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November 2022 by Robert G.
Mark did my taxes but charged a large amount. I only stayed with him one year and found someone much less expensive. It was obvious that I got a much better return after leaving Mark. I don't recommend his services.
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August 2022 by Logan S
Mark is very rude, unprofessional, and unapologetic about it - it takes weeks to get any kind of response to urgent questions. Something shady is definitely going on — or his business is just a complete mess. I can’t believe I was referred to him. Stay far, far away.
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August 2022 by Logan S.
Mark is very rude, unprofessional, and unapologetic about it - it takes weeks to get any kind of response to urgent questions. I can't believe I was referred to him. Stay far, far away. Mark made mistakes on my latest return that ended up costing me thousands of dollars in penalty fees.
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November 2021 by Jessica C.
I should have trusted the negative reviews. I asked for help with my tax return and my father's who had recently passed away. Communication is abysmal. They just outright do not answer emails or calls (even though email is the preferred method), I had to follow up multiple times. They made me feel like I was annoying them, even though they couldn't do the basic functions of their job. I caught many mistakes on my returns (they could not distinguish between my father's return and mine??). They were insensitive about the situation, often criticizing what paperwork I could provide and how my father kept his paperwork (again my father had just died, who does that?) I told them that most of my father's paperwork was returned in the mail and I wasn't sure how to get all of my father's tax statements. I was told by another preparer that they could order a transcript, but Howe's tax never did this. So, the form was incorrect. I asked the general cost of their services, they said they didn't know until they saw my paperwork (okay fine, but you could have given an estimate). They said they will give an estimate before starting work. They never did for my return. Then I randomly get a bill for $500 for my very basic return. I asked (professionally and nicely), how this was broken down, what this covered, and that it was significantly higher than other tax preparers I used before. Mark was immediately defensive and rude, saying that his pricing was "average" for my return. I don't mind paying for services at all, but the lack of communication was appalling. He also told me that he was "fairly certain he mentioned that his fees are fixed." That was a lie. I would have written it down and remembers. My notes stated that it "depended on the amount of work." He said that he would give an estimate "BEFORE" starting work on my father's return but to expect $550 minimum."" Yes, he really used all capitals in a professional email to a client. They gave me the wrong amount owed multiple times. I was repeatedly asked to send files I already sent. I asked how to reduce how much I owe. They told me how much additionally to take out of my paycheck but in reality they gave me completely wrong advice and I owed WAY more than I expected. I currently have notices from the IRS on back taxes owed based on an incorrect return Howe's tax filed. I am still dealing with this over a year later because of their screw up. I unfortunately trusted Howe's tax based on our first meeting, but they are not diligent, they are not detail oriented, they make mistakes, they get upset with you when they make mistakes, they are over priced, they get defensive rather than improving, and they were terrible to work with. Thankfully I found someone better.
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November 2021 by Dave A.
Even though I have a degree in Accounting & Finance, I opted for the first time ever to pay someone else to prepare my returns because I had a fair amount of more complex events that took place for me in 2020; after the experience I had with Howes Tax, I realize that I should have just sucked it up and spent the time to do the research and file my own returns (or should have found someone else more reliable for the job.) While there were certain things that affected the practice that were outside of their control, there were still many issues that should have caused me to jump ship well before they completed the work: - I did not have my return completed and available for review until Friday, October 15th (the very last day for taxpayers on extension), despite the fact that we first engaged in February of 2021 and they had the majority of my documents in the first week of March, giving them more than seven months to complete the work. - With less than 10 hours to review and file my fairly complex returns before the midnight deadline, I discovered a pretty significant error in their calculations that overstated a gain on sale and therefore unnecessarily increased my combined federal/state tax liability by several thousand dollars. - Their preliminary estimate was that I would owe a combined $90K between federal and state income taxes; naturally, I freaked out, told them that this was a HUGE leap from the amount I was expecting to owe based on my own quick math, and that a tax bill of that size would put me in financial ruin. This news was delivered to me on May 17th (the last day to make payments for 2020 tax liabilities); instead of working to get a more accurate / reasonable number, I was simply told to "pay what I can" in order to minimize penalties/interest. [At the end of the day, I ended up with a net *refund* of about $5K, nearly a $100K difference from what they told me I should have paid up front!) - In the two days leading up to the filing deadline, the estimated liability total that I was given kept fluctuating several thousands of dollars at a time, and when I asked for clarification for the drastic swings, I was told "I wish I had to explain tax law at the last hour but I unfortunately don't." - Messages often went weeks (or even months) without being responded to, leaving me in a huge cloud of uncertainty with my financial future. - I was asked multiple times to provide documents that I had already uploaded several months ago (when originally requested.) - Not only was I charged over $1,400 for this "service" that amounted to a crazy level of stress and frustration, I am now likely having to file an amendment on the returns that they prepared because they insisted on revisiting a calculation I made on my prior year return that didn't need to be touched. Having never hired someone to do my own taxes before, I had no real-life basis for comparison, but after having gone through this fiasco (and reading the other reviews from people who have had a similar experience) I am now pretty convinced that my experience was a particularly horrendous one; needless to say, I will not be returning to Howes Tax.
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October 2019 by Rudy C.
I wish I had looked at these YELP reviews before hiring Howestax and book keepers. I am currently living abroad and was referred to Mark by a tax specialist who used to work with him years ago. I hired Mark almost 6 months ago and paid him a retainer of $2,500. After filling out and submitting personal information forms to Mark and his staff, I was stalled out for over a month after missing the deadline to file. Instead of notifying me or consulting professionally during this 6 months, Mark simply diverted to vague emails as if they were text messages like "Well get to your stuff later" or "Call us." After almost missing the late filing deadline, I was forced to hire another advisor to help me file via Turbotax so I would not be penalized. Now I have had to hire another firm to revise my late filings as they were rushed at an added cost while trying to still recoup the deposit I had given to Howestax. As a paying client, I can say this is simply horrible customer service. Just because someone is knowledgeable on tax law doesn't mean they will be good at operating their own businesses. I still haven't even received a single invoice of how the deposit was being billed against to the point now I am having my lawyer move to legal proceedings. People need tax advisory to hire and make these processes easier not to stress them out more. I feel like I did more work after I hired Mark Howes Tax then when I was on my own. Huge waste of time! Currently my lawyers are preparing legal complaints against this business to recoup the deposit I paid that never went towards services and has yet to be refunded.
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March 2019 by robb l.
Looking for a tax accountant with integrity, subject matter expertise and stellar client management skills? If yes, I advise you to look elsewhere. This office provides the antithesis of these service attributes and charges a premium for them in the process. I am thinking the fact that these reviews are all either 5's or 1's should raise some suspicions.
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December 2018 by Leslie G.
With all his good intentions, after initially meeting with us and discussing particulars, Mark was unresponsive, overcharged us, and missed an important deadline with the IRS, causing us to have to send additional documentation to the IRS later on. He missed answers to his questions that were sent to his complicated mail messaging service, causing us to have to resubmit time and time again. We won't be using him again.
