COLLINS ANNOUNCES IRS HELP LINE FOR HARMON-BAERT CLIENTS

Washington, DC -- Senator Susan Collins today announced that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has set up a Revenue Officer Coordinator Line to help former clients of Harmon-Baert assess the status of their accounts, many of which are inadvertently delinquent. The IRS says business owners who used Harmon-Baert's payroll accounting service will be able to get information on the status of their tax accounts and request official record at no charge.

The IRS help line for former Harmon-Baert clients is 207-253-6402.

Senator Collins, who has been working with the IRS to help businesses that were victimized by the alleged payroll scandal, said, "I am grateful that the IRS has been responsive to my requests and the needs of businesses that have become victim to this tragic situation. It is my hope that this help line will initiate lines of communication as we seek to find help for these businesses and the individuals who are employed by them."

Senator Collins recently wrote a letter to the IRS Commissioner asking that he "inform IRS collection personnel of the situation which appears to have developed with regard to the former clients of Harmon-Baert Associates, and temporarily suspend collection actions against former clients while IRS personnel consider the individual circumstances of each taxpayer. I also ask that the Service make a special effort to provide these taxpayers with timely guidance and information regarding the collection process and alternatives, particularly with regard to the rules and regulations pertaining to ‘offer and compromise'."

The IRS has filed court documents that accuse Harmon-Baert Associates, a payroll company in Saco, of failing to submit tax payments on behalf of its client companies even though Harmon-Baert allegedly took the money from its clients' accounts. IRS investigators have already identified nearly three dozen companies that believed Harmon-Baert was paying their payroll taxes and filing the proper paperwork with tax agencies. The agency''s preliminary investigation found at least $1.1 million in payroll taxes had not been paid by Harmon-Baert on behalf of at least 34 clients.