Perhaps Marissa Chien is forgetful, but much of what she says in her post
about our contacts is not correct.
First, I didn't "trash" her book. I first posted that it doesn't fully go
into the stress and tribulations one might find when audited. Later I posted
that it was a very useful guide and should be purchased by anyone reporting
Gambling winnings. I never blamed her (or Jean) for my own troubles!
Secondly - when I first contacted Marissa Chien (via phone) regarding my tax
problem, she did not offer to "review what she had written to the IRS
previously at no charge." Instead, she just told me her fee was $250 an hour,
which I did not question. I felt it was pretty much standard. Perhaps I said "gee
I didn't know it was that high," or something like that, but that was only
because I was unfamiliar with costs. Her fee is pretty much standard, and
perhaps even lower than what some tax preparers/accountants charge.
She briefly advised me that I should try to contact an IRS supervisor, and
that perhaps I might want just to amend my return and avoid all the problems.
I then decided it would be a good idea to hire her (so obviously I didn't
find any fault with her fees!), but when I sent her a letter requesting to do
that, she said no, she would not take my case. She apparently had taken
offense at my first post which was in no way intended as an attack on her or her
book, but merely an expression of my surprise that the IRS agents I
initially contacted had no knowledge of "sessions" and my realization that the "Tax
Guide for the Frugal Gambler" had not really gone into the amount of
resistance one would encounter at the IRS when attempting to use this method, and (in
my opinion) did not adequately go into the stress and problems one might
encounter.
After I posted that I still thought people should buy the "Tax Guide for the
Frugal Gambler" and that it had a lot of good information on the gray areas
of gambling, Marissa (apparently reluctantly), said I could contact her if I
should receive a notification of deficiency. She also sent me a brief email
with a few tidbits of advice.
Meanwhile, Jean Scott and I had a lot of correspondence and Jean was
extremely supportive and helpful to me. Jean also said she had spoken to Marissa
and asked her if she would help me. But apparently there was some sort of
"personality conflict" and Marissa really didn't want to.
I certainly think that Marissa Chien's fees are standard and there is
nothing wrong with them, (and at one point I tried to hire her at those fees!).
When she refused my case, and it became apparent that there was a personality
conflict (at least on her part - I have no animosity toward her), I decided
that in any case it probably would be best to look elsewhere if I needed
professional help.
Needless to say, in my previous post (which I just posted earlier today), I
actually advised that anyone attempting to use the Session method would
probably be best served to contact Marissa Chien or some other tax professional
for help - preferably before they even file their initial return. Does that
sound like I'm trashing her?
As for attitude - I think the attitude here is on Marissa's part, who seems
somewhat thin-skinned about comments regarding her book. I never said one
bad word to her on the phone nor complained about her fees.
I admit I was surprised in my one phone call with Marissa that she seemed
to be recommending that I file an amended return as my best recourse, rather
than standing behind the advice in her book and urging me to hire her and
fight against the low-level IRS bureaucracy. But I didn't voice this surprise
to Marissa, Jean, or to this list (until now). I had another list member
write me privately that he'd had the same response when contacting Marissa
Chien.
I did not have anyone respond to me privately or in posts about having hired
Ms. Chien or her Advantage Tax+ to respond to audits, so I have no idea what
her firm does if a client is audited for using Sessions or whether she or
her firm have ever successfully fought the IRS regarding using Sessions. I do
have a good friends (a couple) who hired Advantage Tax+ to do their regular
tax return (hiring a different person who works there, not Ms. Chien), and
those people were delighted with their service and recommended their tax man to
me highly. (However when I tried to reach this man recently by phone - prior
to my post by the way - he never returned my call - so I don't know what is
up with that).
I hardly know Ms. Chien and really have no knowledge of her and her firm
other than a brief phone call and an email or two and having read her book. I'm
sure she is quite professional and her fees are quite acceptable. I don't
know how much she really stands behind her book's advice that it is okay for
the average player to use sessions -- nor do I know how much she is able to
help people who do this. Perhaps other list members have used her services in
that regard, I don't know.
On the other hand, I do know Jean Scott well, and she is an extremely
honest, helpful, and nice person, willing to go out of her way to help others. It
was she (not Marissa), who in fact offered to help go over my response for
free, provide advice, and help. If somehow Jean was passing advice on from
Marissa, I had (and have) no knowledge of that, and all my correspondence was
with Jean, who went out of her way to help me the best she could. Jean
explained that she had previously done some work helping Senior Citizens fill out
tax forms, and had a lot of knowledge in the area of dealing with the IRS.
Jean provided a lot of help and was great. I really appreciate her efforts.
Another VPFree member, Judy Slatin, who is an accountant, also provided a huge
amount of help.
As for the "Tax Guide for the Frugal Gambler" - it does provide a lot of
useful information. I can't say for sure how great the advice that the average
individual taxpayer use Sessions is, however. As I posted, from my
experience (and from hearing from some others on the list who were audited after doing
so), my best guess is that anyone using Sessions (and has Winning Sessions
lower than W2Gs) is likely to be audited, and probably will have to go through
the appeals process if they ever want to prevail. I know of one person who
did that and won; I have no way of knowing whether everyone with accurate
records can win though. I do know that the process is time-consuming, fraught
with roadblocks and lack of definite answers, and stressful -- enough so that
we decided to buckle under rather than continue to the appeal process.
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