Many tax relief companies offer genuine help to consumers with IRS problems who need honest tax debt relief. Unfortunately, many of the larger IRS tax debt relief companies offer questionable promises to gain sales. Please shop around! Don't lose hope.

Here are some tips:

Most big tax relief companies have a paid sales staff on commission to answer IRS problems on the phone or to reply to the internet forms on their websites. While this does not necessarily make them dishonest, it does establish someone in "the middle" that not necessarily qualified to evaluate your problem, and is paid on commission, which drives up the price.

The consumer is already in money trouble, and should think twice before potentially losing even more money by hiring the wrong tax relief companyto solve IRS problems.

Here are two promises used by commissioned sales people to drive up the price of tax debt relief and "close" deals:

Promise #1: We can settle your tax debt for far less than you owe.

The sad truth is that this is typically an empty promise made by sales people. They make it sound like everyone can reach a settlement with the IRS when in fact, very few people do. What they don't say is that you need to QUALIFY to the IRS to be an Offer in Compromise candidate based on your history. Most people are not, in fact qualified for an Offer In Compromise. Some tax debt relief companies will accept your money without a qualified assessment of your situation.

Promise #2: We can eliminate IRS penalties and interest charges.

The IRS asserts a variety of penalties. If it were as easy to have the penalties erased as these companies say, then there would be no reason for the IRS to have the penalties at all. The request for penalty abatement from the IRS must be in writing, it must be accompanied by documented evidence, and it must meet reasonable cause criteria according to the IRS, which is seldom met by IRS standards. Also, the IRS almost NEVER forgives interest. Do not let anyone mislead you about this.

Here's the Good News:

Of the more than thirty thousand enrolled agents that are in America, if you can find one with genuine IRS experience as an agent, he or she may be able to help you save your family when the IRS or State tax authority is threatening your livelihood. He or she would base this on truth, not commission, offer real help to you when you are in trouble, and charge you a reasonable fee. This is the person who should be quoting prices to you. Don't give up hope, but also don't necessarily trust the source that you speak to.

Try asking these questions when you get a tax relief representative on the phone:

1) What is your name? 2) Are you yourself an enrolled agent? 3) Do you have an enrolled agent id number? 4) Will you personally negotiate on my behalf to the IRS or State tax authorities or will someone else do this?

These are just some tips. Don't give up. Good tax relief help is available. Shop around until you trust someone, and make them earn your trust.