TaxResources, Inc. (TRI) will provide the audit defense services for the tax return described on the membership certificate in return for the applicable membership fee and in compliance with all applicable terms of this agreement.
CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
In this agreement, “you” and “your” refer to the member(s) shown on the membership certificate. “We,” “us” and “TRI” refer to TaxResources, Inc., the company providing audit defense services. “IRS” refers to the Internal Revenue Service and “State” refers to your state income tax agency.
Audit: Audit means any communication, including telephone calls, initiated by the IRS or State income tax agency that wishes to audit, examine, review, investigate or verify any item or items on the IRS income tax forms and State equivalent listed on the membership certificate.
Audit Defense: Audit Defense means that TRI will defend you through the completion of any income tax audit for the tax year return identified on the membership certificate. Audit notification must be dated after the acceptance date listed on the membership certificate, subject to the limitations and exclusions listed in this membership certificate and agreement.
Audit Defense also includes:
- Handle all communications, including letters and/or telephone calls with the IRS or State regarding the audit.
- Assign the Specialist(s) to manage your case.
- Develop a strategy with you and meet with the IRS or State on your behalf.
- Negotiate with the IRS or State through Appeals and pre-litigation Appeals review prior to trial in tax court.
- No settlement will be reached with the IRS or State without your final approval and consent.
- Two hours of collection assistance will be given if your audit results in additional tax due.
Acceptance Date: Acceptance Date is the date TRI receives your membership application and payment in full and your application is approved. Your Acceptance Date appears on the membership certificate. Your Acceptance Date appears on the membership certificate.
Statute of Limitations: Statute of Limitations means the time the IRS or State has to audit your tax return. The Statute of Limitations for the IRS is three years from the date of filing or the due date, whichever is later, and is typically four years for States.
Period of Membership: Period of Membership is the period commencing with the Acceptance Date and ending with the expiration of the normal statute of limitations period.
Specialist(s): Specialist(s) means your TRI tax audit specialist(s) who will be assigned to your audit case. These individuals will ordinarily be assigned to you according to their area of expertise, subject only to TRI’s experience with each specialist in actual past audits.
CONFIDENTIALITY
As a member of TRI, your name, address, and any other personal information will not be disclosed or sold to any persons or firms, with the limited exception of Intuit. Intuit will receive your name, address, and email address unless you opted out of this disclosure on the application form. Only TRI's Audit and Technical staff will have access to your tax information.
MEMBER BENEFITS
Audit Defense - TaxResources, Inc. will professionally defend a covered income tax audit from the time of the first notice to its completion, subject to the Audit Defense Plan Limitations and Exclusions described below. This includes any audit that arises during the period of membership as defined on the membership certificate. All scheduling of appointments, telephone calls and correspondence will be handled by the assigned specialist. We will meet with the auditor on your behalf and will defend you through the highest level of appeals, if necessary.
Assistance with IRS and State Income Tax Notices – TaxResources, Inc. will assist the member to resolve any notice received for the tax return listed on the membership certificate during the period of membership.
MEMBER OBLIGATIONS
Our Responsibility: We are responsible to provide you with the highest caliber audit defense service available. We ask that you comply with the audit procedure and strategy actions recommended by TaxResources, Inc. and any of the Specialist(s) working on your behalf. If you are unable to maintain this commitment, TaxResources, Inc. cannot be responsible for the outcome of your audit and reserves the right to cease providing service where reasonably warranted.
Your Responsibility: You are responsible to perform or provide the following:
- Upon receipt of any communication from the IRS or State, promptly call TRI first at 877-829-9695! Do not contact the IRS. To ensure effective service regarding your audit, you must use your assigned TRI Specialist(s) as your only contact with the IRS or State. If you do not contact TRI within 15 days of the date of the first notice, additional charges may apply.
- Provide your signature(s) on the required IRS or State Power of Attorney and return to the Specialist(s) in a timely manner. This will enable your Specialist(s) to communicate with the IRS or State on your behalf.
- Provide the information and documentation necessary to substantiate the various items of income and expense in question so that your Specialist(s) can prepare your defense
AUDIT DEFENSE PLAN LIMITATIONS
TaxResources, Inc. is dedicated solely to legitimately protecting the rights and assets of our members in the event of an audit. The following defines our service limitations:
- TRI does not provide legal assistance, nor represent our members in Federal or State Court, including Tax Court.
- TRI does not provide legal assistance in defending issues of civil or criminal fraud.
- TRI does not prepare or amend our members' Federal, State or Local income tax returns.
TRI will not reconcile checkbooks, organize records or do record keeping or bookkeeping for our members.
AUDIT DEFENSE PLAN EXCLUSIONS
Certain audits, tax returns, and issues of audit may be excluded from the Audit Defense Plan for any of the following reasons:
Pre-existing conditions - If you have received notice of an audit from the IRS or State prior to the Acceptance Date of this Agreement, audit defense services for that audit are excluded.
Ownership interest in other tax entities - If you have an ownership interest in a Corporation, Partnership, LLC, LLP, Trust, Estate, or Tax Shelter that has been contacted for an audit and is not a TRI member, audit defense services are excluded for that tax entity.
Late or delinquent filers - If a tax return was filed later than its initial due date including extensions, then TRI’s audit defense for that tax return is excluded. For example: a 2006 Form 1040 tax return originally due 04/16/2007 can be formally extended until 10/15/2007 and must be filed by 10/15/2007 to have audit defense services. An additional one time fee may be paid to eliminate the exclusion for any year that was filed after the period described above. If a fee has been paid to include audit services for a normally excluded year, that year will be listed on the membership certificate. If not, please call (877) 829-9695 to add this service.
Tax protestors - TaxResources, Inc. will exclude anyone protesting the taxing of income on economic, religious, legal or constitutional grounds, or other frivolous claims.
Criminal Investigation (CI) - If you are currently under investigation by CI, you are excluded from audit services. For any audit that TRI is defending in which CI enters the audit, TRI will cease working that audit and will exclude the member from further audit service until completion of the CI investigation. When the CI investigation is completed, TRI will resume working on the audit.
Other taxes - Your Audit Defense Plan is limited to the type of income tax return listed on the membership certificate. Payroll tax, sales tax, estate and gift tax, and compliance audits of pension and profit sharing plans are excluded from the Audit Defense Plan.
HOW TO CONTACT US
Corporate Headquarters (Do Not Mail Payments or Tax Related Correspondence or Documents):
310 Ultimo Avenue
Long Beach, CA 90814
Membership Services Mailing Address: (Membership Renewals and Payments Only):
PO Box 2767
Battle Ground, WA 98604
Audit and Technical Services Mailing Address: (All Tax Related Correspondence and Documents):
7803 Madison Avenue, Suite B-370
Citrus Heights, CA 95610
Phone number: (877) 829-9695
Fax number: (888) 901-9695
E-mail address: intuit_audit@taxaudit.com
