Deleon & Stang, CPAs and Advisors

Found last tax season that the questionnaire used to get inputs for a 1040 had
several mistakes and was maldistributed, so I did not even know it existed.
Firm had obvious difficulties handling the (predictable) peak tax season workload and tho
I got my data in by the firm’s deadline though I had moved out of the area, I got shafted at the last minute and they did not file on time. Handling of this little problem was anything but professional.
In another type of return I needed, the final processing of the return all fouled up. A review of my return by anyone other than the stumbling preparer was scant, if it took place at all. They should be highly embarrassed, if not subject to internal and external discipline for unacceptably low performance.
H&R Block customers I have known sound highly pleased w the services they have gotten, compared to my experience with this company.
Further, the invoice was a joke, 2.5 times initial quote. Felt gouged They have gall to squirrelly raise prices without any discussion and after a performance that was more ragged than a wild hog’s hind quarters.
It is Turbotax for me– more pleasant, quicker, beneficial experience than these guys and gals delivered.

Just gotta be honest. I don’t like giving poor reviews, but two stars is generous under the circumstances. I’ll tell you exactly what happened.
Last year I needed to have my taxes done by a professional for the first time, after TurboTaxing it all my adult life, and DeLeon and Stang came recommended by a friend. They made a good impression on me and told me that my tax form would be double-​checked by a second accountant in the office. Great, sounds good. I knew they were very expensive but decided to go with them anyway because the friend who recommended them is in my field– the arts, which has particular tax complications. DeLeon and Stang are not experts on this but knew my profession when they took me on. Side note: I had actually already done my taxes on TurboTax and was unhappy with the amount it said I needed to pay, so I was hoping a CPA could identify where I could take different deductions, etc.
I turned in all my info to them and showed them specifically where, on my 1099, it shows my payment to the agent who represents me. I’m a self-​employed individual, not a business, and I earn an average income– so while my taxes were a little too tricky for me that year, they definitely shouldn’t be for CPAs who charge $ 500 to do your tax return.
Within 24 hours after I turned in the last bit of info, they sent me my tax return. Wow– that’s a quick turnaround, especially for someone double-​checking it. I opened the file and was beyond dismayed to see they had discovered I actually owed MORE than TurboTax said I owed. How was that even possible? I emailed the CPA who was working with me, and he asked me to send him a list of what deductions I had taken on my own. They did not send me complete forms, so I couldn’t figure out where the problem was. But as I looked over my list of deductions, I came to suspect they had not deducted the amount I paid to my agent– a figure that can be 12% of my income. We had SPECIFICALLY discussed that in our meeting, and it is a very obvious, very basic issue for anyone working in the arts. It’s right there on the 1099. My agent is effectively an employee, so this is the equivalent of their calculating my «business income» without deducting what I had paid out to anyone who worked for me.
I asked the CPA if that was the problem, and sure enough, he confirmed that it was. I was… astonished at such a mistake. Had I accepted their calculations as accurate, I would have paid the government more than $ 2,000 more than I needed to. But rather than acknowledge this as a mistake or offer a discount, he simply called it an «oversight» or something like that and sent me a corrected form. At this point I had to say something. I emailed and said, look, this was a *mistake*, and I think you should offer me a discount. (After all, I had DONE MY OWN MATH using my TurboTax calculations to figure out where the CPA’s $ 500+ work was wrong in the government’s favor!) He conceded and offered me a 20% discount– on the condition, he said, that I allow them to do my taxes the next year.
I accepted this discount– which in my opinion was very small given the scale of the error. Had I made a mistake that serious with a new client, I would have offered more than a token discount, and it is downright offensive to have made it «conditional» (though, no, they won’t be doing my taxes this year– I have learned that I am better off with TurboTax and It’sDeductible). What is worse, they had told me my form would be double-​checked by a second accountant. Either this was a lie and it was never double-​checked, or I must take them at their word and assume that TWO accountants in that office don’t know to deduct employee pay from a business’s gross income. Either way it’s pretty terrible. Since I don’t want to believe they lied to me, I am going to have to go with the assumption that my taxes were done incorrectly by two different CPAs in their office, and therefore two stars is a very generous review.

TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. We had to follow up over 15 times to find out what was going on with our tax submission. Once we finally got everything submitted they sent the wrong address to Virginia so our return was «lost in the mail» for months. They never asked if we wanted a direct deposit or debit card so we were finally sent a debit card in AUGUST! They sent us a bill without including our 10% corporate discount. when asked why, they said they didn’t know we were eligible. Really? Didn’t they see the company I worked for when they looked at my W4? Sidebar — they charge ASTRONOMICAL FEES ($ 500). The entire experience was awful … we will NEVER use them again and hope you don’t either.