Smith & Francis CPAs

Learn from my lesson. I was with S&F CPA’s since 2005. I own my own businesses (corp & LLC.). Received a correspondence audit from the IRS questioning unreimbursed expense i had written off in one of my LLC’s.
Immediately contacted S&F. They asked if there was a non-​reimbursed provision in the LLC’s operating Agreement and tell the IRS. My response was i had no idea. Wrong. I should have been told if there was a clause in the oper. agrmt. i was allowed to claim the expenses and to forward that to the IRS. Response from saying «no idea» to the IRS– Taxes & penalty: $ 4K. When i told S&F about what i should do, their response, «pay it».
Later at my new CPA firm they said i should hire a tax attorney to look into my past audit. I did. Atty cost $ 500. Outcome– they got ALL $ 4k back! They also showed a dozen problems in my past tax returns. One in particular was disappointing: keeping & submitting all my mileage books and records (through the years) and finding out auto expense was never even put on my returns:(
Lesson: 1) If you own your own company make sure there is a non-​reimbursed expense clause in your operating agreement. 2) Always get a second opinion. In the end, the people at S&F are very nice. In my opinion, they just didn’t care about me or my taxes. I just wonder about the tens of thousands i over paid since 2005.
Note: Prior to 2005 (when living in CA.) my taxes were handled in California by Alvin Wakasa. Over the 15 years with him, he fought for me in 2 audits and won both. I highly recommend him if he is still working.