For all those Butte County Taxpayers out there, let my misfortune hopefully save you the same. For the past 18 years I have calculated and filed my own taxes, in their entirety, for free. This tax year, because of the sale of a house, I decided to use a local CPA - Mike McGowan - who was supplied with complete copies of previously filed taxes as reference and quoted me a total of $450 to process my 2013 State & Federal Returns.\r
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Based on this quote, I completed an extensive planner, making all my own tallies needed for the returns involving the sale of my home, business, and income. I simply needed the CPA to put it in the correct order, and specifically, make sure the reporting of income from the home sale was accurate.\r
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I never spoke once to Mr. McGowan during the process. I spoke to his asst. 3 times, for a total of less than 40 minutes. His asst. stated in these conversations she was completing my taxes, and would give to Mike for signature/review. I received a final call from her giving the amounts that I owed, and was told I would receive paper copies in the mail, along with the invoice.\r
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When I received the copies a few days later, to my shock, the invoice which was quoted to me initially as $450 now was costing me $950. There was no explanation, no line item charges listed, nothing but a total, due in 10 days from the date of the invoice, which was 6 days prior to me receiving it.\r
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Calls and emails to the office went unanswered for many days - when the explanation given via email was that the change in amount owed was due to a phone call. And that a couple changes needed to be made to the planner I submitted. Call me crazy, but as a CPA, wouldn't you naturally figure that you would need to SPEAK to your client during the process and shouldn't that be reflective of your quote for services?\r
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Also in this packet with the invoice was a 2 page letter outlining his process, and asking for my signature to agree to the fact that he, as the CPA will be charging $200/hour and his asst. will be charging $75-$150/hour. Something that should have been disclosed (and signed) PRIOR to the start of services. \r
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It's now been 6 weeks and even though I paid, in full, the total amount quoted of $450, I just received another invoice demanding an additional $500 which was never disclosed, authorized, or approved. Simply billed after the fact.\r
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As someone who does their research before obtaining services, I took the advice of my Realtor for this office, and would strongly encourage anyone reading this to steer clear.
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