TJO & Associates Tax Preparation

When DJ left to pursue a different line of work his cousin Nelson took over our account. He handles both mine and my husband’s business and personal taxes. It was a very smooth transition and his level of expertise and professionalism were just as high. Nelson is quick to respond to emails, laid back (especially helpful when our toddler is running around his office) and offers great insight to the business end of our tax prep.
We haven’t lived in the South Bay for many years but still make the 30 – 40 minute drive just to continue doing business with TJO.
Highly recommend!

Nelson has been doing my taxes for about 5 years now, at the recommendation of a friend of mine when I moved to the area. He’s thorough, quick, and his service level is the best I’ve had. I have since moved from the area but still have him do my taxes.

My sister referred me to this place to get my taxes done this year and I’m glad I took her recommendation! Eric Soares was very helpful and thoroughly knowledgeable when answering all my questions. He communicates what he is doing very well and I really appreciate that. I got my tax refund with direct deposit within a week or so of doing it at TJO.
I ended up getting my own taxes and my mom’s taxes done here. He charges depending on how many forms you have. Thus, since my mom has real estate and etc, her taxes were substantially more than mine.
If you’d like Eric to do your taxes, email is the best way to reach him. You can also call and leave a message like I did and he will call you back as soon as he can.
The office is located in a building with many other offices. When you go into the parking lot, the office is all the way in the back. The office is very nice and has water for you.
Use the restroom before you go because if you need to go, it’s outside of the office in the other building, and you’ll need a key to get in.
Good luck to everyone on their taxes this year! TJO is the way to go!

I was searching for a new tax joint and was recommended to see Brian but if its your first time, they set you up with Eric. Eric was great at explaining my taxes to me, lets be real… nobody understands their taxes! But I do now! Eric was very through and answered all my newbie questions. I am proud to say, this is where I’ll be doing my taxes for now on. People at TJO are very personable and thats what I liked most. I didnt feel like a customer here, I felt like I was a long time friend and thats what sets this place apart. They genuinely want to help you.
Best of all, it was easy to make an appointment and fast service. I was in and out in less than 30!

Nelson is the man to see.

Friendly staff, great place to get taxes done!

Taxes this year was a breeze thanks to Nelson at TJO. He was very knowledgeable, timely, and professional. He helped us with our business taxes as well as personal. The whole process was quick, painless, and saved us a lot of time.
Thanks!

It’s been three years since my last review of TJO, and I am happy to report that the quality of their customer service has been consistent. My last tax appointment with Nelson was a breeze. This year my tax return was a little more complex than prior years but that didn’t matter. I actually received a decent return when I wasn’t expecting anything at all!

wow… they did our taxes and told us the fees that we owed, which we paid (we very specifically asked them to tell us how much we would owe in penalties and they told us they would as well). A month later we get a notice from the IRS saying that we owe over 1k more. When I notified TJO, they told me it was due to penalties and late charges that were accrued. Ironically it took THEM almost two months to get us our return back because they were working on other projects (so yes, we incurred additional fee’s and penalties because they werent doing their job). In fact, I had to reach out to them asking for out return before i finally got it. not exactly the «full service» we were promised. I’m not really sure if its because the tax person we were working with left or if they just have bad business ethics but it definitely felt like they didnt deliver on everything they said we would get with paying for their services. I would not use them again, nor would i recommend their services.
I should note that they pointed out that they discounted the fee because of their «delay.» A discount that we were told we were going to recieve initally because we were a referral and first time clients. I’m not really sure how a their discounted fee offsets over 1k worth of penalities charges though. I would have rather paid full price for a different tax preparer that got everything done in a reasonable amount of time and responded to correspondence in a timely manner

As always… awesome :)
I was a bit worried this year about how my tax return would go (given that I was on maternity leave for 4 months out of the year), but it went great! Nelson was great about explaining everything as we went through the process, and we ended up with the largest tax return we’ve gotten to date! Woo hoo!
Thanks, TJO!

Update: They promised a lifetime guarantee on their tax returns, but they STOPPED responding to me when I asked for a refund on my 2010 returns (which they had royally screwed up). Terrible business practices. STAY AWAY!!!
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Terrible! Please stay away from these folks. They totally messed up our 2010 tax returns. I would have been better off just spending $ 100 on Turbo tax and doing everything myself. They didn’t report our capital gains correctly and now we are in trouble with the IRS. Luckily for us, it isn’t going to cost much to fix the problem, but this was a totally unnecessary hassle. I trusted TJO after reading the review here and thought they knew what they were doing, but I was so wrong.

I really can’t rave enough about TJO. These guys totally saved my a** after I had been irresponsible and didn’t file for several years. Brian got everything done, filed and has been with me every step of the way while dealing with the IRS. Because of him I’m sure I’ve already saved at least $ 10k in penalties and interest.
Really, I can’t say enough good things about TJO.

Not sure if this place is out of business?
Have called multiple times a day trying to clear up some confusion with nobody answering. Tried emailing them and the email bounced back as though the mailbox is full?
They screwed up the information on my return and were really unprofessional when it came time to be corrected. Now I’ve gotten the invoice for the services twice when I have proof that it was paid back in May. I think something broke, not the same quality that they used to provide.

Normally, I do my own taxes, but this year I needed to resolve a tax issue from a couple of years ago. Decided I needed a professional. Chose TJO & Associates based on Unilocal reviews.
DJ was great. Friendly and professional. He resolved my biggest concern.
Price was great. I expected to pay at least $ 500. I paid $ 250.
Very satisfied with the service.

Yeah, these guys Rock!
Found TJO Associates last year via Unilocal!Loved the reviews so tried them out. They were over $ 100 cheaper than my last Tax Consultant plus I liked the fact that I could get an estimate at their website for the cost of my tax preparation.
Now in my second year using TJO, I can definitely confirm the other reviews for this business. These guys are fast, good, friendly and professional. Even though these guys are insanely busy right now, they spent over an hour with me going over all my deductions and making sure I was pleased with the final outcome.
The thing I like best is that I do not feel that I am just another client to these guys. They make you feel that you are their best customer. That means a lot these days which is why I highly recommend TJO for your Tax Preparation needs.
Good luck!

I have been going to TJO & Associates for the past 2 years and they offer nothing short of excellent service. Nelson definitely knows his stuff and my return two years in a row proves it. Nelson is personable, yet extremely knowledgeable and professional…5 stars in my book!
Fantastic and friendly staff offering exceptional service!

It’s TAX TIME, BIOTCHES! You know what that means. Hide YO kids, Hide YO wife, cause the tax man is _​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​EVERYONE!
I am always in denial.
I dread organizing all my papers and pulling out my checkbook.
TAX MAN *fist in the air* you slay me.
Luckily for you, TJO makes it easy. The most painful thing is compiling, everything else is a walk in the park. I consider them my personal deduction HUNTERS. Seriously. Maybe you have tried those other joints with the commercials on TV, or maybe you use a software program on your computer.
How can you ever really know you are claiming EVERYTHING you should. You don’t.
You do, however, have the option to get a second set of eyes ready to get you most BANG for your buck, legally AND securely!
Easy. Fast. Painless… like a solid waxing.
NO joke people… make an appointment and tell them I sent you :)
When you get that FAT check in the mail, smile. I’ll be happy to get some good karma my way.

I really don’t understand what the problem is with these people. I had a good experience with them earlier in the year when I filed my 2009 tax. I need additional tax advice for the 2010 tax, and for over a week, they’ve been ignoring my calls, emails, and messages.
When I call their office, every option I press in their stupid phone system dumps me into a voicemail. I’ve emailed them repeatedly and gotten no response.
How can you run a business like this? Somewhere along the way, they forgot that they have customers.

Being a frugal DIY-​kinda guy, I attempted to file my own taxes this year. After a couple hours of researching and crunching numbers, I printed out and mailed my return out expecting a $ 2,200 check from the IRS and feeling quite proud of myself. A little over a month later you can imagine my shock and anger when I received a check from the Treasury for roughly $ 200.
After being on hold for 20 minutes I learned that I had mis-​filed my tax return, resulting in the major adjustment to my check. I was told I could submit an ammendmant, but after an hour of trying to retrace my steps and fix my error, I knew I was in over my head and had to seek the help of professionals.
That’s where TJO & Associates came in. I found them off of Unilocal and saw that they had competetive pricing as well as great reviews, what more could I ask for? I gave them a call, explained my situation, and was told that they could help me so I made an appointment.
Even though I was missing half of the original documents that I sent out, Brian was able to rebuild my original tax return and find my errors. What really satisfied me as a customer was that he asked me some questions that resulted in several tax credits I was unaware that I qualified for. Not only was Brian able to ammend my original tax return, he was able to raise my total refund to close to $ 3,000!
I had been willing to bite the bullet on the fee, which was a little over $ 100, just because I knew I had screwed up and seeking the help of TJO & Associates was the only way I could get my money from the IRS… but what has made me a loyal customer who will return next year was the fact that even though I had to pay them, I ended up getting back more than I would have if I had filed on my own! I’m 120% satisfied with their quality of service and look forward to doing business with them again next year!

Usually get my taxes filed by an uncle but since he retired recently I did not want to bother him this year. Therefore I searched on Unilocal,and chose to come here based on Flor D.‘s review and recommendation.
I requested an appointment on their website earlier in the week. Within a few hours, I received a call from their staff and scheduled an appointment with D.J. Mendonca for the weekend.
I arrived 10 minutes early on Saturday. Their office is in the Golden Pacific Office Center that is shared with Comerica bank and Everest College. D.J. was running a little late so I didn’t meet him till 10 minutes after my appointment time. But when he finally came out he greeted me and apologized sincerely to have kept me waiting.
He sat me down in the office and we talked shop for good 15 minutes before he even started looking at my previous returns. Turns out he used to be programmer and got into this business to help his cousins. He’s actually responsible for their website and daily IT operations on top of meeting clients and filing tax returns. Talk about double duty.
I ended up staying in the office for over an hour due to the nature of my return. Overall a great experience, I had a few questions he was not able to answer with 100% confidence so he conferred with his colleagues. He also pointed out other types of deductions I should consider and was extremely professional.

My tax preparation bill come to $ 350 but they deducted a $ 75 discount (assuming first-​time discount) so total was $ 275 including E-​Filing. In summary, I was very pleased with the level of service and will have no hesitation recommending D.J. to anyone.