Over the past three weeks, I have called this company twice to set a time to come in to discuss the…read morefinal tax return for my brothers estate. On both occasions, I was promised an email with appointment times available and some info. Nothing has been received. I can only surmise that they have more business than they can handle and probably don't need mine. So, I will look elsewhere. I would much rather they said that they don't want my business so I could move on rather than waste my time.

I called last year to get some help on my taxes. The first thing they told me was that they were…read moreonly doing business with "big" accounts now and their minimum cost for a tax return was $750. They did give a good referral.

Janis at Mennite Tax Services have taken care of my taxes for a few years now. I have been 100%…read moresatisfied with her service, promptness, good advice, and timely filing of my tax returns. I especially appreciate that I can send her random questions during the year and she never fails to quickly reply with a well considered answer. Janis genuinely cares about her clients and do above and beyond to help them. I will definitely recommend her.

I needed to do my taxes in a pinch and Jan was there! Before coming to Jan I felt stressed and…read moreoverwhelmed with my tax situation but she quickly put me at ease. She was able to do my taxes efficiently, and quickly. She's smart, kind and gracious. I'm super grateful to have worked with Jan and would definitely recommend her to anyone!

Mary was wonderful to work with. She helped me get my business and personal financial situation so…read moremuch more organized and saved me a lot of money for both the past and the future. She was also a necessary advocate for us to the IRS. I wish I would've met and worked with her sooner. Very highly recommended.

I agree, Susan Robinson was terrific, but unfortunately she has not been there for a long while…read more.. Based on the recent disastrous service we received from BTA when our 2014 tax returns were prepared I am astounded that they are still in business. In fact I ought to have sent an invoice to BTA for sorting out a multitude of confusion and problems that I had hired them to do. I spent hours dealing with a group in India via emails and phone calls at late hours in an effort to resolve the most simple queries. Though I had already provided my QB files and other necessary information to the local BTA office well in advance of tax deadlines, but it seemed that they had never received any of it. I sensed the group in India were highly competent but had not received all of our documents, and more importantly they got no assistance from the Santa Cruz office. I actually ended up feeling rather sorry for the tax group and they expressed apologies for the confusion that lead to mistakes...which I caught! This brings me to the BTA local office in particular. During the chaos I'd also sent emails and made phone calls to the SC office in attempt to enlist help and/or get answers as to why this was all happening. I do not recall one returned phone call. And when I was able to reach someone, more than once my inquiries were answered with (something akin to) "the preparation of tax returns is now handled by our tax division group of qualified CPAs, please talk with them". This is no way to do business. The experience was made worse because I never received a follow-up phone call nor an apology. That alone told me a lot...

I've been working with BTA for 10 years and have been really satisfied with the work the company…read morehas done for me in my growing stages of business. I own Dynamic Cleaning and BTA handles all of my bookkeeping and financial statements including payroll twice a month. There were some issues initially with the sale of the business in 2015 but with the transition over to Robert and Susan everything has been great. There is always someone in the office to answer a question and see me when I drop off my paperwork. I trust them with everything.

I have worked with Emily Buchbinder twice. First was to draft a Trust for my sister. This was…read morecomplicated because my sister had neglected much of her financial concerns for some time. Emily assembled the material she needed, met with us regularly and completed the work expeditiously. When I needed to return for updates, she was immediate in her responses and helped me clarify the best approach to the problems involved. Then, more recently, my wife and I revised our trusts, wills, and other legal documents. Again, Emily clarified issues we hadn't considered, led us through the complications, revised the trusts frequently as we made more firm decisions about our wishes--all with a smile and encouragement. We have worked with two other law firms in this area and Emily is by far the best attorney we have consulted about trusts and wills.

Great job by the team on both probate and trust administration. I wanted to wait and see what my…read morereassessment from the assessors office was before reviewing. They nailed it and got my Prop 19 Exclusion saving me a lot of taxes in the property transfer. It was worth the fees to have it done right.

No digital product , paper only. No chance to review…read morewithout paying up front. Mistakes include filing for under pay penalty that was immediately refunded for obvious reasons. Far too many errors of omission & commission to be accidental. Finally had to pay someone else to correct and amend, because she refused.

An excellent tax accountant. I plan to continue with this tax preparer next year. Think I've…read morefinally found the right tax preparer.

This practice has been taken over by Nicolle Nelson. Ms. Nelson has been amazing assisting me with…read moremy aunt's estate. I highly recommend her.

I had a negative experience with Ms Des Jardins's office but before reading her yelp reviews I sent…read morethem an email to see if they care to respond. When they ignored me I came to yelp and saw the alarming review one reviewer had left so I decided to write about my experience. I called the office to make an appointment to set up a trust and and possibly conservatorship for my elderly neighbors who are having memory issues. I was asked by their family who are out of town and Adult Protective Services of Santa Cruz County to help. My neighbors had already gone to Ms Des Jardins before (APS had recommended her) but had forgotten to keep their follow up appointment. When I called the office the person who called herself a receptionist could not find the record of the previous meeting. Then she proceeded to grill me about my neighbors for a good half an hour without telling me whether or not she was going to schedule an appointment. At first she said she might be able to squeeze us in next week. As she asked more questions she said the lawyer will be on vacation next week. Then one week became one and a half weeks. She became more and more reluctant to give us an appointment and when I said if they have a problem they should talk to APS who recommended them she said oh no, we don't talk to APS! When I would ask her a question she would brush it off with "I'm just the receptionist." Some receptionist! She was clearly screening clients. I was very disappointed that first, the office had lost my neighbors' record. Second, as an office that claims to specialize in elder law they seemed unable and unwilling to deal with real issues of real older people. Third, they would not give me a straight answer. I kept saying will you give us an appointment, yes or no? And the "receptionist" would hem and haw about the attorney's vacation and speaking engagements and very busy schedule. By the time she offered me a reluctant appointment three weeks down the line I had lost all confidence in this office. As a previous reviewer mentioned when you are dealing with the needs of elderly people who need a lot of care and honesty, trust is very important. If a lawyer or her office does not inspire trust, forget it. I called APS and told them my experience and proceeded to find an attorney that inspires trust. They do exist out there, you know!

Dina is a caring, compassionate, and skilled attorney. I highly recommend her. She helped us with…read morealigning trusts with a marital settlement agreement.

Excellent, affordable, and friendly estate planning in downtown Santa Cruz. Dina came highly…read morerecommended, so I made an appointment, still expecting that she would be swamped with clients. But she took her time and engaged with me a personal level. Explained things very well to me and my family members.