I used Wolfsohn Financial for the 06-07 tax years. I was VERY uncomfortable with our accountant, Jonathan, because he was very "free" with the calculator and wasn't concerned that we couldn't support much of what he was claiming. In fact, it was against my better judgment to return for the 07 year, but fiancé convinced me to try one more time. He was also the most expensive account we'd ever used ($250 EACH!) and spent less than 20 minutes TOTAL with my fiance and I.
A month ago I received a letter that I was being audited from NYS for my 07 tax year. When I called the office, I was told "Well, it's almost Aptil 15- not the best time to call! We'll get back to you when we can." YES, BECAUSE I PLANNED TO BE AUDITED IN APRIL! I waited a week and heard nothing. I called again, left several msgs, and also emailed. Still no response. After 2 wks, I began calling daily. There was a 30 day limit on my audit paperwork, and I was not about to incur penalties too. By my 15th call, I was finally put in touch with another accountant. Vincent needed to look over my paperwork and wanted to call me back the next day. I told him that I was a teacher and might not be available to answer, but to please leave a msg and I'd call him back on my free period. He responded, "Oh, a teacher, huh? You're not going to slap me with a ruler for this mess, are you?" COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE!
Vincent called me back DAYS later to tell me that he couldn't help me and that Jonathan needed to look things over. I finally got through to Jonathan today, only to be told that they did in fact make a mistake on my taxes, and that I now owed the state nearly $700.
Now, I understand that I made a financial gain over their mistake. However, that money has not been sititng in an acct somewhere waiting for the state to claim it. It is long gone, and now I have to find $700 from this year's tight budget to cover their mistakes. If a cashier makes a mistake at the register, she cannot ask the customer for the money back a week later when they come into the store. The store needs to cover the loss, or hold the cashier responsible. In this case, the accountant is the cashier and should be covering the cost of his mistake. I never misrepresented myself or my financial profile to gain this money- THEY made a mistake and now I have to pay for it. Although he might not be responsible TECHNICALLY, I think that MORALLY he has liability. Especially after the poor customer service, nearly pushing me to the 30 day deadline, his office should cover this cost. Doing the math, Wolfsohn financial made $1,000 off of my fiance and I in the 40 minutes he spent with us for the 06-07 tax years. The $700 should come from there and call it a wash for his 40 minutes! $700 is almost a week of my salary. I don't see how it's fair. The reason we pay extraordinary amounts of money to get our taxes done by PROFESSIONALS is to avoid nonsense like this!!
Ugh. Done ranting. Thanks 