Steve Parson & Associates

I wish I could write a better review for this tax firm, which is located across the street from North Park Lounge. My husband and I have struggled with finding solid tax preparers, and unfortunately Steve Parson & Associates – Frank prepared our 2013 taxes – did not put an end to our bad streak.
Came to Frank in March shortly after moving from San Diego to Pittsburgh. We emphasized the importance of transparency and honesty as well as being conservative, mainly because our 2011 and 2012 tax returns are being audited due to our dealings with what turned out to be a corrupt tax firm in San Diego. We were very open with Frank about this, and I was rubbed the wrong way during our first appointment when Frank cracked a few unprofessional remarks about our stressful, frustrating IRS situation. The IRS is no laughing matter, and, later during our second appointment, I felt it necessary to let Frank know that his attitude toward our sensitive situation was not appreciated.
Back to the first appointment though. Husband and I were really surprised when we showed up to Appointment #1, handed all our documents to Frank, chatted for about 15 minutes, and then got the clear message it was time to go. We’ve gone to a number of tax preparers over the years, and never before have we dropped off our documents and left; we’re accustomed to tax preparers asking lots of questions and doing the bulk of the tax prep work in our presence. We mentioned this to Frank, and Frank reassured us and promised he’d contact us in a couple weeks.
A couple weeks passed, and we followed up after we didn’t hear from Frank. It took a while, but eventually we were able to schedule a second appointment.
Soon after our arrival at Appointment #2 it became clear to us that the appointment was intended to be brief, a this-​is-​what-​I-​calculated-​OK-​goodbye kind of thing. Not OK. We said we’d like the documents explained to us, and for some reason that really caught Frank off guard. He seemed uncomfortable with being asked to explain his work and even pushed back, saying that if we wanted details we’d need to schedule another appointment. No way, we said. The filing deadline was fast approaching, after all! Frank grudgingly obliged and took time to review everything with us and answer our questions, and we left the office feeling satisfied enough.
One final note. We had requested a .pdf of our tax return for our personal files. Frank said this was no problem, but yet after several emails and several phone calls we had not been emailed the .pdf. Ultimately it was Steve who provided the .pdf and offered what seemed to be a heartfelt apology following a tense phone conversation with my husband.
The whole process was just too unstructured and inefficient, so we won’t be back for future tax preps. Steve Parson & Associates was a one-​time thing for us.