Every so often I think that the saga of Western Tax Service has come to an end. Western, as you may remember, was the Anaheim-based tax preparation firm that thought that no deduction was too trivial to take for its clients, even if they didn’t qualify for them. They charged a lot, mind you, but the refunds they got for their clients were very good. And very illegal; the proprietors are now at ClubFed and the unlucky customers had to give back the refunds and pay what they really owed.
A class action suit was filed, and it was settled for $500,000. Clients of Western can apply for a piece of the settlement and receive up to $5000 per year they were a client of Western. The Irvine law firm of Lanza & Goolsby represented the plaintiffs; their website has links to the trial documentation (including the settlement) and to the claim form.
The settlement money comes from $596,010 that the government seized at Western’s offices. So at least some good has come from Western Tax Service. This should remind everyone that if your tax advisor tells you that you can get, for example, a $10,000 charitable deduction without any receipts, make sure to go elsewhere…fast.
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