Tax attorney Ronnie Deutch spends $3M a year advertising her firm’s ability to assist clients with IRS tax troubles, but Jerry Brown, Attorney General for the State of California (and Democratic candidate for governor) says Deutch’s claims are fraudulent and is seeking $34M in client restitution in court.
Brown says, “Tax Lady Roni Deutch is engaged in a heartless scheme that swindled people with tax problems. She promises to significantly reduce their IRS tax debts, but instead preys on their vulnerability, taking large up-front payments but providing little or no help in lowering their tax bills.”
The suit cites one commercial featuring three clients who claim a combined tax payment reduction of $86K. According to Brown, the reality is that all three still owe the IRS – all they got from Deutch’s representation was a delay on IRS collection.
The suit says that Deutch claims a 99% success rate in getting IRS debt reductions, but claims that the real success rate is more like 10%. Retainers paid by clients can go as high as $4.7K, money that might better be spent paying the IRS, which actually tends to increase a client’s debt load by piling on interest and penalties while the case is stalled.
Deutch is said to be a frequent guest on broadcast and cable talk shows. The commercials are often broadcast after hours, and RBR-TVBR editors have seen them during daytime during syndicated reality courtroom programming.
