After my CPA retired, Simplicity Financial purchased her book of business and approached me about…read moreworking with them.
While I was initially impressed with their moxie-they were very persistent in their follow ups with me-I deferred from filing my returns with them the first year because I couldn't complete any real due diligence about them online.
I really wish my story with them had ended there. Unfortunately it didn't.
Shaun Glenn and his team followed up with me again in 2024 to see if I planned to file my 2023 returns with them. I decided to give them a shot.
I was told I had to have my paperwork in a week before the filing deadline to have it be filed on time. I submitted my paperwork a week prior to this deadline, exactly as requested.
***I didn't hear back from Shaun Glenn regarding the filing of my business or my personal returns up until after 4:00pm on the DAY OF THE FILING DEADLINE.*** His assistant Alex contacted me, twice, but only in response to my NUMEROUS attempts to reach out, and it was obvious that she was really only trying to keep me calm and buy time for Shaun.
When I finally did hear from Shaun it was clear that some time after 5:00pm ON THE DAY OF THE FILING DEADLINE was the first time he had even laid eyes on my returns!!! It was the nightmare scenario with a CPA that we all hope to never find ourselves in.
Miraculously, and to Shaun's credit, he did manage to complete both my personal and business returns, and forwarded them to me in record time.
However, once I received the Engagement Letters and drafts of my returns for me to review and approve, when I got a look at the totals I saw that I owed more than $5,500 in taxes!!! This was far more than I had ever owed in my previous filing years!!! My wife and I were panicked because we'd just paid for an expensive vacation and were going to have a very difficult time coming up with that kind of money, last minute.
I knew there had to be a mistake, and with what little time remained, I realized it would be up to me to find it. And find the mistake I did. Shaun had completely overlooked my Shareholder Health Insurance deduction!!! I brought this to his attention, and he played it off like he had only just used a tax preparation software to get his numbers together and that this oversight hadn't really been his fault at all. Not wanting to create any more problems this late in the game, I didn't press the issue.
Also, Shaun spotted an error with my previous years' filing-which I'd done myself-and offered to file an amendment for me ***AT NO COST***. It felt like something obvious though, that most experienced CPAs would have caught: A Qualified Business Income deduction.
I was torn. I'd really had a terrible experience in working with Simplicity Financial, but Shaun's expertise had found an error that could save me thousands.
So I gave him about a month, figuring this was an opportunity for him to turn things around and change my perspective of him and Simplicity Financial.
Then finally the desire to see my returns amended and collect what I was owed from the IRS won out. I followed up with Shaun instead of the other way around. And followed up. And followed up. Texts, emails, no response. Just like the days before the filing deadline.
Finally he got back to me telling me he aimed to get going on my amendment before the end of the week. I didn't hear back by the end of that week so I followed up, and followed up, and followed up.
Only after I brought up another issue--a penalty and interest payment I'd had to make to the Franchise State Tax Board because of his tardiness in preparing my state filing--did he respond to me. However, it quickly became apparent that he hadn't actually started on the amendment as he'd promised. He was trying to feel out whether it was worth his time to do it or not, and if I'd ultimately be hiring him again in the future.
I was candid with him in my response. Probably a bit more than I should have been, but I'm an honest guy.
Shaun wasn't happy about it. He turned everything around on me, told me he was dismissing me as a client, and even had the gall to question my integrity.
Ultimately, with this last exchange he crossed a line that no professional ever should. I told him that our business together had concluded and he could forget about his promise to file an amendment for me free of charge.
While Shaun does seem to be a competent enough CPA, his lack of professionalism and more importantly his last minute handling of affairs without a keen eye for the details--WHICH COULD HAVE COST ME $5,500-are enough to make the choice of working with him a very risky proposition, AT BEST, to any who might be considering it.
