Pattison, Koskey, Howe & Bucci, CPA's P.C.

I am responding to the above referenced complaint of which has no validity and is completely inaccurateMr. *** and I first met on February 2, when he came for a scheduled appointment at my officeDuring ourmeeting we discussed the two years of tax returns that needed to be prepared
(& 2015) and Mr*** left me with the information to prepare those filingsI did need additional information of which Mr*** providedMr*** was a new client and had Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business - Sole Proprietorship) tax return Schedule C tax returns are not "basic" W-returns and require much more information (especially as a new client)Mr***'s tax return also contained several Schedules such as: The Earned Income Credit and Form regarding Health CoverageIn 2015, Mr*** claimed a child and a significant other, he had a Child Tax Credit, an Earned Income Credit in addition to his Schedule CThe fee that I charged for the preparation of these forms is way within the norm for a CPA Firm, in fact, it is probably on the low-end. After our appointment on February 2, it was made clear to Mr*** that I was going to prepare the returns based on our discussion and the information he left with meMy office contacted Mr*** when the returns were ready and Mr*** wanted to know our fee and what he owed the IRS, which we told himA few days later, he stopped in our office requesting a copy of the information that he had provided to us originally to prepare his taxes so that he could "check the figures" (of which we provided to him- and that was the last we saw of Mr***)At that point his tax returns were completed; we were no longer able to reach him on the two phone numbers he provided to usBoth phone numbers were not working, one rang and was never answered with no way to leave a message and the other had been disconnected. At that point I believe that he decided to try to do himself to avoid paying my fee for the work I had alreadycompleted, which to me is theft of servicesI firmly believe when he found out how much he owed the IRS for he lowered his income claimed and found more expenses to lower the tax liabilityThat is something me nor our firm would ever do for any client. I would also like to point out the following contradictions in Mr***'s complaintIn the Customer's Statement of the Problem section he states: "Afterward I did them myself and it took hour per year..." and below that in the Desired Settlement section he said: "I had to pay another company to do my taxes." That is a direct lie within his own complaint. I personally prepare over tax returns per year and our Firm prepares over 7,000; we have zero complaints with the Revdex.com. Our client, *** ***, was never sent to collections, although we did threaten collections (via U.Smail-as he was still unreachable by phone) if he did not pihis completed returns and pay the bill. I want this complaint to be null and void and never be part of our track record of our prestigious and loyal firm that has over years' experience in the regionI am looking forward to your response to this bogus complaintThank you and if you have any questions please contact me at my Catskill office. Sincerely Yours, Bradley ***, CPA

This is my second and final response on the above referenced matterI acknowledge my client's concerns in regards to the filing of his and returns and the fee generatedWe made every effort to contact the client at the telephone numbers he gave usThey were documented by my receptionist and also confirmed at my meetingAs far as the alleged inaccurate returns, they were prepared based on the information provided to usWe gave the returns to Mr*** to be reviewed and returned to us if there were any questions, these were drafts and could easily be corrected at that stageThe returns were prepared correctly and legally based on the information provided by my client, subject to reviewOur client came in to have me process these returns so that he could apply for a loanThere was a large volume of returns in my office to be processed, Mr***'s was still prepared promptly, especially knowing he was in desperate need of a loanOur client was clearly upset that there was tax owedAccording to Mr***'s response, upon his completion of the return, there was money owed back to himThis is clearly unlikely having a Schedule C and no estimated tax payments paid in the prior yearEither Mr*** did not give us all of the documents to prepare his returns or it was prepared incorrectly for tax year For we prepared the return which did result in a refund due to the earned income creditAs far as the duplication of a $6,expense, we took the expenses that were given to us and if this was the case and he prepared the return without this duplication he would have owed additional money and not got a refundIn regards to the earned income credit- the earned income was allowed based on Mr***'s income and did not take into consideration any children, as none were being claimed in I'm not sure that Mr*** clearly understands the guidelines for preparing such a returnAs far as the documents being prepared with mistakes and not in a timely manner, Mr*** came into my office as a new client in to prepare a return that was already late and as far as the inaccuracies, our client is self-employed and jotted down numbers on a single piece of paperNormally we receive additional information such as bank statements and other documentation in order to verify these expensesThat is why I gave the client the returns to review prior to processing them and to drop off additional information. I am not going to compare fees charged by another accountant as I don't know his situation, but for and there are other forms besides a business tax return that needed to be completedThis included the earned incomecredit and health insurance form A fee of $for each return is very low compared to the norm in this areaWe are an accredited CPA firm not a sole proprietorship that runs on less overheadI could not give an estimate because I did not know what it was going to entail going through his income and expensesI also did not know at the time what schedules needed to be preparedThe client was in a rush to get the returns completed and did not even ask for an estimate at my meetingI am not going to waste any more time on this matterAs I stated in the previous letter, I personally prepare over tax returns per year and our Firm prepares over 7,000; we have zero complaints with the Revdex.comAgain, I am not drastically reducing a fee that was derived fairlyMr*** is not Certified Public Accountant and he is not qualified to critique my work in the accounting field, nor would I critique the work he does in his fieldI prepared his tax returns honestly, professionally and accurately and stand behind my work 100%. Sincerely yours, Bradley ***, CPA Shareholder

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. In response to the firms letterI asked several times what the fee would be to process the documents, all the times were asked to the secretary because thats who usually deals with the billingWhen I quickly reviewed the documents before signing, I found several errorsIn the year taxes, there was a $write off that was counted twice, bringing my income less than it shouldve been, so if anything, that error would have cheated the irs out of the tax I owed on itAlso for 2014, there was never supposed to be an earned income credit because the child was already claimed by the spouseThese are findings that show me the preparer was clearly not able to pay attention to what was said and what I wrote downI spelled out all my expenses and income, etcon a piece of paper that was very straight forward and easy to understandAfter waiting weeks just to get a response saying they just did my returns that day, I went into the office within mins of our phone conversation, and it is then that I asked to have the document that I provided to them given back to me, (they had my only copy of it)I was very shocked that the returns were prepared without me knowing how much it would beI came to greene county from rhinebeck in dutchess county years ago, where I had an accountant that did the same exact work for me for $170, this is in rhinebeck, which is a high end town where all the rates are double that of greene county, but somehow Its twice as much in greene county, which is the poorest county around the areaBut in all due respect this firms rates are none of my business, however, when an estimate is not given, how can one expect to charge whatever they please? The tax documents were prepared with mistakes and they were late, I should not have to pay full price, especially when they claim to have prepared for example the earned income credit which was not done, they simply did not take the time to pay attentionI did not lie about anything I said in the previous complaint, I prepared the taxes myself and paid an online company to file for meThis firm told me they charge alot because they are the ones who have to put their name on it, which has no validity because I have to sign them saying I am responsible anyways, as well as the fact that they did not file my returns so they are not responsible for anythingSo I fail to see why I should be charged for returns that were not filed, therefor no riskThis firm contacted me several times by phone, I also left them my phone number, the same one of which ive had for years, it was never shut offAgain they simply did not pay attention and got my number wrong, but theres no excuse there, they had already contacted me several times on the number which they claimed was "shut off"The other number is only for outgoing calls and I do not have a voicemail, but I only gave that to them for a backupThe fact is that I needed my taxes done quick to receive a loan, they could not provide me with service in a timely manner so I took matters to my own hands and ended up with getting money back from the irs instead of paying them, and this is after I used the same figures I had already given them to simply plug into the computerI would be glad to null and void this complaint after my bill has been either eliminated or reduced drastically to an agreeable amountBut until then I will proceed with every remedy possibleRegards, *** ***