again for the outline, I was prompted for payment and sent detailed instructions of how Optima Tax Relief accepts payment.  To this day, I have still not received the "outline" as requested almost 2 months ago.  Furthermore, when attempting to contact Executive Relations Specialist Alexandria Duarte, I have been sent to voicemail almost 15 times and have not received a response from her as far as the time stated in my last email that I am available for a phone conversation nor to my questions that I have regarding my account with Optima.
Regards,
[redacted]

SUMMARY -
Optima...

Tax's management has made multiple attempts to contact
the client with no success.
 
RESPONSE
-
Optima Tax’s management has made multiple attempts to contact
the client both verbally and electronically via email. Unfortunately, the
client has yet to respond. Based on our review of the client’s records, communication
with the client has been an ongoing issue on this matter. Prior to receiving
the complaint, the client’s assigned Case Manager had made multiple attempts to
reach her via phone and email to obtain financial documents, however, no
response were given by the client. Such issue has been thoroughly documented
and could be provided upon request. Understandably so, the issue has severely limited
our ability to provide our services.
 
The
client contends that she had requested a new Case Manager twice but we
respectfully disagree as there is no evidence of this request yet.  On the contrary, after months of not
receiving a response from the client, we received an email to her Case Manager
claiming that she had previously made the request to have a new representative
assigned to her case. Immediately after receiving that email, the assigned Case
Manager’s supervisor attempted to contact the client address any concerns. A
message was left and an email was sent requesting a call back to discuss her
file, however, there was yet again no response from the client. Based on client’s
inability to respond to any of our emails and or phone messages, a 3 day
suspension email was sent to the client per Optima Tax’s policy. Our Client
Services Agreement (“Agreement”) clearly states that any and all requested
documents must be sent in within 10 business days of the request. Also per the
Agreement, Optima Tax has authorization to terminate the agreement if the
client is found in breach of contract. We believe we have given the client
multiple opportunities to provide us with the requested documents, yet with no
success. Despite our best efforts and against our hopes of resolving this
matter amicably, it appears the client is unwilling to return any of our
messages and we have no choice but to consider this matter closed.
 
At Optima
Tax we strive to uphold the philosophy that "clients come first" and
all of our representatives go through rigorous training to assure we abide by
that philosophy. We take all complaints very seriously, and we do our best to
turn them around when possible. Optima Tax believes it has addressed the
client's concerns appropriately and considers the matter closed. Please do not
hesitate to contact Optima Tax with any questions. Thank you.

SUMMARY -
Optima...

Tax's management has been in contact with the client and
we are continuing to work on achieving an amicable resolution.
 
RESPONSE
-
Optima Tax’s management has been in communication with the
client to address his concerns as outlined in the complaint. Upon the client’s enrollment
into our Resolution Phase, the first order of business that Optima Tax
conducted was to bring the client into full filing compliance with both the
State Franchise Tax Board and the IRS. Neither the Franchise Tax Board nor the
IRS will engage in resolution discussions 
until the tax payer is in full filing compliance. Therefore, preparation
and submission of the client’s Tax Returns was imperative to our ability to
successfully represent the client’s interest.
 
Once the
client made his initial down payment towards our resolution fees, Optima Tax immediately
began to work his case. Our Tax Preparation Team immediately obtained from the client
the necessary tax documents and then successfully prepared his returns for three
tax years. After the client reviewed and signed the returns they were
immediately sent to both the IRS and the Franchise Tax Board. Now that we have
placed the client in filing compliance, once we receive confirmation that the
returns have been processed, we can works towards resolving both balances as a
whole.
 
After further
informing the client on this process, he appreciated the information and
clarity but continued to express concern with the lack of communication. After thoroughly
reviewing the file notes we believe that there may have been a misunderstanding
regarding the enforcement document the client is referring to. Anytime a client
receives any intent notice, our staff immediately responds in an effort to
negotiate a stay of enforcement. We are ecstatic that the client’s current
representative was able to negotiate a stay of enforcement. However, it is truly
disappointing that there was a misunderstanding regarding the document because
we would have been able to successfully negotiate a stay of enforcement on the
client’s behalf.
 
Although
we have the utmost confidence that we can complete our contractual obligations,
the client has decided to go in a different direction. In an effort to resolve
this matter mutually, we provided the client with some options to help resolve
this unfortunate matter and we are currently waiting on his response. We
believe that the options will help us part ways amicably.
 
At Optima
Tax, we strive to uphold the philosophy that "clients come first" and
all of our representatives go through
rigorous training to assure we abide by that philosophy. We take all complaints
very seriously, and we do our best to turn them around when possible. Optima Tax believes it has addressed the client's
concerns appropriately and will continue to work with the client until we come
to a final resolve. Please do not hesitate to contact Optima Tax with any
questions. Thank you.

It’s unfortunate that the client does not accept our initial response however; we also understand that there can be a difference of opinion. While most clients feel that it may take a single phone call or two to resolve their tax issues, with the complexity of the client’s case it was imperative that we present a full and complete case to the IRS in an effort to negotiate a final resolve.   While we understand that certain documents may have been inaccessible to the client, it is imperative that we have all supporting documentation in order to present the IRS with a full and complete financial packet to help resolve the client's case. Although the client does not have access to the requested documents, we believe that we can still do our best to resolve his case. We believe that the options we will present to the client will ultimately resolve their concerns and more importantly, will resolve his case.

SUMMARY -
Optima Tax immediately reached out...

to the client upon receiving
the BCA complaint and addressed his concerns accordingly.
 
RESPONSE -
Optima Tax’s management made contact with
the client regarding his claim as outlined in the complaint. Although the client
felt as though his questions were not being fully answered, once we explained the
details of our process and the manners in which we answer all of our clients’
specific questions, we were able to ease his frustration.  To assist the client further, we thoroughly
answered all of his questions and concerns to his satisfaction. Accordingly, after
reaching out to the client and addressing his questions the client is satisfied
with the outcome and considers this matter closed.
 
At Optima
Tax we strive to uphold the philosophy that "clients come first" and
all of our representatives go through rigorous training to assure we abide by
that philosophy. We take all complaints very seriously, and we do our best to
turn them around when possible. Optima Tax believes it
has addressed the client's concerns appropriately and considers the matter
closed. Please do not hesitate to
contact Optima Tax with any
questions. Thank you.

SUMMARY - Optima Tax's management has been in contact...

and confirmed the client’s case was cancelled within the cancellation period and any payments would be returned to her account.   RESPONSE - Optima Tax’s management has reached out to the client and left a detailed message that her funds were returned the very next day. We also stated that because it’s an electronic transfer the funds may not appear immediately in her account. Per a returned message, the client confirmed that she has the funds and contacted the Revdex.com to confirm that it has been resolved.   At Optima Tax we strive to uphold the philosophy that "clients come first" and all of our representatives go through rigorous training to assure we abide by that philosophy. Optima Tax believes it has addressed the client's concerns appropriately and considers the matter closed. Please do not hesitate to contact Optima Tax with any questions. Thank you.

SUMMARY - Optima Tax's management is currently in communication with the client and we’re working towards a mutual resolve.   RESPONSE - Optima Tax’s management has been in contact with the client to address the client’s concerns outlined in the complaint. As the client stated, they had an...

outstanding liability with the IRS that needed to be addressed. Optima Tax offers its services in a two phase approach. Phase One, being the Investigation Phase, and Phase Two, being the Resolution Phase and each phase requires a separate fee for services, if the client elects to enroll into Resolution Phase.   Prior to commencing the initial phase, the Investigation Phase, the client went through a voice recorded Verification Call. During this call, the client is provided a set of legal and contractual disclosures, and each disclosure requires the client’s affirmative confirmation that they understand before moving forward with the call. One of the disclosures covers, in detail, that there is a second phase that will require an additional cost if they decide to move forward with the Resolution Phase. After reviewing the voice recorded Verification call, all disclosures were presented to the client and the client provided a “yes” answer to all legal disclosures. The client also provided a level 8 to 9 rating as to their level of understanding of the disclosures, with 10 being the highest rating a client can give.   At the conclusion of our Investigation, the client was presented with our findings, our formulated strategy to help resolve the case, and the costs associated with the services. Those services included, but are not limited to, IRS Collection Representation, IRS Compliance, and establishing a Non-Collectable Status or an Installment Agreement, depending upon the client’s ultimate financial state in connection with the overall tax liability. At no point did we promise, guarantee or insinuate that we would get the client out of debt.   To further confirm that the client was not guaranteed that Optima Tax would reduce the client’s tax liability, the client went through a second voice recorded Verification Call for the Resolution Phase. Just like the Investigation Phase, the client is provided a list of legal and contractual disclosures with each disclosure requiring a “yes” answer before moving forward. After reviewing the call the client did answer “yes” to all legal and contractual disclosures and gave us a 10 rating to their level of understanding to the Resolution Services.   The client’s statement that Optima Tax could not fix his tax liability is inaccurate. In fact, Optima Tax fulfilled their contractual obligations and obtained the tax resolution originally stated in the Addendum to the Client Service Agreement. It’s unfortunate that the client feels the services weren’t to their satisfaction; however, we can say with the utmost confidence that we diligently provided all the services, which the client engaged us to perform. More importantly, we resolved the client’s case as outlined in the agreement.    At Optima Tax we strive to uphold the philosophy that "clients come first" and all of our representatives go through rigorous training to assure we abide by that philosophy. We take all complaints very seriously, and we do our best to turn them around when possible. Optima Tax believes it has addressed the client's concerns appropriately and considers the matter closed. Please do not hesitate to contact Optima Tax with any questions. Thank you.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Regards,
[redacted]
I do not accept the reason given by optima. Also, we were told that direct debit would be used for us to submit our payments. We were late with our final payment to them. The rep told us that Optima could further lower the payments under the $175 a month for the final phase of the analysis. The plan In March was never finalized with the IRS. Even if I defaulted on the payment in March 2016, the automatic payments should have started April or May of 2016. They never did. The optima rep never sent out banking information to the IRS so no payments went to the IRS. My wife then called the IRS and made an arrangement for $231 a month. Optima Tax had nothing to with that arrangement. That was a lie by the made by a Mr. Leon. He was the last rep we dealt with. For them to offer us a $350 refund doesn't justify keeping $2,930 of our money to alleviate this financial burden. I consider this matter closed as optima would never admit any wrongdoing. My complaint will still stand. I hope others don't get duped and ripped off like we did.

The US Governent said I owed them $163,000+ in taxes. With Optima Tax Reliefs assistance we made an offer in compromise of $100 and it was accepted. I feel the $13,000 paid to Optima to achieve this end was worth every penny. I would use them again and would recommend anyone with IRS problems use them as well.I am very well satisfied with their professionalism and friendly help.
Sincerely
Ronny Q [redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.While they processed the refund in a timely fashion I disagree that I did not give them time to send me the paperwork necessary to go to Phase 2. 
Regards,
[redacted]

SUMMARY - Optima Tax's management has been in contact with the client and we are working towards a mutual resolve.   RESPONSE - Optima Tax’s management has been in communication with the client to address his concerns as outlined in the complaint. As the client stated, he hired Optima Tax for...

representation as he was being audited for a specific year. Our internal Audit Team reviewed all the documentation the client provided regarding the Audit. Based off our analysis, the client had already received credit. Furthermore, the client signed off on the Audit report accepting full responsibility for the outstanding liability.   Once we completed our Audit Review the client was transferred to our Resolution Team. As outlined in the agreement, the next step would be to negotiate a favorable payment plan that was affordable for the client and satisfies the IRS so they refrain from initiating additional action to collect on the client's outstanding liability. This includes but not limited to, protecting any potential assets from seizure or having the client liquidate said assets to satisfy the outstanding balance. The payment plan was negotiated on behalf of the client and agreed upon by the IRS on February 5, 2016.   Unfortunately, during the process of coming to a final resolve on the case the client did receive a bank levy. What the client failed to state in his complaint is that Optima Tax was successful in releasing most of the funds the IRS took during this levy. Given the severity of the liability, the IRS does have the legal right to issue enforcement action regardless of our representation.   We can sympathize with the client regarding their concerns with communication however; based off the complexity of his case communication was consistent and the client was thoroughly informed that the audit review process was lengthy and time consuming. There were also certain delays on the review as we did not have the full audit report on file.   At Optima Tax we strive to uphold the philosophy that "clients come first" and all of our representatives go through rigorous training to assure we abide by that philosophy. We take all complaints very seriously, and we do our best to turn them around when possible. Optima Tax believes it has addressed the client's concerns appropriately and will continue to reach out to the client until we come to a final resolve. Please do not hesitate to contact Optima Tax with any questions. Thank you.

SUMMARY -
Optima Tax's management made contact with the client to discuss
his concerns as...

outlined in the complaint. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear
from the client and we are awaiting his response.
 
RESPONSE
-
Optima Tax’s management has attempted to contact the client to
discuss his allegations as outlined in the complaint but he has yet to return
any calls or emails. Although it’s unfortunate he had experienced the
frustrations as he described, we made multiple attempts prior to receiving the
complaint to address his concern. Unfortunately the client never responded to
those attempts. It is regrettable that the client was having issues with faxes,
however, although we receive a large amount of faxes daily, there has not been
any indication that there was a problem with our faxes. If the client had
returned our initial phone calls we could have better ascertained the issue and
possibly forward it to our Information Technology team to fix any technical issues.
In light of client’s nonresponsiveness, however, we have no choice but to close
this case per his request but we will continue to make contact with the client
to address his concerns.
 
At Optima Tax we strive to uphold the philosophy that
"clients come first" and all of our representatives go through rigorous training to assure we abide by that
philosophy. We take all complaints very seriously, and we do our best to turn
them around when possible. We will continue our efforts in reaching the client.
Thank you.

Not knowing what to expect,calling optima, talking with their respersentive who explain how things would work, Now I'm satified with the result,moving on with life. Thanks.
Wonderful job

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
As you can see from their response, I never spoke to a CPA or tax professional. I also am sad that a company we are supposed to trust with very important issues would lie in their statement that we never turned in all the required paperwork. we definitely turned in ALL documents needed in order to work on our file. The only work they did for us was file tax returns which took them 6 months. Their responses have not been answered accurately which is not surprising. When I was quoted a price to resolve our situation they only asked a few questions and in the end they charged me based upon the amount of taxes owed. We will continue our efforts to get our money back.
Regards,
[redacted]

The
client is correct in stating that our initial Phase, the Investigation Phase,
was to cost $995.00. However, he also agreed and understood, both in writing as
well as verbally, that there would be an additional retainer if he chose to
move forward with our Resolution Phase. We feel that if he was truly misled he
would not have enrolled into our Resolution Phase and paid the secondary
retainer. Despite our best efforts to come to a mutual understanding, by
providing the client with multiple options to resolve this unfortunate dispute,
the client has ultimately refused to cooperate. Transparency is very important
to us at Optima Tax, which is precisely why all documentation, including our
Client Services Agreement, is presented and agreed to by our clients before we
begin our services. Moreover, this is why each and every one of our clients
goes through a detailed Verification
Call that covers all disclosures, to which they understand and agree. In our
Agreement and our Verification Call we inform the client that we cannot
guarantee any specific outcome or reduction in the overall tax liability.
Again, the client confirmed and understood the services he signed up for. As
stated in our initial response, we can provide both the Client Services
Agreement and the Verification Call to confirm the client understood there
would be an additional fee as well as the overall scope of our services.

Using Optima Tax Relief was one of the best experiences I've ever had. They were always professional, informative, and clear with helping us in our time of need. We were behind in our taxes for 7 years. Working with this company was worth the money we paid. We are now able to sleep at night and we don't have to worry about losing our possessions anymore. We will pay a comfortable amount to the IRS each month and feel at ease for the next few years.
Thank you OTR for all you've done to help us in our time of need.
[redacted] and [redacted] Haynes

I would give zero stars if I could. The entire process was an absolute joke. We were desperate. I effed up on our taxes, I get it. I don't blame Optima for my crisis. What I do blame them for is their inability to come through and the amount of time it took them to not come through. I'll save you my sob story...3 years later they said I needed to come up with a $15K cash payment immediately and sign up for an $850/mo installment agreement or I was going to tax lien. After 3 years of getting jerked around I was done, and I mean TOTALLY jerked around; not just a little...a lot. Multiple case managers, high employee turnover, lost messages, no return calls, always someone knew calling who had to "check with someone else and get back to me". TOTAL waste of time and money. I went directly to the IRS for help and I was able to get a better deal by spending 4 hours in the office and $ZERO$ dollars. The person that helped me said they see this all of the time and he said Optima is a scam and he wishes more people would just come directly to the IRS for assistance. I agree completely - this company is a scam. If you owe...PAY. No one has a magic wand to erase your debt. They can't do anything that you can't do on your own. The difference is $4500 to have them jerk you around and give you false hope for three years while YOU incur penalties and interest. HEED MY WARNING...I learned the hard way.

SUMMARY
Optima Tax's management immediately reached out to the client
to discuss his concerns...

outlined in the complaint. Despite client’s initial dissatisfaction,
Optima Tax was able to successfully address his concerns and as a result, he
has decided to continue working with us. .
 
RESPONSE
-
Optima Tax’s management made contact with the client upon
receiving the Revdex.com notification. Unfortunately, the client’s
allegations in his complaint seem to have been misplaced given the current signed
agreement as well as our voice recorded verification call data. Both the
agreement and the verification call confirm that the client contracted with
Optima Tax for Collection Representation and IRS Compliance only. Although
Optima Tax is confident that it has fulfilled all of its contractual
obligations, our management presented the client with another option that may
help with his overall balance. Furthermore, as a courtesy, the team assigned to
the client’s file reestablished an affordable Installment Agreement. The client
has expressed his gratitude and confirmed that this satisfies all his concerns.
 
At Optima
Tax we strive to uphold the philosophy that "clients come first" and
all of our representatives go through rigorous training to assure we abide by
that philosophy. We take all complaints very seriously, and we do our best to
turn them around when possible. Optima Tax believes it has addressed the
client's concerns appropriately and considers the matter closed.
Please do
not hesitate to contact Optima Tax with any questions. Thank you.

[redacted]. was my agent, and I truly could not have asked for a more helpful or friendly person. She worked with me and stayed in touch through out the entire process. Extremely helpful in every aspect. I had no idea what I
was getting into. They resolved my tax issue at a fraction of what was owed and helped clarify what was actually owed lifting a huge weight off my shoulders. Thanks to the team at Optima. Michael L.