The Administrative Law Judge rendered a fully favorable decision back in early May. But he did not approve my attorney's fee agreement. He stated, "You appointed more than one representative from a law firm, or other business; all your representatives did not sign a single fee agreement; and the representative(s) who did not sign the fee agreement, did not waive charging and collecting a fee."
What happened is I signed a fee agreement with the owner of the law firm. Later, they appointed an attorney to my case and I subsequently signed a fee agreement with her. This doesn't seem unusual to me. Law firms often have many attorneys, right?
So my entire claim for back pay is held up owing to the $6000 attorney fee. The back pay is a large sum of money.
So the law firm filed an objection. And it was recently denied! Now SSA made the law firm file a fee petition, along with proof of the work that they did on my case and hours that they spent, plus the two signed fee agreements -- the latter being signed by the law firm owner, my attorney, and me.
It is going to take SSA another few months to review this. Unbelievable. I should get interest on my money form them.
In the meantime, the IRS sends me a letter because I amended a previous years taxes. My account did all of the work and determined that I owed another $160 or so, which I paid. The IRS letter states that they reviewed my taxes and I owe them $1600+ with interest and penalties and they want it by mid October. They never even explained their calculation! My account called them and they would not speak to him without a power of attorney. I called and was placed on hold for an hour and no one ever came on the line.
What a bunch of criminals.
UPDATE: I called the IRS again and sat on hold for 90-minutes. Finally, I got an agent who could not have been less interested in talking to me. She would not give me any useful information and told me they'd mail a detailed transcript of the return. So I said to hell with this, gave my account a PoA and told him to handle it. He also waited on hold for 90-minutes and they told him that they did not accept some of my schedule C deductions. I said What ??? I've never heard of such a thing. My accountant said he's never heard of it, either. So, I am waiting on the transcript so I can give ti to the accountant and see if they made a mistake or if we can challenge them.
A**Hats!!!
What happened is I signed a fee agreement with the owner of the law firm. Later, they appointed an attorney to my case and I subsequently signed a fee agreement with her. This doesn't seem unusual to me. Law firms often have many attorneys, right?
So my entire claim for back pay is held up owing to the $6000 attorney fee. The back pay is a large sum of money.
So the law firm filed an objection. And it was recently denied! Now SSA made the law firm file a fee petition, along with proof of the work that they did on my case and hours that they spent, plus the two signed fee agreements -- the latter being signed by the law firm owner, my attorney, and me.
It is going to take SSA another few months to review this. Unbelievable. I should get interest on my money form them.
In the meantime, the IRS sends me a letter because I amended a previous years taxes. My account did all of the work and determined that I owed another $160 or so, which I paid. The IRS letter states that they reviewed my taxes and I owe them $1600+ with interest and penalties and they want it by mid October. They never even explained their calculation! My account called them and they would not speak to him without a power of attorney. I called and was placed on hold for an hour and no one ever came on the line.
What a bunch of criminals.
UPDATE: I called the IRS again and sat on hold for 90-minutes. Finally, I got an agent who could not have been less interested in talking to me. She would not give me any useful information and told me they'd mail a detailed transcript of the return. So I said to hell with this, gave my account a PoA and told him to handle it. He also waited on hold for 90-minutes and they told him that they did not accept some of my schedule C deductions. I said What ??? I've never heard of such a thing. My accountant said he's never heard of it, either. So, I am waiting on the transcript so I can give ti to the accountant and see if they made a mistake or if we can challenge them.
A**Hats!!!
