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This negative response requires a response. Colonial Tax did not ignore emails for weeks and MONTHS. Sorry for the long read but it’s important that there be full transparency and our reputation is protected. Rio hired us in March to complete the preparation of Federal Tax Returns on several businesses which required returns to be prepared as 1040 with Schedule C. We did file Power of Attorney on the business entities, as well as on Rio, as an Individual, to enable us to retrieve every single tax document issued to the IRS to ensure accuracy of these tax returns. He went through a legal name change in 2024, as well, which required added depth in our discovery to ensure nothing was being missed.

Naturally, since he hired us in March, we prioritized the 2024 tax return due to the April 15th deadline and we did complete the return by the 15th even on the short notice and when we already had a lot of clients in line to have their returns completed by deadline. On April 16th, he asked if we could set up a payment plan to pay what is owed on 2024 tax balance while we prepare the other tax returns. We advised him on 04/16 that he should start making voluntary payments to satisfy what was owed as all returns must be filed and processed in order to negotiate a payment plan.

On April 30, he asked for update on status of 2019-2020-2022-2023 tax returns and we responded that day that these were being prepared and could anticipate completion the following week, barring need for any additional information. Returns were completed and email sent on May 9th (which was the following week and exactly as expressed). This is where a mistake was made by our firm. Although the email with the tax returns was sent as intended, when we were checking status of the account, we noticed the email was showing as undeliverable. This was not noticed until June 3rd, at which point, the returns were sent again to ensure they were received by Rio. We also sent a text message to confirm that these returns we sent to him to avoid any disconnect. The undeliverable email was an absolute mistake on our behalf and something we probably should have noticed sooner. However, normally, our clients will reach out if there appears to be any kind of unnecessary delay or if they are not hearing from us within the advised timetables as we don’t really know with 100% assurety that all communications are received on the other end.

Rio received these returns on June 3rd and when we sent the completed returns needing to be signed (requires a wet signature) to Rio, we provided very specific instructions on what Rio needed to do to sign and mail the completed tax returns for processing by the IRS. Instead of Rio mailing the return back to us so we could just turn around and mail them again to the IRS, we provide details on how to package the returns to enable quicker processing by the IRS. We also advised him it can be best to take returns to local IRS office and hand-deliver so they can be stamped as proof of filing. The IRS is notorious for losing or misplacing tax returns and we try and equip our client with the necessary knowledge to try and prevent future headaches.

Rio sent us an email on June 16th asking for an update on these tax returns and that he “saw we filed his tax returns but not showing up on the IRS website.” We immediately responded that we did NOT file his tax returns and that he needed to sign the returns and mail to the IRS using our provided instructions contained in June 3rd email. We sent the instructions again to be fully transparent.

He sent another email the following day that he mailed the returns as he was unable to hand-deliver returns to local IRS as they were busy until August. Returns were mailed to the IRS on June 17th, which we tracked and confirmed the returns were received by the IRS for processing on June 18th, which Rio knew as he is who provided us with the tracking information. Everything was good, all returns filed, and we are now waiting for the IRS to process returns so we can negotiate a payment plan on resulting taxes owed. There is nothing we can do to expedite this process and have to simply be patient and allow the IRS to process returns as nothing can be done until the IRS completes this process.

He sent an email yesterday (July 10th) with the following message “IT HAS BEEN 8 DAYS SINCE MY LAST E-MAIL AND 24 DAYS SINCE I SENT YOU GUYS THE E-MAIL WITH TRACKING NUMBER OF MY MAIL TO THE IRS, AND I HAVE NO ANSWER FROM YOU GUYS. NEXT TIME I WILL MAKE SURE I WILL MAKE THE LAST PAYMENT FOR THE SERVICE AFTER THE SERVICE IS COMPLETED, IF I KNEW MY E-MAILS WOULD BE IGNORED FOR MONTHS.” We responded to his email immediately with this response, “My apologies that you feel overlooked. Please understand that we can only proceed as quickly as the IRS processes the documents. You must ensure that you are in full filing compliance, meaning all returns must be posted to your account, before we can move forward with a formal resolution. Keep in mind that this issue did not arise overnight, so it will not be resolved immediately. It may take up to six weeks for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to receive and process your returns. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we work through this situation together.”

What came next? A series of negative reviews from someone who seems to show a history of writing negative reviews on different businesses portraying us as having the worst customer service, are a huge mess, and would not recommend us to anyone.

After receiving notification of these negative reviews, Rick immediately called Rio to discuss and to try and fix whatever issue was causing so much animosity. He did not return my call and Rick and Rio exchanges some emails where Rick asked if we could continue work and prove to him that we are very good at what we do and will cross the finish line with him to which he responded, “you win’t (sp) be fired if you start replying to my emails for once.” At this point, I knew we weren’t going to be able to win with him.

As a result, we decided it would be best to just issue a refund of what was paid to complete the negotiation of the payment plan and to withdraw our Power of Attorney. Last thing we wanted to do was get in and complete all of this work and then still have a client we are unable to satisfy. A refund check is being mailed directly to Rio and we hope he finds the necessary assistance that fits his specific needs. Colonial Tax really strives to be a firm that does things the right way for taxpayers who are needing honest and ethical assistance. I do hope this response serves as indication as to the work that was performed in a very reasonable amount of time and with full transparency.

Colonial Tax Consultants commented on 07/11/2025