Anybody heard of MuniServices LLC working with DC Govt

[Anonymous]

i'm wondering if Muniservices LLC is a legitimate vendor working with DC government. I've called the number on the letter they sent and only get voicemail. They didn't return my calls. Fast forward one year, they sent another letter. I call and still reach only voicemail.

They're claiming that I didn't pay my DC business tax, in reference to a rental property, which I've paid. They say they can't find my name.

I tried calling DC government, but you can predict what that is... being routed to the wrong office, don't take voicemail messages, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
i'm wondering if Muniservices LLC is a legitimate vendor working with DC government. I've called the number on the letter they sent and only get voicemail. They didn't return my calls. Fast forward one year, they sent another letter. I call and still reach only voicemail.

They're claiming that I didn't pay my DC business tax, in reference to a rental property, which I've paid. They say they can't find my name.

I tried calling DC government, but you can predict what that is... being routed to the wrong office, don't take voicemail messages, etc.

Why don't you try calling OTR or DCRA? Also, if you look up Muniservices LLC on DCRA's website, you can determine if they are even licensed to do business in the District. If they aren't report them to DCRA and they will get fined, trust me. They could be trying to scam you.

Signed DC Government Worker

[Anonymous]

They are very unprofessional. They had all my tax information so I didn't think twice about them not being legit.

[Anonymous]

I am just going to put this out there There is a man by the name of James moore who continues to leave voice mails on my home phone, but when I return ho-is calls all I get is his voice mail and then a quick recording at the end. I am curious to what is going on!

[Anonymous]

Contact Reznick Group. I have heard of MuniService but I may be thinking of MunieMae. I worked with them when I was working at Reznick Group but I now stay home. You can try someone in the Bethesda office but I think the Bmore office handles them. I could post some names but I'm not sure if I should. Ask for someone in the tax research practice in the Bethesda office and run it by them. I think they are real but the partner in tax credits would know.

[Anonymous]

Munic Services is a collection agency. The company and their clients insist on saying they're a "auditing firm". But don't be fooled. They're a collection agency; in fact, they're owned by a larger company called Portfolio Recovery Associates which has other debt collection operations.

Local cities hire them to drum up business license taxes, unpaid parking tickets and other potential sources of money. They keep up to 50% of money collected. How cities think this is a good deal is beyond me. They've been kicked out of some local cities and are alleged to have used taxpayer data improperly.

[Anonymous]

We just got a note that we owe $13k in back taxes for 2001 when we paid it in full. We are going to contest it, but if they are legit then I wonder why in over 10 years DC never contacted us about this?

[Anonymous]

HEre's a link to their contract with the city: http://dcclims1.dccouncil.us/images/00001/20130610122616.pdf

[Anonymous]

A collection agency indeed where D.C. hands off years of mistakes and inaction hoping to collect something. We got a letter from them referencing a 13 year old alleged tax deficiency from DC that does not exist. A tough letter was sent back telling them to drop the matter.

[Anonymous]

Get in touch with your councilperson's office. Tommy Wells' office resolved a tax issue for me quickly. We were being harassed for taxes for a year when we did not live in the district, and had not for years before.

[Anonymous]

Just to add something quickly--when I googled MuniServices, this thread came up, and I think it's important to keep others who find it up to speed--I'm having a similar experience. I lived in DC for 6 months in 2009 and just received a $16k tax bill from MuniServices for the 2008 tax year, when I didn't even set foot in DC. I'm trying to sort it out with the same James Moore guy mentioned earlier in the thread. Currently playing telephone tag.

I don't know where they get their information from, because the DC government has never contacted me about potentially owing taxes and it's been about 4.5 years since I lived there. I think MuniServices just looked at my publicly available data, saw that I had filed in DC in 09 and not in 08, and assumed I therefore owed money for 2008, and then sent me a bill based on my claimed 2008 income. That's my current best guess, at least.

[Anonymous]

I've also had dealings with MuniServices - I think they are just the DC Government's collection agency. I have a corp tax issue in which DC says we paid our DC taxes late despite the fact that we have produced certified mail receipts and copies of checks/bank statements showing it was paid on time. I have now spent a year and a half with Muni Services, a place called RSI, and the DC gov people trying to get it sorted out. The money at stake is tiny (literally 12 cents of initial interest along with about $250 of penalties and subsequent interest) but I refuse to pay a penalty when we paid our frigging taxes on time.

We are considering moving our business out of DC to eliminate our dealings with the DC government. We currently operate in 3 jurisdictions and DC is the ONLY one where we ever have problems and every one of those problems has not been our fault yet takes time, and in some cases money, to solve. I am not one to bash DC but it is actually shocking how bad it is in comparison to our other jurisdictions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've also had dealings with MuniServices - I think they are just the DC Government's collection agency. I have a corp tax issue in which DC says we paid our DC taxes late despite the fact that we have produced certified mail receipts and copies of checks/bank statements showing it was paid on time. I have now spent a year and a half with Muni Services, a place called RSI, and the DC gov people trying to get it sorted out. The money at stake is tiny (literally 12 cents of initial interest along with about $250 of penalties and subsequent interest) but I refuse to pay a penalty when we paid our frigging taxes on time.

We are considering moving our business out of DC to eliminate our dealings with the DC government. We currently operate in 3 jurisdictions and DC is the ONLY one where we ever have problems and every one of those problems has not been our fault yet takes time, and in some cases money, to solve. I am not one to bash DC but it is actually shocking how bad it is in comparison to our other jurisdictions.

+1000.

You are not the first small business owner to notice the appalling state of government services in D.C. and consider leaving the city over it.

[Anonymous]

Update to earlier post: I just got off the phone with James Moore. He said I needed to mail or fax the letter I received (the one claiming I owed taxes) back to MuniServices along with a note that I am disputing the claim on the basis of not living in DC in that time period. He said the process after that involves the DC tax department doing some fact finding, which could take weeks or months, and then going from there.

[Anonymous]

Apparently I am having similar experiences to all of you with this ccompany, MuniServices. I live out of country and recently came back home for a quick visit. I was confused to find a couple of notices from MuniServices requesting that I pay a DC tax obligation from 2006. The Tax owed is actually 0. All of the money requested is detailed at Penalty or Interest. Very disappointing that I'll now need to spend countless hours trying to get this sorted out.