Howes Complete Tax & Bookkeeping Services

I was introduced to Mark Howe and his team through a client for support in incorporating my business. I wanted to incorporate before the start of the new year and Mark and his team managed to rush the paperwork to the state and meet the goal. Super responsive and supportive and made me feel confident about a big change in my business. I would strongly recommend Mark Howe.

I have been using Mark for years. He has defended me with the IRS when they questioned my TIC mortgage interest, he successfully saw me through a IPO and his great advice minimized my tax burden to Mitt Romney levels. Mark always process my work in a timely manner.

Sorry but Mark’s office and services are way too expensive and focused more on appearances than actual service. Every single request I have made has cost more $$. You won’t even get hard copies of your submitted tax returns, but if you want them, that will cost you extra. I’m pretty clear now that the clientele Howe’s tax services wants and caters to is affluent San Franciscans who accept having to continually pay for the smallest of additional needs. I would have given it one star, but Mark himself is a very sweet man, I wish the office were run with more generosity and less attitude.

I was a customer of Mark’s for the previous 3 years, during which time he did both my personal taxes and the taxes for my small business. In the end I had some major problems with the way he did the work and what he charged me. When I brought the errors to his attention and requested in a business-​like way that he consider refunding a portion of what I had paid him for work that was overcharged and contained serious errors, he responded by making excuses, and then refusing me any form of recompense or even a sincere apology. As a small business owner myself, I consider this a very unprofessional way to run a business.
The bookkeeping errors in Mark’s work would have cost me thousands of dollars, if I had not had so many questions about the outcome that I dug in and went over all of the work myself. That’s not what you pay a professional accountant for.
I also found problems in my personal tax filing where a certain amount of income was not reported, although I had furnished it to him along with my other documents. When I inquired about this, he blamed it on me by insisting that I never brought it up. So I re-​forwarded him both the original email where I provided the information, and a second follow-​up email making sure that it had been received and processed. This received no response.
This is really a shame, because Mark Howes is the kind of guy that you really want to like. But he needs to get organized, learn to be responsive, hire competent accountants, respect his customers’ time and money, and run his business in a business-​like way. So for now, if you’re looking for a good accountant that you can trust to get your work done on time and do it right, look elsewhere.

Mark apparently has lots of friends who want him to succeed in spite of his challenges, and they write very good reviews for him. He’s certainly a friendly personable guy.
When he drops the ball, when he gets stressed, when he makes mistake, or like in our case, when he misses a major IRS deadline, wasn’t thorough, or when he got caught telling a substantial mistruth. Web we had a question about his bill or his hours for so simple tasks, he was not very personable then.
If you are on the receiving end of that, as my partner and I were, then you’ll have to endure his temper, his impatience, his cutting you off, and his disappearing act. So you see, the negative reviews here are probably accurate on the whole than the glowing ones.
You need an accountant during the rough times, not the happy times. He charges $ 200 per hour too. What concerned us more, however, was that he charged 15 hours to accomplish less than half what our other accountant charged, 7.5 hours.
If your taxes are simple I have no doubt that Mark does fine.

First of all, based on our dealings with Mark, I’m highly suspicious of any Unilocaler that would give him a 5 star review.
Mark is our previous accountant. He is DANGEROUSLY INCOMPETENT and not a CPA. Just because he is gay doesn’t mean that RDP couples should trust him.
He never answers the phone and his assistant is basicly paid to make excuses for him all day.
For the complexities of an RDP tax return, you need a CPA that has the education and mental ability to work hard for you. Mark has neither.
Fair warning; LOOK ELSEWHERE!!!

Think twice before having Mark Howe prepare your taxes. My experience with him ended up being a nightmare that continues more than a year later. In early March 2011, my partner and I went into Mark’s office, mistakenly believing that Mark would know more than other CPA’s about domestic partner tax laws. We were dead wrong. On April 14, only three days before the deadline, Mark’s office contacted us to reveal that he needed to file for a six month extension due to the «complexity of the domestic partner tax situation.» This left us no time to switch to someone else. I remember at our March meeting, Mark asked us, do you have any questions. Among other things, I should have asked him, «Are you competent?» When Mark eventually barely made the October deadline, he had forgotten to transfer half of the split mortgage interest from my return to my partner’s. We ultimately decided to cut our losses and go to someone else to fix Mark’s mistake. To add insult to injury, we received a bill from the California Franchise Tax Board today, 14 months after we originally consulted Mark, for $ 550 – a late filing fee. How unfair that we should pay this fee for his negligence. Our new CPA completed our 2011 taxes in 3 days, somehow surmounting the «complexity of the domestic partner situation.» My opinion: do yourself a huge favor and have someone else prepare your taxes.

OMG — Unilocal did help — I finally got my 2009 tax returns from Mark ONE YEAR LATER. Thank to Unilocal, I got them back. And Mark wrote a creepy note saying that he «moved» to another office and things should be better. Really??? Office does matter? Oh please! How does office correlate to those areas of improvement that I have listed previously. He does not take responsibility for his actions/​mistakes and I do not think he will. I do not think he is a capable EA. and probably should find another career. Maybe a politician?

I completely disagree with the negative comments about Mark’s competence on this page, so I had to share my experience.
Mark was incredibly helpful doing my 2010 taxes that included a cross country move for my husband and I, my personal business, and our investor portfolio. He provided endless advice as I registered my side business in CA as well as planning for some future big changes. His pricing was reasonable especially when most of the advice he offered was beyond what a typical accountant would give. I see him as a partner in my business and wouldn’t make a financial move without checking with him first.

Scheduled an interview, came into the office, set down with the tax preparer. He briefly looked over my papers, asked a few questions, and gave me a quote for what it would cost to do my yearly taxes.
The quote seemed higher than what I was quoted over the phone, so I told him I’d think about it. He then charged me $ 150 just for the interview. I glanced at my watch, and noticed that it was 10 minutes since we set down.

It took this guy 6 months to the the taxes for my very small business (three part time employees) and I ended up paying more than I make in an entire month. I saved more money using Turbotax last year. Then he failed to file any extension, so I have to pay lat fees. None of which he ever mentioned to me until after I asked him why the IRS sent me a fine.
He only made an effort to contact me when he wanted to get paid. He in not worth all the money he charges.

Absolutely the wost accountant i ve worked with unfortunately.
Has:
1/​Lost our paperwork from 2008
2/​Made some mistake in the calculations!
3/​Was supposed to work with me throughout the year, set a reminder to contact me, and never did
4/​Was pretty uptight in trying to get a bigger return for us.
5/​Was the most expensive that i ever paid, even though our taxes are pretty simple.

now i am not saying he will be able to get you 0 tax liability, and I am sure that implies more about how little i earned this last year more than anything. But the fact is I was extremely worried about my taxes this year.
I had a major career switch, had to switch to quarterly filing (which I failed to do and left it all til year’s end) and wasn’t sure what I could and could not deduct. mark managed to calm my frazzled nerves. He is patient and understanding. Taxes are a conversation not a punishment when working with Mark and the folks at Howes Tax.
I had kept my accountant in LA even after moving here 5 years ago because it took that long to find someone I felt could take on the mess that is my accounting system.
Mr Howes deserves an accounting award for bravery!

In 2009, when my mom was getting ready to mail out her 2008 tax return, she received a letter that she was going to be audited. I found Mark on Unilocal and he was quick to set up an appointment. We met him and started right away on what needed to be done. Mark told us numerous times that her case will go well with the IRS. She was not herself during the whole process and he helped her get through this tough time. She was shut off from the world and worried daily. When the audit was settled my mom became her good ol self. She was happy, telling jokes and you could tell that a weight has been lifted from her shoulders. This could not have happened without the hard and dedicated work Mark put into my mom’s case. Anyone who uses Mark will be very pleased with his professional knowledge on audits, taxes, payroll and additional advice. He has made a huge difference.

This is our first year working with Mark on his own and we’ve been very impressed with his professionalism and his attention to detail. He’s been very understanding of our current situation and has been helping us get ourselves sorted out and plan for the future, which is exactly what we wanted and needed!
It’s been such an asset to have him help us plan in advance and to point out what we could do differently in order to be prepared and not have any unpleasant surprises.
My fiancée and I had worked with Mark when he was employed elsewhere and though we found ourselves no longer interested in working with his employer, we always found him very likable and professional. I had always hoped the day would come when we could work together again.
Besides that, he’s just a wonderful person!

After reading all the Unilocal reviews and emailing Mark I decided to go with him for my taxes. I was very impressed by his approach and background. He really knows his stuff and he really cares about helping you. Bonus: I totally thought I would owe taxes this year but Mark got me a refund to smile about.
By comparison, I also called Tax Ninja, and not only were they more expensive than Mark but they treated me like just another number in their processing line, and wanted me in and out and gone.
I’m really glad Unilocalers liked him as well; I look forward to working with mark on an on-​going basis and definitely recommend him for taxes and then some.

Mark is really great. This is my first year using him and I am really pleased. He is really knowledgeable and personable. He has 20 plus years of accounting experience and has done wonders with my taxes. If I didn’t use him, I would probably end up owing lots of money but he took the time to educate me and help me get my finances in order and now I am getting a RETURN (and a pretty big one at that!). I am really glad that I found him!

I’ve been working with Mark for several years and could not be more impressed with his work. Mark is attentive, professional, and caring… I am both confident in his work as an accountant and feel he is acutely aware of my personal financial situation & needs. I couldn’t agree more with fellow Unilocalers that Mark is quick to respond to questions via email.
I just dropped off my ’08 paperwork and plan on doing so for years to come!

I have used Mark for years and have followed him from corporate to private practice. Last year he TOTALLY pulled my fat out of the fire and saved me a fortune on my personal tax returns.
I met with him last night about this year’s return and he came up with more ways to save me money. (Of course, that means I now have homework to do, but it’s worth it.)
Added bonus is that he is not only knowledgeable but readily responsive via e-​mail, text etc. The guy is wired. (heh, literally!)

Mark’s been doing accounting for over twenty years and has been preparing taxes nearly as long. As an Enrolled Agent, he’s able to actually step in and handle my audit directly with the IRS. Love him.
The man knows everything about everything in terms of taxes and accounting… I haven’t been able to stump him yet. And bless him, the first time he did my taxes I presented him with a shoebox of receipts and docs — head down sheepishly, unable to look him in the eye out of shame (OY I’m a disorganized little man…) — and he snatched the box up and said «THANKS!» and began to dig in. No judgement, baby! …Thankfully, he was kind enough to sit me down and explain how to better organize myself for the following tax season… And I’m an actor — no numbers sense at all and about a million and one little expenses to itemize and hopefully write off. He easily whipped up my return, yet was still thorough and informative, making sure I understood what he was doing, making sure he had all the info needed, etc. Again, LOVE HIM!
Mark was working for a small firm in the Castro for some years and is thankfully working on his own now (I’m his biggest fan, but I can’t say the same about the firm he was with). He’s a bit hard to find now that he’s working on his own, but when ya’ find him, don’t let him go!
LOVE HIM!