They promise to help you with your tax deficit with the IRS after you've paid off what you owe Optima for their services they tell you they cannot help you so save your money do not use this company. They are frauds and a very terrible company to work with. read more

We paid this company $5000 to help with tax relief and they did nothing for us. I still owe the IRS the same amount as I owed before reaching out to them. I feel like I should call my credit card company and dispute the charges. I was misled regarding the services I thought I was receiving. Do not hire this company to help with your taxes! They are a scam!! read more

The commercial are totally false in my experience. I feel that I was misled regarding the nature and extent of the services that would be provided. The promises made during the enrollment process were a significant factor in my decision to hire Optima Tax Relief. However, the services ultimately provided did not match those representations, and the company failed to fulfill several material obligations outlined in the agreement. The service has been extremely poor; I signed up in October 2025, the lack of communication has been on a level of severely unsatisfactory. The lack of knowledge each person I've spoken to regarding my case is nearly as bad as the lack of communication. I have to send multiple emails to get someone to call, but anytime I receive a call after those emails, the person says they aren't sure what's going on because it's not their department. It is ridiculous. Then someone called, telling me I owe 2025 taxes and wanting me to setup a payment plan on my personal taxes, I requested help with my business taxes not personal, I have a CPA that does my personal taxes, I have told many people this at Optima tax relief and explained this to the person calling again and telling me I owe taxes. I asked, "How do I owe taxes when you do not have any of my personal information to file my taxes?" They said it's an estimate, but once I again I am asking how do you know if you do not have my information. I asked her about the status of my business tax audit, but she was unfortunately so confused that she could not answer my questions and told me it wasn't her department's responsibility. I was told the audit is done. I signed the paperwork from the IRS and asked someone to call me regarding my resolution. Someone from the resolution department called me and stated the audit wasn't done because they were waiting on 2025 business taxes. However, I had already uploaded those taxes to my portal before they called they just did not take the time to look and figure out what was going on with my case before calling, this was in mid-May. During the call they discovered they had all the information and promised someone would call me back regarding my resolution. I have not heard from anyone. It is unfortunate; I thought I was getting a professional tax service to help with my IRS audit for my business. But Optima Tax Relief failed to perform the services they sold me. I am requesting a full refund at this point. read more

They are a rip off. I paid over $8,000 3 years ago and nothing has been resolved. I spoke with the IRS myself and they confirmed that there is ZERO record of them ever calling on my behalf. DO NOT trust this company!!! read more

I would strongly recommend that you not use this company. They did not communicate well, and I never had a dedicated person to my case. Ultimately they put me on a payment plan that I could not afford, and that was their only option. I paid $10,000 essentially for a payment plan. Also, when I asked for communications on my behalf with the IRS, they said it was proprietary, and refused. They offered me a $100 coupon to use their services in the future, which I would never use after the experience I had. read more

I paid $15,000 about five years ago to have my taxes sorted out to pay the IRS. The only thing I have received is repeated phone calls requesting the same information. Five years, $15,000 and they just called me for the same information I have provided and provided. read more

This is a scam company. They tell you what they can do to help you with working with IRS, but never provide the data outlining the progress that are making, because they are doing very little. They blame the IRS for dragging their feet but can never provide and data showing the progress they are making because they are making little to none while charging you upfront or month after month. read more

Too bad there's not an option for 0 stars. I contacted Optima Tax Relief (OTR) out of Santa Ana, California around July 10, 2025. After 7 months, I've contracted with Pure Tax Resolution, another tax service company out of Clearwater, FL. Here's the difference between the 2. OTR agents kept requesting data that I didn't have. I spoke and wrote to OTR agents via phone about the fact that I had somehow misplaced accounting data for years 2019-2024. I have memory issues related to a brain injury I sustained in the past and I was desperate for help. But I still was being hounded for this data. I directly contacted the IRS, and an agent scheduled an in person consult to obtain transcripts of my past income streams on Oct. 22, 2025. But the IRS cancelled this appointment because of the government shutdown. Soon after the government shutdown ended around the 12th of Nov., I again contacted the IRS directly. This time, I explained that I needed transcripts documenting past income streams to share with OTR. Imagine my surprise when the IRS agent explained that OTR representatives who had possession of my "power of attorney" could easily have obtained this information within minutes via the internet. Compare this treatment with my current tax attorney from Pure Tax Resolution who within a day emailed me all the required transcripts along with worksheets so that I could verify, correct or add data to what was showing on the transcripts. This entire process took less than 2 weeks. Another example has to do with my income history where from 2019-2021 I received so little monies that I was probably due refunds but in 2022 my ex-husband of 23 years passed away mid-year which significantly increased my social security income. Sometime in 2024/ 2025 I received a demand IRS letter for taxes that I owed the IRS for the year 2022. I had contacted OTR about this and for requiring assistance to file tax forms for 2023 and 2024. OTR agents documented within my portal that they were working on doing tax work for the years 2019-2024. Yes, I am charged for work done by OTR employees for each year. Now compare how my current tax attorney of Pure Tax Resolution handled this information. Within minutes, she explained that doing tax forms for 2019, 2020 and 2021 wasn't necessary as the IRS limits the time that past refunds could be used to reduce current taxes owed to 3 years. She suggested working on filing IRS tax forms for 2023, 2024 and for her to verify accuracy of the 2022 filing. The above work done by Pure Tax Resolution has taken very little time. In addition, I was presented with an itemized bill from the start. While I'm not ecstatic about this, the billing from Pure Tax Resolution is less than what OTR had been demanding. My current tax attorney took time to explain how the process works. Companies that promise great negotiated deals with the IRS can't make this guarantee because their employees are bound by IRS guidelines. Less than half of the applicants qualify for IRS programs/ plans that reduce the amount of taxes owed. But within the guidelines, my tax attorney advised me that she'd do her best. Here's another difference. At Pure Tax Resolution, clients interact directly with a tax attorney or CPA accountant. At OTR, there're about 400 employees but only about 25 are tax attorneys or accountants. OTR's advertisement that clients will be dealing with tax specialists is misleading. I received no emails from OTR agents detailing work done on my behalf, but my current tax attorney has kept my informed my email, texts, phone messages on a weekly basis. All the OTR agents did, was the drip, drip, drip requests for more monies while demanding that I provide data that they were in a position to easily obtain. OTR's self-serving acclamations/ advertisements aren't reflected in the complaints data provided by BBB agency serving the Pacific SW business community where in the pat 3 -years, the BBB at 1010 E Missouri Ave., Phoenix AZ 85014 has collected over 770 complaints and over 270 for the past year. read more

Spoke to Alejandro he is assisting me w a partial refund He let me explain my satisfaction he didn't interrupt, and was very empathetic read more

i wish there was a negative value for this so called company. They did absolutely nothing for the money paid. Hard to contact and never shown any so called work they did. DON'T use this company. SCAM. Look at the facebook page Don't use Optima Tax relief. Their are many people being frauded by this crappy company. FYI there are lawsuits being initiated. This company Sucks!! Stay away!! read more

After a long introduction which was nothing more than a sales spiel, I agreed to fax my data, The data was lost and I was never contacted. They are overpriced and careless. Avoid them like the plague! No stars is the rating. read more

Horrible experience me and my husband called in October and they said we will start the process and we are in contact with the IRS and making a plan six months in we're getting letters from the IRS. So we called no understanding they have gotten 4,000 dollars of our money 700 a month we've been sending them. They say they where missing one paper to start the process so I asked the lady why we haven't got a call or a letter in the mail in six months to say we can't start the process without this paper. Getting smart on the phone saying all I can tell you we can start the process now. Question what have y'all done with our money for six months cause we're still getting letters and I called the irs and they said optima tax haven't reach out and started no plan. I will be going to make a court case show the judge from October till March what has been done for 4,000 dollar. To anyone thinking about using them don't waste your money read more

Horrible service. Optima rarely returned calls, dragged things out for over two years, and never made any real progress on my tax debt. They even tried to stop me from posting honest reviews. In the end, we had to resolve the issue directly with the IRS ourselves and received no reimbursement. Don't waste your time or money with Optima Tax Relief. read more

Do not use this company . 5k and almost a year later they finally call saying they have resolutions options . Which was only one option pay $600 a month for 72 months . No fees were waived or reduced they did absolutely nothing for me . I went on the irs website to see if they could offer a better solution and sure enough they are asking me to pay less a month . Lesson learned . Unprofessional and unhelpful. If I had 4 hands I would give this place 4 thumbs down read more

Can never get ahold of anyone at this fly bye company when I'm asked to call and there is no communication what so ever. By far the worst company I have ever felt with and could have saved a lot of headache and monet if I would have did this myself.i will never use tax optima ever agian! read more

Please dont use this company. I was scammed out of almost $5500 and they did absolutely nothing for me. I can tell you their game plan in one sentence. ex. You owe $100 to the IRS, the company file your next year taxes, and pay the $100 you owe. People you can do that yourself. I have never received a solution from them after 5 years and $5500. read more

If I can give ZERO stars, I would give that. Obviously, I had tax debt. Received a letter from IRS causing me to panic. I called around that Optima was the only place that explained "what they do" to help people. After a few days of reading and trying to wrap my head around the debt owed & knowing the IRS doesn't play, I signed up for Optima hoping to get some help and a decent payment arrangement. (I signed up in July). After review of my case, I had to sign up for a monthly payment to have them help me. (Honestly the amount they charge is exorbitant. I then had to continually contact them to get information. I will say they did review my taxes and past tax years, that is the ONLY thing they did. It is now January, 7 months later and I have NO help from them. They want me to sign a resolution paying the IRS $1k a month (how on earth am I able to do that?) Then she said you agree to pay that, we will then go to IRS and start negotiating. I then asked, what have you been doing all this time? She said they have been reviewing my case and the legal team comes up with the payment that IRS will take. Ummmm, so you don't even contact IRS prior. I said, how do I agree to something that I am unable to pay each month, it's setting me up to fail. The woman then got extremely rude and said that I'm going in circles and prolonging the inevitable. I told her I would get back to her. I requested a call from her, NO CALL YET. I hung up with HENY the manager from Optima and called IRS myself. I was able to get a payment arrangement that I originally told Optima I could pay. I SHOULD NEVER HAVE GONE WITH THIS COMPANY. I WILL BE FIGHTING TO GET MY MONEY BACK FROM THEM. THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING TO HELP ME!!!! THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM AND IT IS FRAUD TO OFFER A SERVICE, TAKE MONEY FROM PEOPLE AND NOT HELP THEM. DO NOT USE THEM. JUST CALL IRS DIRECTLY. THEY WILL WORK WITH YOU. read more

I really think they do not have anyone doing taxes or any tax lawyers. Nothing for 6 years, I ended up filing my taxes, and making arrangement with the IRS. I spent $600 filing my taxes, when they said in the beginning they would handle it all. I did all the work for them to collect and do nothing. I was getting tax threats and still nothing from Optima. When I finally got my payment plan from the IRS, Optima then comes in, again 6 years later, with a plan, which was not discussed and out of our budget and they submitted it to the IRS even though we told them we couldn't afford it, and it cancelled our plan. $6500 down the drain, and we could have done it for $600. Please do not make the same mistake. Take your taxes to someone else, have them do your taxes, and then call IRS and make arrangements. You will not get any discounts or saving with Optima, heck you wont get any work. I want documents of what was done and a refund, but that would be wishful thinking from scammers. Now they want to close out case, which is fine with me, and discuss how well they did. Of course I am waiting to give them a ear full, which they probably wont care. Please Please Please save your money, I wish my husband had reviewed the reviews on Optima before paying them. read more

I just spoke with Melissa Negron about my sister's Federal and Arizona state tax issues and she very politely how my sister was not in a position to assist her. She had very nice voice that was very comforting! I there is anything you can do for her. I would very much your letting me know what it was. You can reach me at 858-379-4718 Thank you very much! read more

Optima contacted me and offered a partial refund of the fees I paid. I consider this issue closed.

First pay very close attention to the to the boilerplate canned responses that that follow all issues with Optima. After multiple red flags with this company their offer to settle with me was similar to what I would considered extortion. They offered to refund half of the initial fee with the condition I rescind or correct negative reviews. The 15 day window for a money back guarantee had expired. That was my fault. Make certain if you do any business with them it's imperative you request a copy your Investigation enrollment documents as they will NOT provide you a copy in the client portal of signed documents.Since I did not receive a decision as to what they will do for me til the 16th day. On that day the appointment was a no show and that should make any customer very wary of their money back guarantee The excuse was I didn't confirm the appointment via text , after explaining there is now way to confirm the appointment excuses were made. After getting off the phone today with Anthony he wasn't even aware of the difference in Pacific time zone vs Central. I have call log data to back up my claim. If you are comfortable with with having a company that pulls no call no shows and have staff that do not understand the difference between a 1099 or a W-2 or that there is a 2 hour time zone difference between CST and PST good luck. read more

Won't return my boyfriends calls now that all my taxes were done. I would give them more starts but still waiting on a return E-mail call, whistle, smoke signal, smh. We feel like his personal information is being hijacked . Use at your own risk read more

I didn't use the service Brenda helped me get a refund and yelp makes you write a longer review than you want to so here I go writing nonsense to fulfill optima and yelp cuz nothing ever is what it seems have a nice day customer service read more

I'm a 63 year old disabled widow who depends on SS and a part time job to make ends meet . I used the small amount of money my husband left me to buy a 40 year old mobile home. This left me with a large tax bill . I paid Optima Tax Relief $3000 to help me settle my debt to the IRS. They believed I could sell my mobile home to pay off my $$18,000 bill . Where would I live ? My trailer isn't worth more than $14,000. I'm now expected to pay $250 a month for pretty much the rest of my life. I didn't get any help . read more

Took over $3,000 from us and did nothing, except completely misrepresent our situation. They kept asking for worksheets for tax years that had already been done, filed, refunded and filed away. I would explain to them that those years are of no consequence, and they would go back to "work," but nothing ever happened. Wish I'd never contacted them. I'd be $3,000 richer. read more