Johnston Tax Group

This is my second review on Johnston tax group. I am getting together my taxes for 2015. I went back to Johnston for my second great experience. Jeff looked over my last few years from my old tax firm. He found mistakes that will benefit me of years to come. Every time i go there i get excellent service. How great to have a firm like Johnston to have your back. I just read the negative reviews posted here. I don’t see how there speaking of the same tax group. If i was ever treated the way they expressed. I certainly wouldn’t be coming back for 2015 filing. There a professional firm as well as reasonable with pricing. Cant say enough good things about Jeff and his great staff. They really take the time to explain and go over details. I have not had such a great tax experience before. Usually you had to hear about your taxes. I look forward to filing my taxes with Johnston Tax Group.

I was referred to Johnston Tax Group from a friend of mine. I am glad I used them this year to handle my taxes. First off, I have not had my taxes done by a second party in years.
When I walked into their office, the energy was friendly and inviting. Right then, I knew this was a professional environment. I noticed what great team work they had between employee’s which sets a tone of professionalism and efficiency. When I dropped off my paperwork, they took it from there. They were very diligent with me in their communication via email and phone. On top of than, I received a much larger refund than expected so of coarse I was very pleased with what they found where I would never have found had I done my own taxes. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Johnston Tax Group. I will continue to use their services in the years to come. I hope you do the same.

A few years ago, I engaged Johnston Tax Group to do my taxes. After reviewing my previous year’s returns, they determined I was owed a larger refund for that year, so they helped me file an amended return for that year, along with the current year’s taxes. These people really know their stuff, and I consider them experts at what they do. This year, the person helping me suggested that I contribute $ 5K to my IRA, in order to reduce my taxes owed by $ 1K. That’s like finding money, in my opinion! I find Johnston’s Tax Group team to be friendly, easy to work with, and most importantly, really, really good at what they do. I suggest contacting them ASAP about an initial evaluation. You’ll definitely be glad you did.

They consistently go above and beyond on behalf of their clients every step of the way.

They worked tirelessly to provide us with the best possible return we could get with courteous personalized service in a timely manner!

Year after year these guys find all the right ways to save me money. I ran a small business, had an elderly relative I supported and had lots of ups and downs in my income. Lets not mention that three of the last five years involved returns in multiple states. These guys pulled out all the stops and found responsible ways I never thought about to minimize my tax obligations. Will definitely be continuing my relationship with this firm.

Despite Jeff’s colleagues being kind and professional to us, and our tax returns being completed correctly (or at least we think so), we were very disappointed in Johnston Tax Group’s failure to return phone calls and some of our emails (those responded to were only the ones in which we expressly spelled out our disappointment and expectations going forward), their lack of a contract spelling out the scope of services anticipated, expected timeframe for completion and anticipated fees (partly my own fault for trusting Jeff), their outrageously high fees (an outrageous $ 2475.60 for ONE return and ONE amended return despite his ‘friends & family’ discount”), and their failure to respond with his promises to timely send us a copy of our signed returns as we had asked.
Jeff had the audacity to justify his fees based on my partner’s higher-​than-​average income and the amount of our adjusted returns! Finally, Jeff was also out of line in his final communication with my partner and me by mischaracterizing a voicemail I left for him regarding my disappointment in his failure to send the aforementioned returns as promised. Jeff lashes out at others (read his other
reviews) to justify his and his firm’s poor and/​or unprofessional work habits, his own lack of respect and high fees despite what any similarly-​situated business might do.
We will never be back and would not recommend Johnston Tax Group. If you do find yourself using Johnston Tax Groups’ services, we would highly recommend you demand a contract spelling out your understanding and agreement.

Jeff and his team have always been like family to me and they make tax season stress free. Thank you so much!

I am giving them 2 stars vs 1 because they actually did my taxes correctly. My taxes are very simple and I usually do them myself but this time I decided to use a CPA because that’s what I guess the fancy SF professionals are supposed to do. They did not bring me any additional money on my returns but they did charge me 2,000 $ for my 2012 returns. This year I went to a new accountant who charged me 250 $ for the exact same services.
So if you like throwing your cash away I highly recommend them.

Excellent!
Professional, confident and very kind staff. What a great place to do business.
From the first phone call to my final signing I felt that the staff at Johnston Tax Group was there to help me with my 2013 Taxes, answering questions and providing expertise that I found invaluable.
… Thank you Preston and Jeff !
Densie Dube

Johnston Tax Group charged my husband and I $ 1700 to do our 2012 taxes. Yes, you read that right. ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS! And this price, they claimed, was a «friends and family discount» of 50%! Our return was not that complicated. We did not own a house, we did not own a business and we did not have multiple investments. We each had 1-​W-​2 and 1 – 1099 and a few other easy documents.
During the many weeks it took for our taxes to be completed, we asked several times what the cost would be and they would just say that we shouldn’t worry about that. They would say that we should just worry about getting the taxes done and we would get to the cost later. When they gave us the total, we were stunned and embarrassed! Furthermore, they told us that since they gave us such a «good discount», we would not be able to make payments to them for their services. They demanded payment immediately or they would not submit our taxes to the government. So we had to max out a credit card to pay them.
This year we used a CPA who used to do our taxes when we lived in LA. He has nearly 30 years experience. He told us that it’s unethical to not disclose the cost from the beginning, when asked. He and everyone at his accountancy firm reviewed our 2012 return that Johnston Tax Group did and he told us that it shouldn’t have cost more than $ 300 to do that return. They said it was actually criminal to charge what they charged. So without seeing JTG’s return, our CPA in L. A redid our 2012 taxes and timed it. It took him 22 minutes to come up with the same figures JTG did.
So he is encouraging us to report JTG to the State Licensing Board, and to the Professional Ethics Division of the AICPA, for what they did to us. We are still deciding what to do.

UPDATE
For some reason this review was pulled out. More than ever, this is relevant.
The money this scam artist «saved» me on my 2009 taxes, was collected by the IRS from my 2013 return (done elsewhere, needless to say) due to JTG missing the deadline. They were supposed to file no later than April 15^th 2012, but neglected to do so. Their subsequent explanations were lies, plain and simple. This is not over!
Where to start? Perhaps with the complete lack of standards and professionalism exhibited by the owner and some his employees (not all, thankfully: Wendy being the exception). Or is it, as the previous reviewer noted, the lack of transparency: new fees popping up, with the lame explanation that they were in fact «reduced» to offset the inconvenience of constantly being jerked around.
Or is it the cavalier and at the same time arrogant attitude of the owner, yes, the same one mentioned above?
I did get refunds, but nothing special there: I always do, every year.
One thing is certain: this is the first and last time I use this outfit. The fees, never transparent, are outrageous, considering the number of times I was on the phone or email trying to get a sense of progress. No response, followed by convoluted explanations that made no sense at all. And to top it all off, an eleventh hour call, 2 hours from the deadline, to come sign the forms in the office. Bad, bad experience.

Johnston Tax group was a refreshing experience vs what I am used to at HR Block. They took a team approach to making sure my return was done with no stone left unturned. Any time I had a question, I was able to get someone on the phone, and if I sent an email after hours, someone would still respond. The team looked a multiple scenarios to make sure my return maximized. I will definitely be back next year.

Jeff has been very good and reasonable to me for the past 3 years (1 yr at H&R Block)
I am sure I could get my taxes done for a lot less. But when I first meet Jeff he corrected mistakes made by former H&R taxes prepares going three years back at no coast. He and his staff seem to know what they are doing and love what that do.
Because of the first encounter with Jeff and the kindness he has shown me. I am willing to pay a little more and be loyal to him year after year.

We knew that our previous tax accountant wasn’t perfect. We are organized and pretty involved. So I could recognize when there were errors, requiring my own personal reviews before we filed. Late. And we lived with that one for years.
Then we found Johnston Tax Group!!! Jeff and David went over years of returns circling a multitude of errors and miscalculations. We had no idea.
We are VERY impressed with their knowledge and communication. I see there are others the did not experience such 5 star service. But personally, we couldn’t be more pleased with JTG.

Update: I received information from the IRS saying that I had not responded to them, even though JTG claimed they had.
Also, every time I went into the office, it was ANOTHER charge for something. Pleas learn from my mistakes. DON’T GO NEAR THEM! Your wallet will thank you.
Still wish I could rate at a ZERO or below.

Tax Preparation Malpractice. My experience was similar to Elle’s. I dropped tax materials off and had no communication for about a month. Then the week before tax deadline, I called several times and got no return calls until two hours before midnight on April 15 saying that I would owe $ 1700 to the feds and that they needed a check or credit card to file the extension. Again, a week of no communication. Each time I called a different person was «working on» my taxes. I had zero confidence that they were doing my taxes correctly and took them back. Turns out they filed for an extension on the day that I dropped the taxes off (without informing me) and never submitted any payment on April 15^th, putting me in jeopardy of a penalty. I took my returns to HR Block and ended up netting $ 600 back and it was all done in two hours! Stress free and easy. One star is too much for JTG. Do not trust these guys with your tax returns — they are arrogant, unprofessional and non-​communicative.

Christopher Wood saved the day! The fact that I’m giving this place 3 stars at all is because of him and because they were able to turn a Federal tax bill into a refund and cut my State tax bill in half, for a fee of about $ 600.
However, I would have given the Group two more stars if:
A) The first tax adviser assigned to my account hadn’t quit in the middle of tax season and
B) Had the owner been more responsive or communicative about the unfortunate situation and about my case in general.
Working with this place is like working with a black box. There is no transparency, little communication, and inconsistent follow through. But Christopher provided great customer service and the Group was able to reduce my tax bill.