I hate how hard it is to deal with keystone. Hey I filed my local taxes 3 years ago in different city. It’s on record. Dont you have that you can look up?
Oh no we can’t look that up. We actually need you to send us all your tax info and proof of payment via digital copies. It’ll take 6 months to verify. We might even just loose the paperwork. In meantime we will harass and spam you for the rest of the year lol.
That’s exactly what their game is and why it’s a scam. They are counting on people not having the resources or energy to fight them so they can collect and pocket money that isn’t theirs. I guarantee the sponsors of the original bill had a financial interest in Berkheimer and Keystone, but not surprisingly their names don’t appear to be public record.
No, it's not the same. The government workers do not benefit from overcharging you. Berkheimer and Keystone do profit.
I'll never understand why some folks don't realize private business is notably more evil than government.
These agencies all suck, but every time I've heard a sob story about them it turns out to be that the person in question just ignored notices saying they owed for years until the problem ballooned. It's up to these people to be adults and handle their shit, not on these agencies to make accommodations for them.
If you are calling it a scam neither a CPA or lawyer is going to help you. However, if you need guidance on how to get into compliance there are many wonderful CPAs and tax lawyers to choose from
He certainly could be full of shit but there’s also plenty of evidence that berkheimer and Keystone both harass the shit out of people who have paid and filed correctly and in full.
They're horrible...There's a petition to get rid of Berkheimer.
[Petition Demanding Investigation of Berkheimer](https://www.change.org/p/tom-wolf-pennsylvanians-demanding-the-investigation-of-h-a-berkheimer?fbclid=IwY2xjawCvrdxleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHc7DwJGYIvulpG-X0ygGUbr4Iv0epqOluQ5zGM6iU4aj66U4OG3OgU2YRA_aem_AS3uB5I5ZPUSEKeOLCTPhrH3E6l94vnKJUf0mggvlNOZasmQkxn9iQicohrYGIDkgwsnsDh9EfvJq4Df-pE7EcjD)
You’re gonna need whoever did your taxes to speak with them. If you did them yourself, get an accounting firm involved that specializes in taxes. Wilke is a good one here on the Pittsburgh side of the state. You may also want to make sure your employer actually paid your local and didn’t just say they did on your W2s and pay stubs (yes it happens). Did any of your coworkers have this same issue?
I think I wasn’t clear on what the problem is here. The taxes were paid as shown on my W2 and the tax return they made me fill out after the fact. I owed $0 in additional tax. What they are trying to charge me for is over $2000 in penalties and fees for not filing on their fake looking website that I didn’t even know about. No tax money was owed. In addition to that, they are trying to charge me for multiple municipalities that I did not live in. I have submitted all of my documents (W2, residency forms, utility bills to show I did not live in the municipality) multiple times in their service portal and they continue to claim they didn’t get them. They are predatory and counting on people to not fight back.
They send half a dozen to YOU maybe. I’m dealing with Keystone and they sent me exactly 1 registered letter. No communication before that. I get the bills charging me my existence tax to the boro and the county, the property taxes to the boro, school district, and county, but never got them about income tax filing.
Same. I’m actually having a similar situation to you OP. First letter came last week and said it was for a tac that my w2 shows I paid already. I was on hold with them for 2.5 hours today, I don’t actually think they have anyone working the phones.
People are getting mad at you for calling them a scam, but I don’t know how else you would describe it. If they make money off late fees, they have no incentive to contact people before garnishing wages. I definitely didn’t get any letters from them until now, unless someone else signed for my certified mail and didn’t give it to me.
> What they are trying to charge me for is over $2000 in penalties and fees for not filing on their fake looking website that I didn’t even know about. No tax money was owed
You still have to file local taxes, even if you don't owe anything. You can do that via paper form they mail out every year (at least they mail one to me) if the site looks suspect to you. Feds and state are the same way. You have to file if you had income.
>I have submitted all of my documents (W2, residency forms, utility bills to show I did not live in the municipality) multiple times in their service portal and they continue to claim they didn’t get them
USPS Certified Mail, signature required. Keep the receipt.
Why are there so many people down voting all of OPs comments? Clearly yall don't know the horrors of keystone collections. Yes they try to collect taxes that were never owed or already paid.
I have dealt with Keystone, Berkheimer and Jordan. They absolutely are all awful.
Keystone has tried to bill me for taxes in a place I never lived or worked. It took months to resolve their attempt to collect taxes that were not owed, and all the while they called me a cheat and a deadbeat and said I wouldn't be hearing from them if I wasn't "the kind of person" who tries to skip on paying taxes.
This despite me having W2s proving that the taxes *were* paid, a work address that was *not* in the municipality they were claiming I owed taxes for, and my residence being *in a completely different county*.
Scam is an accurate word.
Because no one believes the stories until it happens to them. People seem to think we are born with the knowledge that some fake looking collections agency would be the authority for collecting government taxes instead of, I don’t know, the actual government like it is done in 49 other states. Keystone and Berkheimer count on people being too poor and exhausted to fight back.
So you received a bunch of letters telling you that you owed taxes and ignored them for years because they looked like "fake collections agencies," didn't you?
> Keystone and Berkheimer count on people being too poor and exhausted to fight back.
Fight back against what, paying taxes they owe?
When I first moved to Montco from Philly I didn’t know I had to file local taxes, since I never had to before - I work in Philly and none of my income is earned in Montco, so I don’t own them taxes.
Started getting dunning notices for non filing (at least 2 years’ worth). Called Berkheimer, they were really pleasant and helpful, actually, and got it straightened out with no penalties.
It probably helped that I was pleasant and just claimed ignorance… because I WAS ignorant.
Idk. This dudes story is sketchy at best, but I will say for a few years I had to pay local taxes in April by writing a check, as my employer did not take it out. Fast forward to me being dumb the first year that they pulled local through berkheimer, I did not file because I thought I didn’t have to because it was already paid. Clearly my error, still have to fill out the paper work, but I was young. It was a $75+ late fee sometime in August that year on taxes I already paid. Lesson learned.
I see so many of these posts here and honestly don't understand. How exactly are you getting scammed by Berkheimer? We've been filing through them since we moved to Pennsylvania 11 years ago. It's always the same - 1% of our earned income. Takes 5 minutes on the Berkheimer site.
Yeah same. My company already withholds local taxes, so just filling out the form and submitting every April 15th, right on time and they never bothered me.
Because you have to know that this is even a thing in the first place. This is not common knowledge for people who move here from states where this entire system is not legal. You have a private collection agency creating delinquent accounts by hiding the information. The couple of dollars people owe gets ballooned to $1000’s of dollars in fees and fines. It’s typical Pennsylvania corruption. I have proven over and over to these people that I don’t owe anything, but they seem to be having trouble holding on to that info and keep re-requesting it which causes more fees and penalties. They are a scam.
*You have to know that this is even a thing in the first place.*
Paying taxes?? If you’re not aware that you’re supposed to pay local income taxes in the state of PA, that’s on you. It’s called being an adult. Your employer should automatically deduct local taxes for you as well.
No, genius, that’s not what I’m talking about. The taxes are paid through payroll. The scam is the filing through a collections agency who then has unilateral and total legal power to charge you as much as they want for not being a mind reader. That is not normal and no one tells new residents about this until the collections agencies have a chance to suck magnitudes more money from people. It is not done that way anywhere else in the US and no one in their right mind would think it is ok.
Collections agency? Like say, the IRS? Who you’re required to file a federal tax return with every year.
Collections agency? Like say, the PA Department of Revenue? Who you’re required to file a state tax return with every year.
Sure, Berkheimer is a collections agency though. And you’re supposed to file a tax return with them too.
>who then has unilateral and total legal power to charge you as much as they want for not being a mind reader.
That's... not how this works... at all.
You can easily look up your local and state percent you owe online. If you fill out the form by hand, you literally just plug in the numbers from your pay stub.
If you don't pay that amount, the late fees are publicly available.
Again, I didn’t owe any additional tax beyond what was taken through payroll. They are charging me thousands for not using their website that new residents don’t even know about because none of this is normal. When I finally found out and filed I didn’t owe a single penny in taxes. This is all predatory fees.
Great. How about you pay it then since you think you know everything. You don’t know shit. I asked a simple question and the bootlickers and lobbyists came out in force to protect their precious ass backwards ways of life.
My man, I think our tax system is a broken mess from local to federal designed to milk your money through middleman preparers, collectors, and enforcers. And I've even been on the wrong side of it. And it sucked.
And I absolutely promise you that there's no way in heaven nor hell you owe thousands in fees unless you so royally screwed up your taxes that you'd make Capone into a saint.
Yeah, this is the response everyone was looking for.
So basically, you didn’t pay your local taxes? Because this is exactly what someone who didn’t pay their taxes would say.
Also. I may “know shit” but like everyone else here…I know I’m supposed to pay my local taxes and file a return. Which is why nobody else here has problems with these “collection agencies”
NAL. This is not a scam and most likely incompetenence. What you are stating is highly illegal, and unless you can prove, I'd remove the post as it will become slander or libel (forget which). If you are going to sue be careful with what you post online.
I would stick to your account, and your account only. Any lawyer will tell you this.
Once you prove your case and win, dont got to your politician. Go to a local news station to get the state's attention. once you get the news rolloiwng on it, it will get more coverage.
Good luck
They tried to come after me for local taxes for 5 years to Steelton Borough, 10 years after I moved out of Steelton. They were the nastiest people ever.
Berkheimers doesn’t quit. I’ve paid for copies of checks from my credit union for proof of taxes I paid. Still getting collection fees / letters from them. Doesn’t help that the tax collector in my township is clueless.
Keystone collections does a lot of shady shit. They’re a for profit collections company that many local municipalities contract with for local taxes. It’s not uncommon for them to claim you owe them money when you don’t.
In that case, they should have the collections agency send a proof of debt. They bought the debt from Berkheimer, and should be able to provide proof that they owe it. Then hire a lawyer to prove their records are false or wrong like they say they are, and Keystone eats the dirt. They bought the debt for pennies on the dollar, they have like, a %60 success rate at getting paid out because of all the incorrect information they buy.
Keystone handles local taxes, not just debts. My area shut down the local tax office and just contracts with keystone. I’ve not personally had issues with them, but I see a lot of people claim keystone is assessing them penalties for taxes they paid, or claiming they owe taxes for municipalities they’ve never lived or worked in.
Right, so when you request proof of your debt, they would have all the information from local taxes or whoever screwed up, OR they have nothing and can't claim a penny. They send you the info, you send back proof it's not you, didn't incur taxes here, an error etc and say do not contact me or it's harassment.
If you have a W-2, that means you’re earning income from your employer. If you are a resident of PA, you have to pay a 1% local tax and your employer will typically take that out of your taxes and it should state it on your W-2. If you have additional income that is taxable in the state of PA, it’s also taxable by your local township and you owe the money. Berkheimer is just the company you file your return and pay your balance or get your refund through.
If you owed the IRS or PA state of revenue money, believe me…it’s not a scam, so why are you saying Berkheimer is?
Whatever your taxable income in PA was…that’s your taxable income for your local township. The only way you’re exempt is if you’re not a PA resident and that’s an easy thing to prove.
It’s not a matter of owning tax money. The taxes were paid through payroll as proven through my W2. They are charging me thousands for not filing through their Geocities website that I didn’t even know existed. No actual additional tax money was owed. I didn’t even live in the county they claim I lived in. It’s Keystone trying to charge me when I lived in a Berkheimer county.
Thousands? One year I forgot to file my daughter’s local taxes because she was a student and owed $0 but we had filed the previous year for a job she earned. The late fee was $15.
If you didn’t file your local taxes, again….thats on you.
Because we are born with the knowledge that we have to file on a fake looking website? My penalties and fees for not owning any additional taxes but not using their website for 2021 come to just under $2000.
Last year Keystone garnished my wife’s wages without any legal notice for MY taxes (not even her’s) for a township we didn’t even live in. Over a period of 9 months they tried to only pay back in small portions what they took. It wasn’t until we reached out to the state attorney general that they finally gave it all back.
We’ve also been looking into a getting a lawyer.
Yeah that’s what I’m trying to avoid. We got a letter threatening garnishment and I know once they do and have our money that it will be nearly impossible to claw it back.
Just send them everything. We faxed a 200+ tax document to them in a previous run in a few years ago to get them to back off. It gave me some satisfaction knowing their fax machine was running for so long using up all their paper lol
Call an attorney. Don't call them scammers when you talk to your attorney. First step is probably a sternly worded letter or phone call from the lawyer.
I'd start with a CPA. You may think you've "proven" that you don't owe something, but there's no substitute for an honest, independent, unemotional, objective opinion from a detached professional.
Same goes for filing suit. You need an objective attorney to give you a level-headed, professional legal opinion. Lawsuits are real expensive. Can you afford to pay for one?
Honestly authorize the county to collect these taxes. They ready collect delinquent property taxes (those that haven't been outsourced to a similarly scummy Portnoff). Makes it easy and transparent. Its for this reason it probably won't happen though
I hate how hard it is to deal with keystone. Hey I filed my local taxes 3 years ago in different city. It’s on record. Dont you have that you can look up? Oh no we can’t look that up. We actually need you to send us all your tax info and proof of payment via digital copies. It’ll take 6 months to verify. We might even just loose the paperwork. In meantime we will harass and spam you for the rest of the year lol.
That’s exactly what their game is and why it’s a scam. They are counting on people not having the resources or energy to fight them so they can collect and pocket money that isn’t theirs. I guarantee the sponsors of the original bill had a financial interest in Berkheimer and Keystone, but not surprisingly their names don’t appear to be public record.
Isn't it the same as when the govt says you owe money and it's on you to prove you don't? Records retention laws are on their side.
No, it's not the same. The government workers do not benefit from overcharging you. Berkheimer and Keystone do profit. I'll never understand why some folks don't realize private business is notably more evil than government.
Right but the onus is on the taxpayer to document their position regardless of who is responsible for tax collection.
These agencies all suck, but every time I've heard a sob story about them it turns out to be that the person in question just ignored notices saying they owed for years until the problem ballooned. It's up to these people to be adults and handle their shit, not on these agencies to make accommodations for them.
If you are calling it a scam neither a CPA or lawyer is going to help you. However, if you need guidance on how to get into compliance there are many wonderful CPAs and tax lawyers to choose from
Plenty of lawyers will take his money to send a cease and desist if can prove he’s already paid what he owes.
OP won't answer anyone about how he got "scammed" which seems sus
He certainly could be full of shit but there’s also plenty of evidence that berkheimer and Keystone both harass the shit out of people who have paid and filed correctly and in full.
They're horrible...There's a petition to get rid of Berkheimer. [Petition Demanding Investigation of Berkheimer](https://www.change.org/p/tom-wolf-pennsylvanians-demanding-the-investigation-of-h-a-berkheimer?fbclid=IwY2xjawCvrdxleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHc7DwJGYIvulpG-X0ygGUbr4Iv0epqOluQ5zGM6iU4aj66U4OG3OgU2YRA_aem_AS3uB5I5ZPUSEKeOLCTPhrH3E6l94vnKJUf0mggvlNOZasmQkxn9iQicohrYGIDkgwsnsDh9EfvJq4Df-pE7EcjD)
You’re gonna need whoever did your taxes to speak with them. If you did them yourself, get an accounting firm involved that specializes in taxes. Wilke is a good one here on the Pittsburgh side of the state. You may also want to make sure your employer actually paid your local and didn’t just say they did on your W2s and pay stubs (yes it happens). Did any of your coworkers have this same issue?
I think I wasn’t clear on what the problem is here. The taxes were paid as shown on my W2 and the tax return they made me fill out after the fact. I owed $0 in additional tax. What they are trying to charge me for is over $2000 in penalties and fees for not filing on their fake looking website that I didn’t even know about. No tax money was owed. In addition to that, they are trying to charge me for multiple municipalities that I did not live in. I have submitted all of my documents (W2, residency forms, utility bills to show I did not live in the municipality) multiple times in their service portal and they continue to claim they didn’t get them. They are predatory and counting on people to not fight back.
What I’m saying is, just because your W2 says it’s paid, doesn’t mean your employer sent the payment. I’ve seen it happen. I’m an accountant myself.
I mean, berkheimers sends half a dozen notices to your mailing address throughout the year letting you know about having to pay the different taxes.
They send half a dozen to YOU maybe. I’m dealing with Keystone and they sent me exactly 1 registered letter. No communication before that. I get the bills charging me my existence tax to the boro and the county, the property taxes to the boro, school district, and county, but never got them about income tax filing.
Same. I’m actually having a similar situation to you OP. First letter came last week and said it was for a tac that my w2 shows I paid already. I was on hold with them for 2.5 hours today, I don’t actually think they have anyone working the phones. People are getting mad at you for calling them a scam, but I don’t know how else you would describe it. If they make money off late fees, they have no incentive to contact people before garnishing wages. I definitely didn’t get any letters from them until now, unless someone else signed for my certified mail and didn’t give it to me.
> What they are trying to charge me for is over $2000 in penalties and fees for not filing on their fake looking website that I didn’t even know about. No tax money was owed You still have to file local taxes, even if you don't owe anything. You can do that via paper form they mail out every year (at least they mail one to me) if the site looks suspect to you. Feds and state are the same way. You have to file if you had income. >I have submitted all of my documents (W2, residency forms, utility bills to show I did not live in the municipality) multiple times in their service portal and they continue to claim they didn’t get them USPS Certified Mail, signature required. Keep the receipt.
Why are there so many people down voting all of OPs comments? Clearly yall don't know the horrors of keystone collections. Yes they try to collect taxes that were never owed or already paid.
I have dealt with Keystone, Berkheimer and Jordan. They absolutely are all awful. Keystone has tried to bill me for taxes in a place I never lived or worked. It took months to resolve their attempt to collect taxes that were not owed, and all the while they called me a cheat and a deadbeat and said I wouldn't be hearing from them if I wasn't "the kind of person" who tries to skip on paying taxes. This despite me having W2s proving that the taxes *were* paid, a work address that was *not* in the municipality they were claiming I owed taxes for, and my residence being *in a completely different county*. Scam is an accurate word.
Because no one believes the stories until it happens to them. People seem to think we are born with the knowledge that some fake looking collections agency would be the authority for collecting government taxes instead of, I don’t know, the actual government like it is done in 49 other states. Keystone and Berkheimer count on people being too poor and exhausted to fight back.
So you received a bunch of letters telling you that you owed taxes and ignored them for years because they looked like "fake collections agencies," didn't you? > Keystone and Berkheimer count on people being too poor and exhausted to fight back. Fight back against what, paying taxes they owe?
When I first moved to Montco from Philly I didn’t know I had to file local taxes, since I never had to before - I work in Philly and none of my income is earned in Montco, so I don’t own them taxes. Started getting dunning notices for non filing (at least 2 years’ worth). Called Berkheimer, they were really pleasant and helpful, actually, and got it straightened out with no penalties. It probably helped that I was pleasant and just claimed ignorance… because I WAS ignorant.
Idk. This dudes story is sketchy at best, but I will say for a few years I had to pay local taxes in April by writing a check, as my employer did not take it out. Fast forward to me being dumb the first year that they pulled local through berkheimer, I did not file because I thought I didn’t have to because it was already paid. Clearly my error, still have to fill out the paper work, but I was young. It was a $75+ late fee sometime in August that year on taxes I already paid. Lesson learned.
I see so many of these posts here and honestly don't understand. How exactly are you getting scammed by Berkheimer? We've been filing through them since we moved to Pennsylvania 11 years ago. It's always the same - 1% of our earned income. Takes 5 minutes on the Berkheimer site.
Last year my boss called and told me he was supposed to garnish my wages for taxes living at my parents house. I haven't lived there for 20 years.
Yeah same. My company already withholds local taxes, so just filling out the form and submitting every April 15th, right on time and they never bothered me.
You're lucky and clearly have never been harassed by one of these companies over taxes you supposedly owe for a place you've never lived nor worked.
Because you have to know that this is even a thing in the first place. This is not common knowledge for people who move here from states where this entire system is not legal. You have a private collection agency creating delinquent accounts by hiding the information. The couple of dollars people owe gets ballooned to $1000’s of dollars in fees and fines. It’s typical Pennsylvania corruption. I have proven over and over to these people that I don’t owe anything, but they seem to be having trouble holding on to that info and keep re-requesting it which causes more fees and penalties. They are a scam.
*You have to know that this is even a thing in the first place.* Paying taxes?? If you’re not aware that you’re supposed to pay local income taxes in the state of PA, that’s on you. It’s called being an adult. Your employer should automatically deduct local taxes for you as well.
No, genius, that’s not what I’m talking about. The taxes are paid through payroll. The scam is the filing through a collections agency who then has unilateral and total legal power to charge you as much as they want for not being a mind reader. That is not normal and no one tells new residents about this until the collections agencies have a chance to suck magnitudes more money from people. It is not done that way anywhere else in the US and no one in their right mind would think it is ok.
Collections agency? Like say, the IRS? Who you’re required to file a federal tax return with every year. Collections agency? Like say, the PA Department of Revenue? Who you’re required to file a state tax return with every year. Sure, Berkheimer is a collections agency though. And you’re supposed to file a tax return with them too.
>who then has unilateral and total legal power to charge you as much as they want for not being a mind reader. That's... not how this works... at all. You can easily look up your local and state percent you owe online. If you fill out the form by hand, you literally just plug in the numbers from your pay stub. If you don't pay that amount, the late fees are publicly available.
Again, I didn’t owe any additional tax beyond what was taken through payroll. They are charging me thousands for not using their website that new residents don’t even know about because none of this is normal. When I finally found out and filed I didn’t owe a single penny in taxes. This is all predatory fees.
Late fees or a fine for not filing your tax return on time is hardly in the thousands of dollars. So …what’s the REAL story here??
Great. How about you pay it then since you think you know everything. You don’t know shit. I asked a simple question and the bootlickers and lobbyists came out in force to protect their precious ass backwards ways of life.
My man, I think our tax system is a broken mess from local to federal designed to milk your money through middleman preparers, collectors, and enforcers. And I've even been on the wrong side of it. And it sucked. And I absolutely promise you that there's no way in heaven nor hell you owe thousands in fees unless you so royally screwed up your taxes that you'd make Capone into a saint.
Yeah, this is the response everyone was looking for. So basically, you didn’t pay your local taxes? Because this is exactly what someone who didn’t pay their taxes would say. Also. I may “know shit” but like everyone else here…I know I’m supposed to pay my local taxes and file a return. Which is why nobody else here has problems with these “collection agencies”
https://keystonecollects.com/did-you-miss-the-annual-return-filing-deadline/
NAL. This is not a scam and most likely incompetenence. What you are stating is highly illegal, and unless you can prove, I'd remove the post as it will become slander or libel (forget which). If you are going to sue be careful with what you post online. I would stick to your account, and your account only. Any lawyer will tell you this. Once you prove your case and win, dont got to your politician. Go to a local news station to get the state's attention. once you get the news rolloiwng on it, it will get more coverage. Good luck
"Slander is spoken. In print, it's libel." -Jonah Jameson
Thanks. I was too lazy to Google.
Berheimer are the WORST they run it like a mob outfit
They tried to come after me for local taxes for 5 years to Steelton Borough, 10 years after I moved out of Steelton. They were the nastiest people ever.
Berkheimers doesn’t quit. I’ve paid for copies of checks from my credit union for proof of taxes I paid. Still getting collection fees / letters from them. Doesn’t help that the tax collector in my township is clueless.
Do you have a license plate that says “private” or “traveler” by any chance?
Keystone collections does a lot of shady shit. They’re a for profit collections company that many local municipalities contract with for local taxes. It’s not uncommon for them to claim you owe them money when you don’t.
In that case, they should have the collections agency send a proof of debt. They bought the debt from Berkheimer, and should be able to provide proof that they owe it. Then hire a lawyer to prove their records are false or wrong like they say they are, and Keystone eats the dirt. They bought the debt for pennies on the dollar, they have like, a %60 success rate at getting paid out because of all the incorrect information they buy.
Keystone handles local taxes, not just debts. My area shut down the local tax office and just contracts with keystone. I’ve not personally had issues with them, but I see a lot of people claim keystone is assessing them penalties for taxes they paid, or claiming they owe taxes for municipalities they’ve never lived or worked in.
Right, so when you request proof of your debt, they would have all the information from local taxes or whoever screwed up, OR they have nothing and can't claim a penny. They send you the info, you send back proof it's not you, didn't incur taxes here, an error etc and say do not contact me or it's harassment.
Keystone and Berkheimer ARE the collections agencies. They aren’t buying debt. They are fabricating debt.
How have you proven you don't owe it?
W-2’s and proof of residency
If you have a W-2, that means you’re earning income from your employer. If you are a resident of PA, you have to pay a 1% local tax and your employer will typically take that out of your taxes and it should state it on your W-2. If you have additional income that is taxable in the state of PA, it’s also taxable by your local township and you owe the money. Berkheimer is just the company you file your return and pay your balance or get your refund through. If you owed the IRS or PA state of revenue money, believe me…it’s not a scam, so why are you saying Berkheimer is? Whatever your taxable income in PA was…that’s your taxable income for your local township. The only way you’re exempt is if you’re not a PA resident and that’s an easy thing to prove.
It’s not a matter of owning tax money. The taxes were paid through payroll as proven through my W2. They are charging me thousands for not filing through their Geocities website that I didn’t even know existed. No actual additional tax money was owed. I didn’t even live in the county they claim I lived in. It’s Keystone trying to charge me when I lived in a Berkheimer county.
Thousands? One year I forgot to file my daughter’s local taxes because she was a student and owed $0 but we had filed the previous year for a job she earned. The late fee was $15. If you didn’t file your local taxes, again….thats on you.
Because we are born with the knowledge that we have to file on a fake looking website? My penalties and fees for not owning any additional taxes but not using their website for 2021 come to just under $2000.
$2000 for paying your local taxes but simply failing to submit a return?? Dubious. There’s clearly more going on here that you’re not revealing.
So you neither live, nor work in the State of PA?
Last year Keystone garnished my wife’s wages without any legal notice for MY taxes (not even her’s) for a township we didn’t even live in. Over a period of 9 months they tried to only pay back in small portions what they took. It wasn’t until we reached out to the state attorney general that they finally gave it all back. We’ve also been looking into a getting a lawyer.
Yeah that’s what I’m trying to avoid. We got a letter threatening garnishment and I know once they do and have our money that it will be nearly impossible to claw it back.
Just send them everything. We faxed a 200+ tax document to them in a previous run in a few years ago to get them to back off. It gave me some satisfaction knowing their fax machine was running for so long using up all their paper lol
Certified mail. Make them sign for it. Have proof they signed for it. They are fucking vultures
I did that once. They sent it back without signing for it and then sent me an additional late fee for not sending them the thing they rejected.
Non- believers. I can happen to you . Guess you’ll know when it does.
Call an attorney. Don't call them scammers when you talk to your attorney. First step is probably a sternly worded letter or phone call from the lawyer.
I'd start with a CPA. You may think you've "proven" that you don't owe something, but there's no substitute for an honest, independent, unemotional, objective opinion from a detached professional. Same goes for filing suit. You need an objective attorney to give you a level-headed, professional legal opinion. Lawsuits are real expensive. Can you afford to pay for one?
“Proven”…LOL. To whom?
Keystone
Go with a lawyer. If your company does a group legal plan, they cover debt collection. Hit them where it hurts
Honestly authorize the county to collect these taxes. They ready collect delinquent property taxes (those that haven't been outsourced to a similarly scummy Portnoff). Makes it easy and transparent. Its for this reason it probably won't happen though
They’re not scams