Radio Interview (January 31, 2026)

Listen to this interview – MP3

Host (Patti):
Welcome back everyone from the break, this is the Patti Gentile Show, and as I mentioned before the break, our guest today is attorney Steve Glitzner. He’s an attorney out of — is I am — I’m in Miami. Yeah, and we are in two feet of snow up here in the New England area.

But Steve, what I mentioned is that you were going to pull back the curtain for us and discuss what you’re aware of with the national tax relief firms out there that we all hear advertisements for on the radio and on television.

Steven:
Well, you know, Patti, even though we’re not on video, I’ve got my face covered. I have to change my voice for this. This is undercover. I shouldn’t even have given my name. I’m supposed to talk with a garbled voice.

Let me tell you two stories about my interactions with these national companies.

Well, several years ago, I called them just to find out what’s going to happen when I say certain things. So I called in and I gave them a scenario, and under the scenario I gave them, I wasn’t eligible for an offer in compromise. The IRS just doesn’t make deals with people who call, because if you could just call the IRS and everybody could settle their case, nobody would ever pay their taxes on time.

They would just wait a few years. If the IRS bothered them, they’d say, “Oh, here’s a deal, and thank you for letting me keep this money all these years interest and penalty free.”

So the information I gave the sales guy — I didn’t qualify for an offer in compromise. I made way too much. I had too many assets. I didn’t owe enough. And he gave me a fee, and I told him I’d think about it. I don’t remember what the fee was.

Then I get a call back from his supervisor the next day. Because he liked me, he lowered the fee — and he lowered it a couple of times until I finally told him no.

And when I said, “What about somebody local?” he said, “Well, those people don’t know how to do this. You call an attorney, he doesn’t know how to handle this.” And he is right — except if you call an attorney, an enrolled agent, a CPA that actually does know how to represent people with IRS problems.

And then the second time I called, it was a few years ago. I was presenting at one of my networking organizations, and I thought, wouldn’t it be great if I had these people on the phone and they could hear how they lie to people? I thought it would be a great presentation.

But the presentation was at like 7:30 AM, so like a week before I called just to see if they’re even open. And I used star-67 so they can’t call me back — you know, star-67. I got voicemail or “we’ll call you back,” and of course I didn’t leave a message.

Wouldn’t you know — they’re able to crack through the star-67. I started getting calls back. And after I realized who they were, I wouldn’t take the calls. But after a while, when they got frustrated, they sold my name to debt companies.

So I started getting calls from debt companies saying, “We know you owe a lot of money,” because they figured I had other debt and they could resolve whatever credit problems I had.

But here’s the scoop. There could be some very reputable companies out there, but many of these national companies really are scams. Because what they do when you call — you’re talking to a salesperson. They’re getting a commission. They will tell you whatever you want to hear so that you sign up, because this is the last time you talk to them. They are not the person helping you resolve the case.

Now the problem with some of these companies is they spend their money and resources on the people answering the phone and doing the sales. There’s nobody in the back room — or certainly not enough people — working on the case. So that’s a big concern.

Years ago they would write you a letter saying “we can help you.” Now they somehow get any phone number you have and they call you saying “we can help you.”

Here’s some of the things I think you look for though:
Is there a location? Is there nothing but an 800 number? Can you even find out who runs the business? Those are some of the things you’ve got to look at.

The other thing is you’ve got to check them out online. Look at Ripoff Report and any other scam-tracking site. The one thing I’m not a big fan of is this whole Better Business Bureau thing.

When you and I were growing up and you heard somebody say, “I’m going to refer you to the Better Business Bureau,” everyone shook in their boots. Now it seems anyone can just sign up for the BBB, maybe pay them a few bucks too, and they take pretty good care of you. So personally, when I see on a website that someone’s A-plus with the BBB, I run the other way. Anyone that cares about that now, I’m concerned about.

Host (Patti):
Right, right. That’s been my interpretation too. That used to be the gold mark, but that’s been gone for a few decades now, I think. Just like attorneys — it used to be Martindale-Hubbell. I’ll find an attorney through there. Now the more you pay, the higher up you are there.

Steven:
Right. And you know what — I googled Consumer Reports about national tax relief groups. And right at the very top, they list “our 10 best.” But right at the very top in small print, before you start going down the list, they say, “we’re getting a commission from these people.” And this is Consumer Reports — that used to have that gold star, the Good Housekeeping seal of approval.

There are plenty of practitioners that do work all over the country. I’m in Florida — I do work all over the country — but I’m the one actually handling the work. I don’t just hand it off.

Like today you have Joe working on the case, and you call next week — “Where’s Joe?” “Oh, he got a job at the mall. We brought Bob up — he was working in the mail room — he’s now your case person.”

So you have to be very careful about these outfits that claim they can help you. If someone tells you what they can settle your case for when you speak to them on the phone without getting significant financial information, they’re just making it up. Because that’s not how it works with the IRS. It’s all based on numbers.

No one can just give you a number out of thin air and tell you they can settle your case for this without knowing your personal situation.

I’ve had clients who retained me after they paid one of these scam firms. They won’t do anything for you until they get paid in full. Some even put you on a monthly payment plan — and then when you’ve paid them in full, they start to work for you.

And if you’ve got IRS problems, you can’t wait around like that.

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Host (Patti):
They’ll charge you a monthly fee until they resolve the case. Guess who’s never resolving the case when you’ve given that?

Steven:
Right. Exactly. And some people never hear from them again after the fee’s paid. And when they break up those companies, all the employees scatter and open their own tax resolution firms.

You just have to be careful. Make sure you’re dealing with an attorney, a CPA, or an enrolled agent — not a business person running a business just trying to make a buck.

If you’re going to one of these places that claims it’s the largest or biggest — you don’t want that. You want somewhere where somebody’s going to be there working on your case to resolve it, not an employee merry-go-round where people keep changing.

I just say, you’ll be back. We tell people, I don’t care if you don’t want me to do it — get someone who does. Don’t go to the national company, because you’re just going to throw away a lot of money.

And I do some radio commercials that basically say:
“Do you really think somebody 2,000 miles away is going to handle your IRS case — and you don’t even know who’s on it? You don’t even know who your real power of attorney is.”

It just doesn’t happen.

Host (Patti):
Yeah. Excellent advice. I think you’ve given more clarification for our listeners who really need to distinguish these ads — these radio and television ads — from people like ourselves, professionals who’ve been doing this for decades and actually represent and resolve taxpayer cases.

Steve, how can people get ahold of you and subscribe to your newsletter?

Steven:
All right. Well, my name is Steve Klitzner — K-L-I-T-Z-N-E-R. I’m an attorney in Miami. I practice all around the country, but I don’t have people assigned to your case where you never hear from me again. I’m the one dealing with the IRS.

My phone number is 305-682-1118.
The website is floridataxtaxsolvers.com.
And my email is steve@floridataxtaxsolvers.com.

Host (Patti):
Thank you so much, Steve. I always enjoy when you’re on the show. Be well.