[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/taxes\/tax-relief\/alleviate-tax-relief-review\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/taxes\/tax-relief\/alleviate-tax-relief-review\/","headline":"Alleviate Tax Relief Review 2026: A CPA\u2019s Honest Take","name":"Alleviate Tax Relief Review 2026: A CPA\u2019s Honest Take","description":"Alleviate Tax Relief Basics: Alleviate Tax LLC is a real tax resolution firm in...","datePublished":"2026-08-17","dateModified":"2026-08-15","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/author\/logan-allec\/#Person","name":"Logan Allec, CPA","url":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/author\/logan-allec\/","identifier":4,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e74dd0453a5871d1dcfde6d40d9494765ca8bfdb01927cefee4564d4bee9075?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e74dd0453a5871d1dcfde6d40d9494765ca8bfdb01927cefee4564d4bee9075?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Money Done Right","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Money-Done-Right-Personal-Finance-and-Investing-Blog.png","url":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Money-Done-Right-Personal-Finance-and-Investing-Blog.png","width":488,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Alleviate-Tax-Relief-Review-Hero-3.png","url":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Alleviate-Tax-Relief-Review-Hero-3.png","height":460,"width":1900},"url":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/taxes\/tax-relief\/alleviate-tax-relief-review\/","about":["Tax Relief"],"wordCount":2704,"keywords":["schema"],"articleBody":"Alleviate Tax ReliefBasics: Alleviate Tax LLC is a real tax resolution firm in Irvine, California, led by a licensed attorney.Pros: Registered California LLC formed in 2018, physical Irvine headquarters.Cons: 220 BBB complaints in three years against Alleviate Tax LLC, 74 in the last twelve months.Honesty5.5\/10 Responsiveness5\/10 Price4\/10 Accessibility7\/10 Guarantee3\/10 Transparency4.5\/10 FREE CONSULTATION:YesYEAR FOUNDED:2018BBB RATING:A \u00b7 4.14\/5 (355 reviews)GUARANTEE:Badge shown; terms not publishedAlleviate Tax LLC is a real tax resolution firm in Irvine, California, led by a licensed attorney. But 220 Better Business Bureau complaints in three years is an order of magnitude above the cleanest firms in this category. The friction is mostly marketing contact and post-sale follow-through, and a federal telemarketing class action settled in late 2025. Get everything in writing before you pay.Disclosure: Money Done Right founder Logan Allec, CPA, owns Choice Tax Relief, which competes with the company reviewed here. That is exactly why the scorecard above is based on published, verifiable evidence rather than opinion.Our Pick For Best Tax Relief CompanyLearn MoreBBB Accredited: A+ RatingOwned by a CPA: Logan Allec, CPAFree Consultation: 100% Free, No ObligationMinimum Debt: Works with $10,000+Table of ContentsToggleAlleviate Tax Relief At a GlanceWho Alleviate Tax Relief IsServices OfferedHow Does Alleviate Tax Relief Work?Alleviate Tax Relief CostAlleviate Tax Relief Complaints and Customer ReviewsIs Alleviate Tax Relief Legit?Alleviate Tax Relief Pros and ConsAlternatives to Alleviate Tax ReliefWho Alleviate Tax Relief Is Best ForWho Alleviate Tax Relief Is Not ForFinal ThoughtsFrequently Asked QuestionsAlleviate Tax Relief At a GlanceFree ConsultationYesFee StructureNot published; customer-reported amounts span $195 to $22,000Money-Back GuaranteeBadge on site, terms not publishedBBB RatingA letter rating; 4.14 out of 5 stars from 355 reviews (Alleviate Tax LLC)Year Founded2018Who Alleviate Tax Relief Is“Alleviate” is two separate companies. Alleviate Tax LLC and Alleviate Financial Solutions LLC are distinct California LLCs, not one business under two names. They are marketed together under Alleviate.com, which calls them “separate operating entities” and “trusted partners” and says it provides no services.Alleviate Tax LLC is the tax relief company and the subject of this review. Formed February 23, 2018. CEO George Samuel Baseluos, an active California-licensed attorney, Bar #310758. Headquarters at 5 Park Plaza, Irvine, California.Alleviate Financial Solutions LLC is a debt settlement company, not a tax firm. Formed February 2, 2018. CEO Michael Barsoum. NMLS #1858463. Headquarters at 4 Park Plaza, Irvine, an adjacent building. It states it does not provide tax, legal, or credit repair services.Search “Alleviate reviews” and you get both entities mixed together. Every number below is labelled with the entity it belongs to.Staff and credentialsAlleviate Tax claims “150+ tax professionals (CPAs, EAs, tax attorneys)” but names none of them and gives no breakdown by credential. That sits in tension with an Inc. 5000 listing showing 51 to 200 total employees, and nothing published resolves it. States served are not disclosed by either entity.Services OfferedFrom Alleviate Tax’s own website:Offer in compromisePenalty abatementWage garnishment removalInstallment agreementsIRS Fresh StartLevy releaseInnocent spouse reliefCurrently not collectible statusAll of it is federal, IRS-focused work. No state tax resolution service is advertised, so if you owe a state, confirm before signing that it is included.How Does Alleviate Tax Relief Work?Stage 1: The lead, and how the first call gets madeMuch of this firm’s business starts with a purchased lead rather than a search you ran yourself. Tax relief companies buy leads \u2014 your name, phone number, email, and roughly what you owe \u2014 generated by third parties: comparison sites, “see if you qualify” quizzes, and ad pages built to collect contact information and resell it.Two pieces of the pipeline are on the record. Alleviate Tax’s own site discloses a partnership with Solvable, a lead marketplace. And discovery in a federal telemarketing case produced an affiliate marketing agreement between Alleviate Tax, LLC and an outside marketing firm, plus a subpoena to a dialer platform.So when you fill out a form promising to “match you with a tax relief expert,” you are not contacting one company. You are creating a lead record that can be sold to several buyers at once. The fine print under the submit button, where you consent to contact by partners including autodialed calls and texts, is why one form fill produces a week of calls. That is legal and standard, and it is the direct cause of the contact complaints below.Stage 2: The free consultationThis is the sales call, and in favorable reviews it is the high point: intake staff are consistently described as clear and patient. Ask what you will be charged in total, whether that can change, who will handle your case and what credential they hold, and what happens if you cancel.Stage 3: What comes after, and what is not publishedAlleviate Tax publishes no post-consultation process, no fee schedule, and no guarantee terms. Whatever you are quoted on the call is the only version of the deal you will see.How to stop the callsSay the words that create a record. On a call, say “stop calling” and “remove me from your list.” On a text, reply STOP. Note the date and number.Ask where they got your information. Callers often name the lead source that sold your data \u2014 usually a comparison site you forgot you visited.Revoke consent at that source. Stopping one buyer does not stop the rest, because the same lead may have been sold several times.Register on the Do Not Call Registry and keep your log. Contact-after-opt-out complaints only go anywhere with a record.Never give financial details to an inbound caller. Hang up and call back on a number you looked up yourself.Assume any number you enter on a comparison site will be sold. If you want a specific firm, go to that firm directly.Alleviate Tax Relief CostAlleviate Tax publishes no fees \u2014 not a range, not a starting price, not an investigation fee. You cannot comparison-shop this company from its website \u2014 precisely the problem.What we can report is what customers say they paid, from BBB complaints and third-party review sites: reported amounts span $195 to $22,000. Read that as evidence that cases vary enormously, not a price list. Minimum debt is also not disclosed.The guarantee is the weakest point in the file. A guarantee badge appears on the website, but the terms could not be found on any page, so there is nothing to hold anyone to. Get the terms in writing before you pay; if nobody will, you have your answer.Alleviate Tax Relief Complaints and Customer ReviewsAlleviate Tax LLC (the tax relief company reviewed here), per its BBB profile as of August 2026:BBB letter rating: A. Accredited since July 3, 2019.BBB customer star rating: 4.14 out of 5, from 355 reviews.Complaints closed in the last three years: 220. Last twelve months: 74.Alleviate Financial Solutions LLC (the separate debt settlement company, for contrast), per its BBB profile as of August 2026:BBB letter rating: A+. Accredited since June 10, 2019.BBB customer star rating: 4.6 out of 5, from 931 reviews.Complaints closed in the last three years: 187. Last twelve months: 63.A BBB letter grade is not a customer satisfaction score . The BBB states that customer reviews are not used in calculating it, so the letter grade and the star rating are two separate measures of two different things. Alleviate Tax LLC’s A grade is not a statement that 220 complainants had a good experience.Elsewhere, Alleviate Tax shows Trustpilot 4.4 from 348 reviews, Google 4.6 from 1,365 reviews, and Yelp 2.9 from 68 reviews. Alleviate Financial Solutions, the separate debt settlement entity, shows Trustpilot 4.7 from 3,348 reviews, Google 4.7 from 8,397 reviews, and Yelp 3.6 from 160 reviews.The Yelp gap is worth noting. Yelp filters aggressively against solicited reviews, so a Yelp score well below a company’s Google and Trustpilot scores often signals a review-solicitation program elsewhere. That is a general pattern, not an accusation.Positive reviews cluster on the intake experience: staff who are clear and patient with someone who has never faced IRS collections. Negative reviews cluster on results that did not materialize, poor caseworker follow-up, and repeated calls and texts after the customer asked to be removed.Is Alleviate Tax Relief Legit?Yes, in the sense that matters most: a registered California company formed in 2018, run by an attorney with an active bar license, at a physical Irvine address. Here is the record.CFPB: zero complaints. We queried the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s database directly, by two independent methods, for both names. Zero for either \u2014 a clean, reproducible finding in the company’s favor.FTC: nothing found. A 2025 FTC and Nevada enforcement action in this sector names entirely different companies. State attorney general actions: none found.One state penalty, and it belongs to the other company. In April 2022 the Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner assessed a $500 penalty against Alleviate Financial Solutions \u2014 the debt settlement entity, not the tax firm reviewed here \u2014 for filing an annual report late. A paperwork penalty, not a consumer-harm finding.The lawsuits, stated preciselyThere are federal lawsuits, and how you read them matters. Every confirmed case is a telemarketing or debt-collection-contact claim, and not one produced a finding of liability. They settled, and a settlement is not an admission or a ruling that a company did anything wrong.Against Alleviate Tax: a Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action (Moghadam\/Lucombe) that settled in December 2025 and was dismissed in February 2026 \u2014 the case whose discovery produced the affiliate agreement and dialer subpoena. A second TCPA case (Ewing) settled in about three weeks. Against Alleviate Financial Solutions: an FDCPA case and a TCPA case, both settled.The summary is narrow. No regulator has acted against the tax entity, no court has found it liable, and the litigation concerns how consumers were contacted, not the tax work.Alleviate Tax Relief Pros and ConsProsRegistered California LLC formed in 2018, physical Irvine headquarters.CEO is an active California-licensed attorney (Bar #310758), publicly identifiable.Verified zero CFPB complaints, no FTC or state attorney general action, and no court finding of liability.Alleviate Tax LLC is BBB accredited since July 2019, with an A letter rating.Free consultation, nationwide marketing, well-reviewed intake staff.Cons220 BBB complaints in three years against Alleviate Tax LLC, 74 in the last twelve months.No fees published; customer-reported amounts range from $195 to $22,000.A guarantee badge with no published terms anywhere.The “150+ tax professionals” claim cannot be reconciled with an Inc. 5000 listing of 51 to 200 employees.No staff named, no credential breakdown, no minimum debt disclosed.States served not disclosed; no state tax resolution service advertised.Heavy affiliate lead sourcing, with repeated complaints about calls after opt-out.Two similarly named Irvine companies make research difficult.Alternatives to Alleviate Tax ReliefDisclosure: Money Done Right founder Logan Allec, CPA, owns Choice Tax Relief, which competes with the company reviewed here. That is exactly why the scorecard above is based on published, verifiable evidence rather than opinion.Alleviate Tax Relief\ud83c\udfc6OUR PICK\ud83c\udfc6Choice Tax ReliefOptima Tax ReliefCommunity TaxRead ReviewVisitRead ReviewVisitRead ReviewVisitFree ConsultationNot publishedYes \u2014 length not publishedYesYesFee StructureNot publishedNot published; publishes a $10,000 minimum debt, which the others do notTwo-stage: investigation fee, then resolution fee; amounts not publishedDescribes flat, fixed pricing; amounts not publishedMoney-Back GuaranteeNot publishedNone published15-day refund of the investigation fee only; fees for later phases are expressly excludedNo money-back terms published; a general satisfaction statement onlyBBB RatingNot publishedA+, accredited 5\/31\/2022; separately 5 out of 5 stars from 1 customer review; 0 complaints on fileA+, accredited 6\/18\/2012; separately 4.07 out of 5 stars from 1,987 reviews; 788 complaints in three yearsA+, accredited 7\/1\/2015; separately 4.21 out of 5 stars from 142 reviews; 35 complaints in three yearsChoice Tax Relief is owned by Logan Allec, CPA, founder of Money Done Right; it states that it is staffed by CPAs and tax attorneys and works with taxpayers owing roughly $10,000 or more. Optima is the most heavily advertised firm in the category. We did not independently verify staff licensure at Choice, Optima or Community Tax for this review, so nothing in this table is a credential comparison.Look at the fee column. Every company in this table declines to publish actual prices \u2014 that is the category, not one bad actor. So the only things you can compare in advance are fee structure and guarantee terms. Read the star ratings with their review counts attached: Choice’s 5 out of 5 rests on a single BBB review, while Optima’s 4.07 rests on 1,987. Those are not comparable samples, and the complaint counts scale with client volume too. The same checks run through our writeups on Optima Tax Relief, Community Tax, and Choice Tax Relief.Who Alleviate Tax Relief Is Best ForTaxpayers with a straightforward federal IRS problem \u2014 an installment agreement, penalty abatement, or a levy or garnishment to release.People who will press for a written fee agreement before paying.Taxpayers willing to manage the relationship actively and follow up on their own schedule.Who Alleviate Tax Relief Is Not ForAnyone who needs a published price before starting a conversation. There is not one.Taxpayers relying on a money-back guarantee. The badge exists; the terms do not.People with significant state tax debt; state work is not advertised.Anyone who wants their preparer’s credentials up front. No staff are named.Taxpayers with low tolerance for follow-up problems, given 74 BBB complaints against Alleviate Tax LLC in twelve months.Final ThoughtsAlleviate Tax LLC is a legitimate California firm led by a licensed attorney, with zero CFPB complaints, no regulatory action, and no court finding of liability. The offsetting facts are just as concrete: 220 BBB complaints in three years, no published pricing, a guarantee badge with no terms, a staffing claim that does not reconcile, and a marketing pipeline that drew a federal class action.If you hire this firm, get the total fee in writing before you pay, get the guarantee terms in writing, and get the name and credential of whoever handles your case.Outcomes in tax resolution depend on your circumstances \u2014 what you owe, what you earn, what you own, and where you are in collections. No firm, including this one and including ours, can guarantee a specific result.Frequently Asked QuestionsIs Alleviate Tax Relief legit?Yes. Alleviate Tax LLC is a California LLC formed in February 2018, based in Irvine and led by an active California-licensed attorney, with zero CFPB complaints and no FTC or state action. The complaint volume, though, is high.Is Alleviate Tax the same company as Alleviate Financial Solutions?No. They are two separate California LLCs marketed together under Alleviate.com, which calls them separate operating entities. Alleviate Tax LLC does tax relief; Alleviate Financial Solutions LLC does debt settlement. Their ratings, complaints, and court records are not interchangeable.How much does Alleviate Tax Relief cost?The company publishes no fees. Amounts customers reported range from $195 to $22,000, which reflects how much cases vary rather than any price list. Ask for your total in writing on the consultation call.Does Alleviate Tax Relief have a money-back guarantee?A guarantee badge appears on the website, but the terms are not published on any page we could find, so there is nothing to enforce. Require the specific terms in your written agreement.Why did Alleviate Tax Relief call me?Most likely because you submitted your details to a comparison site or quiz that sells leads. Alleviate Tax discloses a partnership with the lead marketplace Solvable, and court discovery produced an affiliate marketing agreement and a dialer-platform subpoena. Tell the caller to remove you, then revoke consent at the lead source.Has Alleviate Tax Relief been sued?Yes. A TCPA telemarketing class action (Moghadam\/Lucombe) settled in December 2025 and was dismissed in February 2026, and a second TCPA case (Ewing) settled in about three weeks. Both are contact claims, not claims about tax work, and neither produced a finding of liability.What is Alleviate Tax Relief’s BBB rating?Alleviate Tax LLC holds a BBB letter rating of A, accredited since July 3, 2019, with a separate star rating of 4.14 out of 5 from 355 reviews and 220 complaints closed in three years. The letter grade and the star rating measure different things."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Taxes","item":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/taxes\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tax Relief","item":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/taxes\/\/tax-relief\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Alleviate Tax Relief Review 2026: A CPA\u2019s Honest Take","item":"https:\/\/moneydoneright.com\/taxes\/tax-relief\/alleviate-tax-relief-review\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]