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September 2022 by Marissa Mach
I recently reached out to Rich for some services. He explained that he would be happy to provide the service but might be delayed because I reached out during a peak business time.Rich not only had the service done much sooner than expected but he did it with excellent communication and he was a pleasure to do business with.I will happily do business with Mother Lode and I’m glad my friend, who has been a loyal customer for years, recommended their services!
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January 2022 by Craig Mayville
Nothing short of awful. My taxes were filed here for several years over the course of about a decade. I thought James was the guy to go to when I needed help with filing. After an audit that claimed I owe over $13,000 in taxes, James and Richard have been of almost no help. They told me to "call the IRS" because there is nothing they can do. After telling a coworker, he suggested contacting a CPA in North Carolina who said he could help me. I also spoke to another CPA locally who called the IRS with me, and is actively following up to submit an amended return. James has not responded with any sense of urgency to my requests for documents, often not responding or taking several days to do so. These people show a total disregard for accountability, and couldn't care less about providing follow up service for their own mistakes. What a joke.
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January 2022 by Patricia R.
Terrible service! This business is at the beach instead of at the office!I am a small business owner and I suppose that is why my accountant will not respond to my emails. Just so unprofessional and so dangerous. These are tax people who should follow through in communication!PR
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January 2022 by Craig M.
Nothing short of awful. My taxes were filed here for several years over the course of about a decade. I thought James was the guy to go to when I needed help with filing. After an audit that claimed I owe over $13,000 in taxes, James and Richard have been of almost no help. They told me to "call the IRS" because there is nothing they can do. After telling a coworker, he suggested contacting a CPA in North Carolina who said he could help me. I also spoke to another CPA locally who called the IRS with me, and is actively following up to submit an amended return. James has not responded with any sense of urgency to my requests for documents, often not responding or taking several days to do so. These people show a total disregard for accountability, and couldn't care less about providing follow up service for their own mistakes. What a joke.
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April 2021 by Patrick O.
Since relocating to the San Diego environs 4-years ago, for our state & federal taxes we've been using the tax accounting services of Mother Lode (ML) Bookkeeping. ML was recommended (highly) by my daughter/son-in-law and son-in-law's brother. Here-to-fore, it's been my stereo-type that all accountants have "500 lbs brains" but are pretty much devoid of any social personality. NOT SO! To my delight, last week over the phone I heard our ML designated tax accountant with the 500 lbs brain, actually chuckle! Our guy is "James" who, to us, looks eerily like the very talented actor John Malkovich. Similar to Malkovich, James is a MASTER at his craft. To my wife, I refer to James as "just the facts James." Can't vouch for any of the other personnel in the office, except for the always, always pleasant and courteous front office personnel (both spouses of the in-office accountants) but egads, if you want your books or, as in my case, your taxes done right then please visit ML! As an important aside, we've never heard anything from the Federal IRS/CA Tax Franchise Board EXCEPT for one year when we received in the mail a check from the Federal IRS in the amount of $1.75. Lucky to have Jame's/the office's services!
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August 2020 by Scott S.
Mother Lode Bookkeeping has been a bedrock of the business community for decades. We have used them for 16 years for both corporate and personal returns and have always found them to be precise, communicative and focused on service. I can't recommend them highly enough.
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August 2020 by Casey T.
I've always done my taxes through TurboTax but decided to file married jointly this year. This is new for my husband and I who've always filed separately due to slightly complicated finances. Through excellent communication, James was able to guide us through our options to get us the best refund. He filed our returns and provided a written explanation of the process for our records all without ever meeting in person. I was concerned about the process during a pandemic but Motherlode proved to be a highly effective team. Motherlode has earned our confidence and future patronage.
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July 2020 by J W.
The EA, James Sherman, I was using was amazingly unprofessional. He was introduced to me by my attorney as I needed to file Form 1041 along with 1040. My attorney said James knew how to do Form 1041. James' filing fees were not cheap, more than $1000. I used him to prepare the tax returns for years 2018 and 2019. My attorney and I already informed him that all the court filing fees and probate fees were tax deductible. He did not file them correctly for tax year 2018. This mistake could not be caught as he provided the 2018 tax return client copy at the last minute on April 15, 2019 regardless all my tax documents were provided to him at the end of Feb. 2019, 1.5 months in advance. He also did not prepare and file the ES for me. As such, it incurred penalties on me. For tax year 2019 filing, he again did not include the deductibles for court filing fees and probate fees. I stayed up late at night, as he provided the client copy at the last minute, to review the tax return client copies and found the filing mistakes such as entering the wrong amounts and not filing the probate deductibles. When I informed James about the mistakes, he was so defensive and kept telling me that it was what it was and he did not have time. The difference of these mistakes amount to 5 figures in dollars which is a significant amount. He got all the true copies of my 1099 forms and made the careless entry mistakes which was terrible. That means he did not check what he entered. Regarding the probate deductibles, I have to get my attorney involved again to re-address to him that he made a big mistake ignoring the deductibles for years 2018 and 2019. He then simply dumped the deductibles from year 2018 into 2019 tax returns. I am not an accountant but simply dumping the deductibles from year 2018 into 2019 tax returns seems dubious.Because he did not prepare the ES for me last year, I had to ensure he did this time. I contacted him to confirm the ES was setup properly and he gave me lame excuses saying that I already signed the document for the ES. The document he referred to was for the 2019 tax return payment that I signed and nothing about the ES for year 2020. I even re-attached the signed document in the email for him to re-confirm. He, of course, did not bother to look at the attachment. When I called him, he again told me he did not have time to search my signed document on file. I told him I already attached in the email. Obviously, he did not even care reading customer's email.The only time he had and dealt with me immediately was asking me for the credit card number to charge me for his full of errors service. This was the most efficient time he did. In all, you paid this guy to prepare for the tax return and he ended up kept telling you he did not have time to fix the mistakes he made. But he had time to take your money. This is a very frustrating experience to hire him to prepare the tax filing. Recommend not to hire James to prepare your tax return as 1) he does not time for his clients as he kept telling me; 2) unless you are willing to pay extra to IRS due to his mistakes.Unfortunately, I cannot give a rate of 0.
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January 2020 by Linda Short
We have referred our clients with very complex tax matters to this office. They always do a great job and are very thorough. We have used Jean Smith and James Sherman, but honestly everyone who works there is a pleasure to work with.
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January 2020 by Linda S.
We have referred our clients with very complex tax matters to this office. They always do a great job and are very thorough. We have used Jean Smith and James Sherman, but honestly everyone who works there is great to work with.
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March 2018 by Holly G.
I've been using Mother Lode for about 18 years for both my business and personal taxes. These people are terrific. They're always available, very responsive, and if they don't know the answer, they'll find the answer. I'm very happy with them.
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December 2017 by Sara E.
20 years and going strong! We have been with Motherlode for nearly 20 years. It's like going to a friend's house. Warm and cozy and oh yeah, they take care of Mama's money! I don't make a move without them! Thanks James & Co!
