Focus CPA Group Inc

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
In my first meeting, I told them that I am moving and will have a new address with in weeksEven in the documents I initially submitted (on 7/28/2012), I gave them the new address (see the attached)The tone and tenor of his response indicates the kind of service I got from themIn spite of not correcting my address with them, they kept on sending correspondence to incorrect address and never bothered to confirmI never received any correspondence from them as they never bothered to correct my addressA clear evidence of this fact is that even when filing my tax returns in September (more than a year later), the draft returns Mr *** sent had old addressIn his response he puts the blame on me for their blunders.
Here are my specific responses to Mr***'s comments
He never provided complete data on the date alleged by him we were still receiving data till September 2013.And he took his own sweet time responding and in his own words he was late because during the week he was always in Seattle and he never provided us with that address or else we could have accommodated him by sending stuff there.
>>> I Travel and work with my clients and that is my businessBut whenever they called, I always responded on phone and within few days for any documents neededShow me any evidence of my delay causing any issue
Form for S Corp election was mailed to him for signature but was never returned to us had to do another one at the time of filing and he was so advised.
>>> Never received thisThey never even spoke to me about this form
Payroll quarterly returns were always mailed to him to the address provided and once advised of the change all were mailed to the new addressHis claims are baseless it is only through our information IRS and EDD updated their address for him.
>>> This is laughableThe forms that they provided used the correct address in the form itself but they were sent with incorrect address on the envelope, so I never received themIt is like sending *** mail to *** and expecting Jerry to reply
He was traveling extensively or so he claimed to Seattle during the week and that was the cause of his delayed mailings if anyOriginal filing copies were mailed to him (as per our practice to all clients, wonder why everyone got it and not him as no one else has so claimed) as they have barcodes and when he claimed he did not get them they were emailedAnd our records indicate that even duplicate copies both mailing and client copies were always sent before deadline we have records of dates of mailings.
>>> Never received anything for the above reasonsThey never bothered to correct it or confirmSuch a poor customer service
He can send all the so called reminders but returns cannot be completed without complete data and at times it took him nearly a month to respond e.gJuly 30, response was not received till 8/23/
>>> Whenever they asked for any information that was promptly providedIt is completely misleading that I did not provided complete dataI provided everything I had and they never reviewed itAs I mentioned before, Mr*** always replied " IRS forms not available and we will file an extension"If I have submitted my documents on 2/25/(which is much before he due date), What have you done till July 30, Why did you not review the documents till it is too late.
We have in our records that he was advised about 1099s and taxes but even if we go by his complaint and for a moment accept that date which was 2/25/which is way late to advise him about anything the due date for payment of taxes had passed on January 15, In spite of us telling him that estimated taxes would be due please not by his own admission that info was not provided till 2/25/He is an adult and not filing tax returns for the first time and I cannot babysit everyone for all the known tax dates well published by IRS and the media
>>> Never received any such advise or communication from youWhat I submitted on 2/includes my accounting (Quick books), W2s and other supporting documents for filing tax returnsI provided them as soon as they were availableBy any standard 2/provides a lot of time for tax return submission due on 4/BTW, I have always filed my returns on time over the years and I am always very prompt with any compliance matters
He loses things provided to him and which is evident by the fact that IRS did not get the tax return that was given to him to mail and that is why IRS sent him a notice Now this his a ploy to get monies from usIf he had any complaint he should have so stated when he left us in October and he had no such complaint except that tax returns when done on Turbo Tax costs him "the cost of the program $100" and no moreThe alleged penalties were computed and provided to him on the tax return when provided to him and he did not complain about that at that timeAfter the fact one can claim all what he wantsBottom line is he does not want to pay for time, labor and material cost for additional set of tax returns which is industry practice.
>>> Mr***, I did not lose anything which is why I am able to provide specific information and datesNone of the documents are received due to your blunderIsn't it common sense to do basic check that the address on the envelope is different than what is on the form (In my phone calls I have to told Sweta multiple times what my correct address is)That speaks about the quality of people you are and the kind of service you provided.
Mr*** there are many things I am discovering now that you never provided, now that I keep getting notices from state of CA and IRSYes, my initial complaint was that you charged too much which I would have been okay if it was all done rightI would like to remind you the number of blunders you did when you provided the draft returns that I had to tell you to correctI have all those emailsMy comment then was for what you have done I could be done it myself and saved time I am not too concerned about over paying eitherThe fact that you did not provide me all the documents, deliberately delayed filing my taxes (so you can file other forms and charge more), did not support when I get notices, your arrogance in our phone conversation made me think twice and report youThis is not how business is done Mr***CPA's are paid for their expertise and support their clients as the clients have a business to operate and wont have time to learn and do thisI have provided enough evidences here and can provide moreBut I have a business to take care off and I also have to make corrections due to all the problems you have created for meI don't intend to write more and it is amply evident that you are at fault and it was my mistake to have made a bad choice to have your firm as my CPA
Regards,
*** ***

[redacted]:
 
The complainant is wrong in his claim which you can discern from the information below. The taxpayer did bring his personal tax data as stated by him but filing of personal taxes are dependent on the filing of the Corporate tax return which is a S Corp return....

The taxpayer had not filed the S Corp election with IRS within the required period as prescribed by law and which we had to make amends which takes time. And we were still awaiting data and details of expenses till September 3rd 2013 and it is not till September 4th at 12:15PM does he come in with it. We have in our possession the communication with client to back it all up. All of his data was coming in piece meal with circular 230 precludes us from estimating and creating tax returns without substantiations. Since a K1 could not be generated without his Corporation return being filed there was no way we could complete his personal without doing the corporate return. Had we proceeded he would have to amend his personal tax return at that time. Now with regards to penalties and interest. These pertain to underpayment of taxes by him and when a taxpayer underpays he/she is required to pay these penalties and statutory interest. These estimates are due by January 15th of the following year as such his 2012 tax payments were due by 1/15/2013 and on that date we were not aware of what he need to pay as we had no data. Hence we cannot be held liable for both of the aforementioned issues. Considering he provides us with data on 9/4/13 and we turnaround and give him draft returns for his review by 9/6/13 in itself is fairly fast turnaround. Most CPAs, EAs, Accountants and likes of H&R Block will not entertain it till after the tax deadline. Corpotate filing deadline with extension was 9/15/13 and individual 10/15/13. Although we burnt the midnight oil and gave him the tax returns despite his delay on the contrary is commendable.
 
He states in the complaint that he was provided filing copy to sign and mail and his client copy. Once clients are provided those as is the industry practice there is no way to control what they do with it. If it is lost by them or any tax agency we cannot be held liable and to provide additional copies there are costs associated with it such as labor, paper and toner etc and anything outside the norm the client needs to bear that cost and when we ask him for $100 we are being reasonable in coming up with that amount for in his case we had to provide him with two federal (personal and corporation) and two state. He refused to pay for these. A CPA's office is not bottomless pit where clients  keep on losing their copies and replacement copies at no cost be provided. Then he demanded that we provide a soft copy (pdf) for him in addition to the copies provided. Industry practice is to either provide hard copies or pdf and we have chosen hard copies as most of our clients need that. To comply with his request it would mean incurring more cost in conversion to soft copy (pdf). And we cannot provide him access to out tax softwares if that is what he meant with soft copy. We do not do taxes on turbo tax. As far as the fees are concerned are reasonable for it included personal taxes, corporate taxes, S Corp filings, and assembling of data provided in shoe box method. 
 
Yes service providers do provide support for IRS queries that are not fault of theirs as in this case for a charge which he was not willing to pay and he should not his own tone and demanding attitude when he spoke with me. 
 
So we strongly feel that this claim and allegation is frivolous and vain and should not be given any credence.
 
Regards
[redacted]
For Focus CPA Group, Inc.

All his claims are without basis and this is my final response. This is waste of time and he is crying wolf after the fact.
 
He never provided complete data on the date alleged by him we were still receiving data till September 2013.And he took his own sweet time responding and in his own words he was late because during the week he was always in Seattle and he never provided us with that address or else we could have accommodated him by sending stuff there.
 
Form 2553 for S Corp election was mailed to him for signature but was never returned to us had to do another one at the time of filing and he was so advised.
 
Payroll quarterly returns were always mailed to him to the address provided and once advised of the change all were mailed to the new address. His claims are baseless it is only through our information IRS and EDD updated their address for him.
 
He was traveling extensively or so he claimed to Seattle during the week and that was the cause of his delayed mailings if any. Original filing copies were mailed to him (as per our practice to all clients, wonder why everyone got it and not him as no one else has so claimed) as they have barcodes and when he claimed he did not get them they were emailed. And our records indicate that even duplicate copies both mailing and client copies were always sent before deadline we have records of dates of mailings. 
 
He can send all the so called reminders but returns cannot be completed without complete data and at times it took him nearly a month to respond e.g. July 30, 2013 response was not received till 8/23/2013.
 
We have in our records that he was advised about 1099s and taxes but even if we go by his complaint and for a moment accept that date which was 2/25/2013 which is way late to advise him about anything the due date for payment of taxes had passed on January 15, 2013. In spite of us telling him that estimated taxes would be due please not by his own admission that info was not provided till 2/25/2013. He is an adult and not filing tax returns for the first time and I cannot babysit everyone for all the known tax dates well published  by IRS and the media.
 
He loses things provided to him and which is evident by the fact that IRS did not get the tax return that was given to him to mail and that is why IRS sent him a notice.  Now this his a ploy to get monies from us. If he had any complaint he should have so stated when he left us in October 2013 and he had no such complaint except that tax returns when done on Turbo Tax costs him "the cost of the program $100" and no more. The alleged penalties were computed and provided to him on the tax return when provided to him and he did not complain about that at that time. After the fact one can claim all what he wants. Bottom line is he does not want to pay for time, labor and material cost for additional set of tax returns which is industry practice.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Firstly, I have engaged Focus CPA to provide advise, prepare tax returns, book keeping services as needed and payroll services. Few points to note:
1. They never provided advise on when to file advance taxes, Elections etc. Mr. [redacted] in his response claimed that I did not do the election but There is no communication or advise from them on what I need to do. If I knew what to do, why would I need their services. In the end, I had to pay the penalties. 
2. They did not prepare my tax returns on time. I have sent several reminder by email and phone calls and Mr [redacted] simply said "Tax forms are not available and we will file for an extension". If I am ready to provide all the information, why file an extension and in the end I had to pay for their filing charges (for extension), interests and penalties. Contrary to what Mr. [redacted] mentioned in his response, I have provided the documents on 2/25/2013. I have email trail showing that they only started working on my tax returns on 7/26/2013. 
3. As a part of payroll services, they never provided Quarterly Return Forms properly and on time. I have received multiple notices from both IRS and CA state about missing forms. I later learnt that in spite of notifying and talking with them about my address change they kept sending all important communication at the old address and I never received it. My recent request for form 941 was never received in the first place and they would like to charge for that. I have many emails showing that they did not send these forms in time. 
4. They did not provide all the information regarding my business unless I ask for it. I have no copy of California registration for my business that Mr. [redacted] told me it was done and charged me for for that. They were supposed to correct my company registration, provide articles etc which they never did. 
5. Total Interests, Penalties, Charges are: 180+95+569+221+331+567 = $1963. Focus CPA charges for filing the forms for late submission and penalty calculations: $82.
 
In short, they did not fulfill any of the responsibilities properly and I have ended up paying penalties, fines, Interest charges and losing time even now to fix the problems they created for me. Their total charge for filing my tax returns was $1902 and I seek a complete refund of this and the penalties I had to pay to the state of California and IRS.
Regards,
[redacted]

Review: I have used the services of Focus CPA Group for payroll, tax services and filing tax returns for my business (MMS LLC.) and for my personal taxes. There are several issues with their services:1. They have misled me and filed my tax returns late for year 2012. Due date was 4/15/2013 but they applied for filing late and filed in September 2013. Due to this I needed to pay penalties in the returns for the amount $221 and interest of $354. 2. On the top of this, Focus CPA group charged me for filing the extension also. In all they have charged $1700 for submitting the tax returns for business and personal taxes. Which is huge in comparison to other providers. They did not provide any upfront estimation either. I was dissatisfied with their services and terminated their services with immediate effect. However it was an understanding that anything arising our of their tax filing is still their responsibility.3. Focus group provided me a printed copy of the tax returns for sending to IRS which I promptly did. However there was a communication from IRS that they did not receive the returns. I asked Focus group to provide a copy to respond to IRS. But they are insisting that I pay them $100 for this copy. All service providers support any IRS queries for the tax year but Focus CPA group is asking me to pay for that and is rude in talking with me about this.Desired Settlement: In view of the timeline for response to IRS, I will have to manually create and submit a copy of my tax returns. I ended up paying $1700 for this service and a penalty of $221 for late filing and $354 for interest and lost significant amount of my time. I request a refund of my costs and would like to get all the documentation, history of transactions processed and tax filing submitted from their possession. Also would like to get a written confirmation that they don't misuse anything.

Business

Response:

[redacted]: