Just last Thursday, more than a dozen IRS agents raided Columbia Tax Service and Pronto insurance on South Chadbourne Street. Our Senora Scott did some investigating and joins us to lay out the details.
"Average day. People already kinda waiting on us,” Office Manager Hugo Granados Jr. said.
April 13 started out like any other day. The small staff at Pronto Insurance and Columbia Tax Service were opening up shop and already helping customers.
Then, at around 8:20 a.m...
"So, here they are, tell me what's happening right now. Right there, they're just kinda walking in telling us to 'put your hands up,' and they started screaming out 'police' and 'policia' in Spanish,” Granados Jr. said.
This office generally sees dozens of customers each day. During this time in the morning, there were only around six customers -- but Hugo Granados Jr. tells me that's who the IRS agents approached first
"Really going more towards our customers. In the corner, one of the agents actually almost took the original documents,” Granados Jr. said.
After some time, customers and staff were allowed to leave, but they couldn't come back.
"At that time also, we had asking them for the warrant they kept saying 'in a bit, in a bit.' They didn't seem like they were looking for anything in particular, they just grabbed everything they could."
"And how many agents do you think there were?
"I think, by the end of the day, there were about 14 or 16 because those we have inside, but outside there were four or so,” Granados Jr. said.
Hugo Granados Sr. Says this raid was in retaliation.
"They could have come in, we would be more than willing to open up our books, we have nothing to hide. We have no foreign accounts, all our accounts are local here. They could have looked at them. We have nothing to hide because we don't commit any fraud,” Granados Sr. said.
His office filed a class action lawsuit against the IRS in hopes of holding them accountable for intimidating clients and those who prepare their taxes. His office also uses methods they say help their clients get the best possible deal, especially when it comes to deductions.
"Instead of using, for example, mileage on a company vehicle, we use the actual expenses,” Granados Sr. said.
Both father and son say customers know about the lawsuit and the raid, and they're even sharing it on their front doors
"What does that say about your relationship with your customers?"
"Our customers are loyal, and they know we do good work and that's why they follow us,” Granados Sr. said.
They told me customers who were there the day of the raid came back the very next day. They also say they expect to be targeted again.
"Well, our customers know. We expected the raid, we knew the raid was coming, actually we expect a lot more to come. Even after the raid, we anticipate them trying to indict,” Granados Sr. said.
I did place a call to the IRS. They said they can confirm agents were there on official business, but that was all they could comment on at this time.