By MATT CHANDLER
mchandler@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1654

The voice booms through your car radio, saying, "Don't fight the IRS alone. We can help you settle for pennies on the dollar!"

A compassionate person on TV makes similar claims, as do billboards, newspaper advertisements and Internet pop-ups. Each offer some version of the same two points: The IRS is a cold, heartless entity; and you would be a fool to face such a behemoth alone.

Given the ongoing economic conditions, the number of companies promising to "solve your tax problems" is on the rise. But are they for real? Can you truly pay just pennies on the dollar to settle with the IRS? Most important, can you trust the voice at the other end of that toll-free number, a person sitting in a call center in some distant land?

Those questions, combined with an increase in the need for tax-related services, led one local family to take action.

John O'Neill founded Equity Search, a tax representation business, in 1984 in West Seneca. Though the business has grown, it is a new company - run by O'Neill's children, Patrick and Jennifer - that is looking to change the way people resolve tax problems with the IRS.

IRShelp.com began as a concept nearly a decade ago. At the time, the O'Neills acquired the toll-free telephone number 800-IRS-HELP and hoped to add the Web site of the same name. The plan was to build a national network of tax professionals and be able to direct clients to a local agent in their area, as opposed to the cookie-cutter national approach employed by some companies. However, there was a hitch.

"The domain name was owned by an individual in Seattle," Patrick said, "and he didn't want to sell it."

Every six months or so, the O'Neills would make a call and each time they were met with the same "thanks, but no thanks" when they inquired about purchasing the name. Believing that it was key to building the new business, they persisted - and last September, Patrick was surprised when the gentleman said he was finally ready to sell. Patrick flew to the West Coast, purchased the site and IRSHelp.com was on its way. He declined to disclose the cost.

The site launched in July, and the O'Neills say things are off to a strong start as they employ a largely grass-roots campaign of traveling the country to get tax professionals to join the network.

"We feel like we have a real competitive advantage having the IRS Help name," Jennifer said. "People search "IRS help" about 1,800 times a day nationwide, so when you search on Yahoo or Google, we come up at the top, right behind the IRS."

Patrick is president and CEO of the company and his sister is vice president and chief financial officer. He said their goal is to unite people with local agents they feel confident with, instead of an "impersonal" national company handling a case over the phone.

"So many of the companies are set up as a prepackaged service. We are trying to set this up so it has more of a local feel," he said. "You're going to meet the person you are dealing with, and it will be a local small business that can't afford to have a high multimillion-dollar campaign out there to reach these people. We are trying to bring the people together so they can compete against the large corporations that do this work."

He said he hopes to grow the IRS Help operation to include 1,000 tax professionals nationwide in the first year of operation. From there, the goal is to have help available in every community throughout the country.

"We are revising our Web site as we speak, and people will be able to search within a certain radius of your ZIP code and you will be able to search by county," he said.

Jennifer O'Neill, meanwhile, said an added component of the new business is that tax professionals who are part of the network will be able to offer additional services that the West Seneca business handles to their clients nationwide. Those services include loans to assist troubled homeowners, as well as the purchase of future credit card sales to assist a small business that may be in tax trouble.

As a third-generation IRS agent, Patrick offered some advice for individuals struggling under the weight of a tax obligation.

"Address the problem," he said. "Typically, when people get in trouble, they stop opening the mail and they don't return calls." Despite the urban legends of rogue IRS agents breaking down doors in the middle of the night, O'Neill said by the time the IRS comes knocking, taxpayers had several warnings and a chance to settle their debt but likely ignored them

As for those "pennies on the dollar" settlement commercials, are they legitimate?

While noting several high-profile tax settlement companies have faced legal action including class-action lawsuits in recent months, Patrick O'Neill said there are cases where the IRS will let you off the hook for a fraction of what you owe. There is a catch, however.

"You can settle for pennies on the dollar," he said, "but it only happens if you can't pay."