Books in Balance
Poor Communication
I’ve always filed my own taxes, but this year a variety of circumstances made that impractical.
Based on a personal referral, I met with a tax adviser from Books in Balance just before Thanksgiving and posed three concrete questions:
1. What do recent IRS advisories mean for registered domestic partners in CA?
2. What will my estimated tax liability for 2010 be given a combination of long term capital gains and standard income?
3. Are there opportunistic retirement investments I or my boyfriend could still make in 2010 to benefit our tax liability?
I explained that these questions were timely and the tax adviser informed me she would be able to help me answer them well before the end of the year.
I left on Thanksgiving holiday confident she would do just that.
Then the insanity began. First, it took us weeks to understand that the “for filing” copies of our 2009 taxes, although they contain the exact same information as those that we filed, wouldn’t work for the adviser.
This was frustrated by the fact that she took a few days to respond to each email and failed to answer direct questions like “what is the difference between what we sent you and what you need?”
Once we finally got her the information she required, we heard nothing for at least another week.
Our ongoing communication was fragmented and the adviser repeatedly failed to response to direct questions.
Finally, after a month since our initial meeting she sent over a spreadsheet showing our estimated liability and informing us that we would in fact be able to file federal taxes in a beneficial way.
The issue was her calculations were completely off as she disregarded both the change in my income for 2010 compared with 2009 and the specifics of our long term capital gains, both of which we specifically discussed in our interview and reconfirmed via email since.
At this point the holidays were upon us and the adviser was conveniently out of the office either on holiday, with clients, or sick through the end of the year.
To make a long story short, we wasted a month and a half working with Books in Balance only to eventually be told that they wouldn’t be able to help us with our 2010 taxes.
This was one of the most unprofessional interactions with any sort of service firm I’ve ever experienced.
Between the poor communication, long delays, and general attitude we received and the fact that in the end they failed to solve any of our problems I would firmly recommend that you avoid doing business with them at all cost.
Patty and Kathy are both very personable and have an extensive knowledge about tax preparation and bookkeeping.
I have been getting my bookkeeping and taxes done by books in balance for 3 years now, and I could not be more satisfied with the service and the skill level of the staff their. I absolutely love their thoroughness and attention to detail. Patty and Kathy are both very personable and have an extensive knowledge about tax preparation and bookkeeping.
If you want your taxes done write and on time then this is the place for you! Highly recommended. I have now built my Business from a small hole in the wall to expanding into a huge new space and Kathy and patty were by my side the whole way through, giving me advice and helping me plan for the future through planning and advice.
I couldn’t have done this transition to a larger company without them by my side! If you have a business or have complicated taxes these women will rock your world!
Scammer
I began working with Books In Balance in. Brandon and his team were always helpful, our payroll came out every month without a glitch, our taxes were done on time and properly, and they were always more than willing to assist me with any questions I had about our accounts and how I should manage our company from an accounting stand point.
I understand that Brandon’s health had deteriorated over a few years, and he was in the office less and less. Even under these unfortunate circumstances Brandon or his team did their best, and we always received great service.
Unfortunately, the organisation I was managing closed their North American operations and I stopped working with Books In Balance.