Buyer Beware
The following opinions and conclusions are based on my 11 recent years of experience as an IRS OIC Specialist/Examiner. During those years I dealt with many professionals and firms representing taxpayers for whom they had filed Offers in Compromise. Generally, the most competent and ethical of them were Enrolled Agents and CPAs who previously had been IRS Revenue Officers and Revenue Agents. Enrolled Agents, CPAs and attorneys who had not worked for the IRS usually were less competent, largely due to lack of experience with the OIC process. Some of the least competent (and, in my opinion, least ethical) were large firms which advertise extensively, attract numerous clients, and submit large numbers of unacceptable offers in compromise. ("Offer mills" is the unofficial IRS name for them.)

I have looked at the websites of many of the firms which advertise OIC services, and I have been appalled by the misrepresentations I have seen. Some firms would have you believe that an OIC is a remedy for almost anyone who owes federal taxes, and that they can negotiate a "pennies on the dollar" settlement for everyone who will pay their fee. Such claims are misleading, if not false.

The "offer mills" rarely turn down anyone who wants to submit an OIC and will pay their fee for handling it. Almost everyone who contacts one of these firms is led to believe that he or she meets the IRS's criteria for an OIC, but nothing could be further from the truth.

In their ads and on their websites, the "offer mills" claim that their clients receive the services of experts, i.e., attorneys, CPAs and retired IRS personnel. While it's true that such people are associated with these firms, the initial contact person for all prospective clients is, regardless of his or her job title, a salesperson who:

1. has neither the experience nor the training needed to determine if anyone meets the IRS's OIC criteria, and,
2. has the primary, if not sole objective of making the sale (persuading you to pay the fee).

The "customer service representative" or "case worker" will ask about your assets, liabilities, income and expenses, but you simply can not assume that he or she is qualified to analyze this information in accordance with the IRS's OIC criteria.

Finally, at the worst of the "offer mills," the client/victim ultimately gets little or no representation, qualified or otherwise. The worst of them collect a hefty fee, submit your sure-to-be-rejected OIC and subsequently do not return your phone calls.

Buyer Beware!