Community Tax Relief Review

When tax goes unpaid, it can quickly snowball — the more you owe, the more penalties are added to your bill, making it even harder to pay off. Tax relief or tax resolution services can help by investigating your situation and negotiating with the IRS so you can get your tax debts paid and put those unpleasant IRS notices in your rearview mirror.

Community Tax is one such tax relief option, known for being relatively affordable, especially for individuals and small organizations. Community Tax's relief services include a full menu of accounting services beyond simple tax relief.

To learn more about Community Tax's offerings and whether they’re a good fit for you or your business, read our review below.

Best for Affordability

Among the tax relief companies we reviewed, Community Tax is our pick for affordability. The company offers its services at affordable prices, with total fees ranging between around $2,000 to $5,000 — and investigation fees between $295-$500. Note that these are estimates based on online user reviews on multiple third-party platforms, as tax relief companies typically don’t disclose their pricing until after a consultation. Total costs will depend on a number of individualized circumstances.

Additionally, Community Tax claims to have no hidden fees in its quotes.

The company has a flexible payment system, so you don't have to pay everything upfront. You'll have to pay an investigation fee plus a resolution fee, and while the pricing of these services varies widely depending on your situation and the size of your case, you'll get an estimate if you schedule a free consultation.

Community Tax Pros and Cons

Pros explained

Here are a few of the things people who have worked with Community Tax seem to like about it, including its affordability, free consultation and availability in all states.

Affordable tax services

With Community Tax, you can expect low investigation fees and below-average resolution costs. According to online reviews, the range of total costs is from $2,000 to $5,000.

Note that the total cost of Community's tax relief services will depend on the amount of debt you have and the complexity of your case, so it's always best to get a pricing comparison.

Free consultation provided

As with many tax relief companies, your initial consultation with Community Tax is free. That’s when you’ll give the company a picture of your finances and tax burden so its staff can decide how it wants to approach your case.

You'll also get a quote for the total estimated costs. If neeeded, Community's staff can advise you on how to file back taxes, suggest possible deductions you can take and point out other debt assistance options for you during the consultation.

Services available in all 50 states

Community Tax offers a range of tax relief solutions nationwide. Do note that some aspects of the business may vary from state to state, depending on local laws and regulations related to tax relief services.

Provides a variety of educational resources

Compared to other tax relief companies, Community Tax has an ample library of educational resources on tax debts and repayment options. For instance, there are guides on common tax terms and how to fill out a variety of tax forms. With this information, you can equip yourself with the necessary tools and knowledge to manage your taxes even after your case with Community Tax has closed.

Cons explained

There are a few drawbacks of Community Tax you should know about, like its lack of pricing transparency and limited available case studies.

Pricing information not displayed on its website

While Community Tax is known as an affordable option for tax services, there isn't much information about its pricing on its website. This is typical of the industry, as relief companies' pricing is dependent on each customer's particular situation. All pricing information available online is through third-party publications, and based on individual situations which may or not mirror your own.

To get an accurate understanding of how much you would have to pay for the services, you need to do a free consultation.

Limited published case results

There isn’t much information about Community Tax's cases on its website. Case results are typically helpful in illustrating what customers' experiences have been like and how much of an impact the tax relief services had on their financial situations.

Community Tax Offerings

Community Tax offers a variety of financial services, including tax relief, tax prep, accounting and bookkeeping.

Tax resolution

The main feature of Community Tax is its tax relief services — in fact, the company claims to have resolved over $700 million in debts.

Note that tax resolution doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily get any debts or penalties reduced. In some cases, Community Tax will instead help you extend the amount of time to pay off your debts by negotiating an installment plan.

Below are some of the main resolution options that Community Tax can help you obtain.

• Offers in compromise (OICs) are for taxpayers who have more expenses than income. The IRS determines the maximum amount you’re financially capable of paying and forgives the rest of the debt.
• Installment agreements (IAs) allow taxpayers to pay off their debt balance over time — generally in monthly installments over a period of six months to 10 years. The form of your installment agreement will depend on your assets, income, other financial responsibilities and the statute of limitations on your tax debt. Below are some of the main resolution options that Community Tax can help you obtain:
  • Stair-step agreements give you the option of paying off a larger debt first in low monthly payments for one year, then increasing the payment over the next few years.
  • Streamlined installment agreements help taxpayers with more substantial assets or income — those not suffering from the kind of hardship that would qualify for an offer in compromise — pay off their balance within a quick five-to-six-year period, as long as the balance is under $50,000.
  • Partial pay installment agreements (PPIAs) are installment plans that continue until the end of the 10-year statute of limitations on a given year’s tax debt. You pay installments until the statute of limitations expires, and then the remaining debt is forgiven.
  • Conditional expense installment agreements allow you to pay off your debt in installments over a period of six years in case you don’t qualify for a streamlined installment agreement. What makes this agreement different is that you need to give more information about your assets and financial situation to the IRS. Then, based on this information, you will be approved or denied.
  • Traditional installment agreements give you 10 years to pay your debt.
• Currently Not Collectible is a status that means a person is battling financial hardship and should be relieved of their tax debt for as long as it takes to recover.
• Penalty abatements can decrease or eliminate penalties on back taxes if you can prove you missed or made late payments for reasons you can’t control.

• Stair-step agreements give you the option of paying off a larger debt first in low monthly payments for one year, then increasing the payment over the next few years.
• Streamlined installment agreements help taxpayers with more substantial assets or income — those not suffering from the kind of hardship that would qualify for an offer in compromise — pay off their balance within a quick five-to-six-year period, as long as the balance is under $50,000.
• Partial pay installment agreements (PPIAs) are installment plans that continue until the end of the 10-year statute of limitations on a given year’s tax debt. You pay installments until the statute of limitations expires, and then the remaining debt is forgiven.
• Conditional expense installment agreements allow you to pay off your debt in installments over a period of six years in case you don’t qualify for a streamlined installment agreement. What makes this agreement different is that you need to give more information about your assets and financial situation to the IRS. Then, based on this information, you will be approved or denied.
• Traditional installment agreements give you 10 years to pay your debt.

Tax planning

Community Tax offers tax planning services to help you minimize your tax liability and maximize your savings. To do this, its staff can provide you with a customized tax plan that fits your unique financial situation. They can also help you identify tax deductions and credits that you may have missed, recommend tax-efficient investment strategies and provide ongoing support to help you stay compliant.

Through Community Tax's planning services, advisors can also tell you how to leverage the best tax software to track your income, expenses and file your own taxes.

Tax prep

Community Tax offers dedicated tax preparers to help you fill out your tax returns. After giving the company access to your IRS records, staff can prepare your return. Then, a panel of certified public accountants (CPAs) will review everything and send it to you for your signature before Community Tax files the return with the IRS directly.

Accounting and bookkeeping

As a full-service tax services provider, Community offers standard monthly accounting and bookkeeping, which includes tracking your tax returns and tax records and providing a quarterly snapshot of your financial progress. Community Tax focuses on full-service bookkeeping for small-to-medium-sized businesses and self-employed individuals, with in-house accountants to make sure you’re already prepped when tax time rolls around.

Community Tax Pricing

The initial consultation is free. According to price estimates given by online reviewers, you can expect Community Tax services to cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000. However, these are all estimates based on user reviews. The company does not offer pricing information itself, nor will it answer requests for this information outside of a consultation.

Community Tax Financial Stability

Community Tax has an annual revenue of around $13 million and has been around for over 12 years.

Community Tax Accessibility

Availability

Community Tax serves customers in all 50 U.S. states. Community Tax offers its services via phone, email and mail.

Contact Information

The Community Tax phone number is (800) 490-4451. Community Tax is available for daily enrollment from Monday to Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. If you need customer service, you can call from Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

You can email Community Tax at info@communitytax.com. You can also contact the company through an online contact form on its website at any time.

Community Tax is one of the few relief centers that offer bilingual assistance in both Spanish and English.

User experience

Customers' experience with Community Tax is great, according to BBB user reviews. You can request your free consultation easily through the website and get all the tax questions and answers you need to make a decision. Then, Community’s team of tax professionals and accountants will perform any necessary tasks related to your service while staying transparent and responsive.

This process makes it easy for you to buy its services, get what you expect and solve your IRS issues without any stress.

Community Tax Customer Satisfaction

Community Tax has a great online reputation across multiple review websites. Plus, it's very responsive to comments on these sites.

The company has a 4.35 out of 5 on the BBB website based on 218 reviews. In addition, Community Tax is accredited by the BBB with an A+ score. The BBB performs a review on organizations and gives them a score without counting user comments.

Users who have Community Tax complaints include some who had qualms about paying for extra services that they didn't want and others who experienced poor communication with staff.

How we Evaluated Community Tax

We considered multiple factors when evaluating Community Tax's services, including:

• The number and quality of services offered
• Pricing according to online reviews on trusted third-party sites like the BBB
• Accessibility of information
• Communications and contact information
• Resources offered
• Financial stability and reputation
• Customer satisfaction via ratings and reviews on the BBB site

Summary of Money's Community Tax Review

There are plenty of places online that can tell you how to file your taxes for free, but for tax relief, you may want to get expert support. Community Tax offers tax resolution, tax planning, tax prep and accounting services at affordable prices. This provider offers a free consultation, affordable tax services in all 50 U.S. states and resources to help you get your taxes back on track. The major drawback of Community Tax is its lack of pricing transparency and case studies on its website.

As a final note, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to go through a tax relief company — you can deal directly with the IRS and achieve tax relief on your own, depending on your circumstances. In that case, you can read our guide on what you need to file taxes to get started.