Roni Lynn Deutch

[thomtax]

From today's newspaper:

"Roni Lynn Deutch, who built a chain of tax centers in 23 states that promised clients relief from the Internal Revenue Service, has been slapped with a $183,000 federal tax lien and has shuttered her law firm amid allegations by California authorities that she cheated clients out of millions, owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in refunds and had destroyed documents in violation of court orders."

Gee, maybe I missed out on the fun by saying "no" when they called and offered a free franchise - NOT.

LT

[geekgirldany]

This year in the Yellow Pages there are ALOT of tax representation ads. Large ads from national firms, no local firms. I've never seen that before. But then again I don't believe The YP rep even mentioned such a category to me.

I've been watching CNN the past few days and have seen several tax master and other such ads. It seemed to have slowed down for awhile but they are gearing back up it seems.

[erchess]

I think I am going to

go strictly into representation and pay scantily clad ladies to do the client interviewes and collect payment. I will call my new business Tax Mistrisses.

[taxea]

One scammer down...so many more to go

[taxmom34]

taxea, do you really think she is down? i haven't seen where she went to trial and jailed. this will hurt her business some, but taxpayers don't really keep up with tax preparer scandals. they read the ads and call.

[taxea]

taxea, do you really think she is down? i haven't seen where she went to trial and jailed. this will hurt her business some, but taxpayers don't really keep up with tax preparer scandals. they read the ads and call.

I heard on Cnn or somewhere that she gave up her practice. Maybe a google search will come up with the info

[taxmandan]

I heard on Cnn or somewhere that she gave up her practice. Maybe a google search will come up with the info

She voluntarily surrendered her license to practice law. Don't know if there was any deal negotiated with that, probably saves her from a Bar investigation and disbarment. She was probably right that Moonbeam was using the investigation of her for political campaign purposes, so what, it was long overdue.

[Y2KEA]

Roni Lynn Deutch shut her business:

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/05/13/3623800/tax-lady-roni-lynn-deutch-closes.html

IRS files $183,000 tax lien against Roni Deutch:

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/01/3667480/irs-slaps-sacramento-tax-lady.html?storylink=lingospot_related_articles

Now if the IRS & states could only be "Masters" at shutting down these OIC mills.

[taxea]

taxea, do you really think she is down? i haven't seen where she went to trial and jailed. this will hurt her business some, but taxpayers don't really keep up with tax preparer scandals. they read the ads and call.

I got an emailed article from Accountant's World today that says that when she turned in her law license she closed the business because she is broke. Don't know what, if anything, the Feds and CA will do but I sure hope they don't let her off easy. There are just too many like her out there that it makes it difficult to convince the public that one is legit in that side of the tax business.

[JSLATER]

Just listened to a speech by the director of OPR. Ms Hawkins definitely has the Ronis of the world on her target list.

[S T]

Deutch

Well she might have to turn in other State Licenses - Guess she might be licensed in about 23 states with the highest concentration in Calif, Ariz and Nev

Now on to the next group of "Natl TV Tax Problem Solvers"

Sandy

[taxea]

Just listened to a speech by the director of OPR. Ms Hawkins definitely has the Ronis of the world on her target list.

Woopie! That makes me happy

[taxea]

Well she might have to turn in other State Licenses - Guess she might be licensed in about 23 states with the highest concentration in Calif, Ariz and Nev

Now on to the next group of "Natl TV Tax Problem Solvers"

Sandy

Now that the IRS has joined CA against her, I'm sure they will be checking all other offices and franchises. This is exciting

[Nashville]

Put In Perspective

Thread is full of rejoicing amongst those of us who know what these well-advertised representation companies are all about.

However, let's monitor the real findings as this thing unfurls. A lien of $123,000 is only a small fraction of what she spends on nationwide advertising each year. That number must run into the millions. Allegations of bilking customers?

Yes, that's what you and I call it. However, "bilking customers" has been legal since the dawn of time under the guise of puffing your wares. You and I know how much over-advertised her promises are, but as far as legally prosecuting? No different than going after the weight-loss gimmick on late night TV.

The company advertises that they have highly trained CPAs, ex-IRS agents, and EAs which will work for the taxpayer, yet all of us have read witnesses who get a neophyte once their deposit has been paid. This is no different from engaging a huge telephone company to provide you with phone/cable/internet service but then when you call for customer support you get "Peggy".

We've read the accounts of taxpayers who paid a large deposit, never got their taxes resolved, and never got refunded. Sounds bad but if you are operating the representation company, know that 95% of these taxpayers never filed taxes for years, or never paid their taxes even when they had the money. If you're running the representation company, just how do you think you're going to get paid if you don't get money up front??

As for those who claim they never got any help? Shameful perhaps. But in order to help such a taxpayer, you need things like records, documentation, personal data, etc. Things that they never were willing to spend the time to get together in the first place. So they never follow through and then complain because the representation company won't give them their money back.

Please don't misunderstand. Roni Deutsch and her ilk make me sick, and I have voiced my displeasure several times on this forum. But when you start legally prosecuting for misdeeds and wrongdoings it may be no different than what you might find at any other entity dealing "for profit" in our economy. Many of these disgusting practices which we find so distasteful may in fact not be much different than those practices used by Atty General Jerry Brown's law firm. Frankly, I'm surprised that $123K is all the IRS can come up with so far.

Let's monitor the Roni Deutsch situation as it unfolds.

[Edsel]

Prosecution Fodder

Wonder what unsavory practices used by these firms actually provide ammunition for a prosecutor, should an Attorney General decide to go after them?? Seems like the previous post reduces this to a prosecution against "Ronco" products.