Goode John F CPA

I won’t be working with John Goode in the future. My questions to him went unanswered for weeks. Often, after emailing and leaving voicemails, the only way that I could get a response from John would be to leave him a voicemail saying that if I didn’t hear back from him I would be retrieving my documents and using a different preparer for my tax returns. He never responded to a question in less than a week and this was months before the dead heat of April that is extremely difficult for all tax preparers everywhere.
The real gall of this guy, however, came when I received my bill. He charged me $ 550 for his services. He billed for 3.5 hours, which I think is close to a standard amount of time to file a simple no-​frills tax return. Based on his week or more response time to my (very basic) questions and the fact that I literally watched him input my tax data in his office while I waited for 30 minutes only to have him then tell me to“take a walk” for 45 minutes while he «crosschecked» everything, I feel a high estimation of the actual time he spent working on my tax return would have been 1.5−2 hours. Oh, and did I mention that we did all this last minute cramming on April 17 around 4pm? I was literally the last return he filed on the last possible day to file and he called me in to his office with no notice and no prior appointment to complete the return only after I threatened to leave his business on April 15^th because I hadn’t heard from him and was concerned my return would be late.
The icing on top? He invoiced me for the $ 550 extremely promptly and I immediately responded to the invoice in writing asking for an itemization of the 3.5 hours he was billing me for. Three months went by with no response and then I received a PAST DUE bill from him asking for payment immediately. I again wrote him asking for an itemization of the 3.5 hours. No response. Another week later and I called him to leave a voicemail explaining that all I was asking for was a breakdown of the 3.5 hours. He finally writes me back (14 weeks later at this point) to say that if I want an itemization of the bill, he will have to «go back to his storage unit to get the files which will add additional time to my bill.» Wow, the nerve of this guy. In order to get a fair accounting of his (very likely inflated) billing he will charge me even more money for making him go to the hassle of reporting his time accurately.
I’d rather work with a CPA who responds to my questions and treats me with respect, John Goode has failed even these most basic qualifications in a CPA.

I have been using John to prepare my taxes for many years and I find him to be up front, down to earth and very professional. He is like most accountants, they work with the numbers that we give them and he can not make them up. I have been most pleased with his work, his knowledge and I would RECOMMEND him.

Well, I’m not going to post as much as the other review did, but I’ve been using John for many years and have had nothing but a good experience with him. I have never been late with my taxes to date and could not file them without some help. John is professional and a good communication but he is NOT a magician and like any other CPA he probably gets very busy around tax time.
I like that he sends me a reminder form in the mail that includes a list of everything I need to submit for the following year. He also prepares a summary of what was submitted that includes line by line comparisions to prior years.
He may be a little old school, but I appreciate his style and the fact that he has many years of experience as a CPA.

John F Goode is a dinosaur. Please don’t waste your money or time on this one. Trust me! Because of John Goode and his lack of professionalization my taxes will be filed late and I will be penalized by the IRS. John was to file my taxes before the 15^th deadline and called instead of speaking to me in person to tell me he would not be filing my taxes by the OCt 15^th Deadline. He failed to afford me any advice when we consulted in August 2009, and never told me how much he would charge me for his service. It was to be a surprise after he filed my return. How can anyone do business like this. If you do take the time to meet with this CPA I would recommend that you have some tax knowledge as he will not afford you any tax advice. Bring your abacus because you will need to calculate your own receipts and complete a majority of his work. He is merely a data entry operator. I hired a CPA because I was looking for someone that I could trust with my finances and out of state contracting and freelance accounts. This is not the right person for the job if you have a complex return. If you have a single income without a great deal of effort this guy if for you. However, don’t expect to get a refund. In all fairness, I would have a great deal more respect for Mr. Goode if he were to simply tell me from the get-​go in August when I first met with him that he were not going to complete my return by the Oct 15^th Deadline. Witnessing his cowardly act by quietly dropping off my return in the mail slot and then walking away from my home a calling me minutes later because he was unable to meet me face to face to tell me he was not going to complete my return by the deadline was disrespectful. This was a complete lack of professionalism and cowardly at that to terminate our service the day before I was to file my taxes. Who does that? I would hope that anyone that were to use his service would expect someone that is both honorable and courageous to assist then with receiving exemplary service. I expect that my accountant would not be afraid to look me in the eye when he is rejecting his service. One star is a far greater value than I would afford this CPA. I believe you can get greater return for your money if you look elsewhere.