If you want someone smart, personable, conscientious, look to Melanie Shaw! She is all…read moreof those things and more.

I had been doing our taxes on my own for the past several years and always ended up paying assessed…read moretaxes. I scheduled an appointment with Melanie to review my prior year taxes as well as prepare our taxes for this year. After reviewing my taxes, Melanie was able to pinpoint what was causing us to owe taxes every year, saving us a large chunk for next year! On top of that, Melanie refused to charge me for the consultation, and further advised me that it's not worth the money she would charge me to prepare our taxes this time. Amazing! Melanie charges the same as H&R Block, but has a passion for the complex and ever-changing tax rules as well as a CPA background, which you may not usually find at an H&R Block (I was an H&R customer for a few years). Melanie also explains the complexities of tax rules clearly and patiently. If our tax situation ever becomes more complex, I would use Melanie and no one else! Thanks again Melanie!

Working with Chris at Flex Tax was an outstanding experience. From start to finish, he kept us in…read moreconsistent communication, never leaving us guessing about where things stood. No matter how detailed our questions got, Chris had thoughtful answers and took the time to explain things every time. Chris genuinely made the process feel easy and stress-free. Highly recommend Flex Tax to anyone looking for top-notch service that is efficient and affordable!

Chris at FlexTax has been my tax advisor for about three years now, and I can't recommend him…read morehighly enough. He's incredibly thorough and detail-oriented - he double and even triple checks everything to make sure your return is accurate and that he has all the right information. He's also very responsive and flexible with scheduling, which has made it easy to fit tax meetings around a busy workday. Chris really shines with more complex situations. He specializes in startups and equity compensation (ISOs, RSUs, etc.), as well as investment portfolios, so if you work at a startup or have a more complicated tax situation, you're in great hands. He takes the time to walk through everything, explains complex issues clearly, and makes the whole process feel much less stressful. He goes above and beyond by looking at prior years and making amendments if necessary to put you in a better position for future tax years. I originally started working with Chris based on a friend's recommendation, and after three years as a client, I'm very glad I did. If you're a startup employee or founder, or anyone dealing with equity and investments, I highly recommend Chris at FlexTax.

She is excellent. She is low-tech, but VERY up to date on tax laws, including investments and…read morerental properties. She has a strong personality but is well organized and is very reliable. She does not suffer fools well, so if you're flakey, prone to drama, have an inflated sense of your own identity or think you know the current tax code better than she does, you won't have a good experience. I think she is great.

I just ran across my old review here and I am shocked to see Susan B putting a 5 start review as…read morerecently as last year. I must admit my original review was a little bit of a lie because it wasn't my personal return I experienced this with but my clients return. Everything else was true about the situation - I just didn't want to write all the details because I didn't want her to be able to trace this back to me. But enough time has gone by so I wanted to come back and strengthen my review.... For credibility sake - I am ranked as one of the top financial advisors in the country by Forbes Magazine. I have 20 years in my industry and have always been ranked top in my industry. I have dealt with many tax preparers and many different types of client tax situations. I am also personally trained to do tax returns. So I speak from a lot of experience when I say - please understand this tax preparer is not okay. I have run into many weak tax preparers over the years...often they are mom and pop shops. But she stands out as one of the worst.

I had a complicated tax situation in 2025 involving multiple streams of income (1099, W2, 401k…read moreconversion, etc) and though I made quarterly payments, I knew I was going to need an expert to help minimize my tax bill. I learned about EAs from a community whatsapp and went in search of one. After looking for several weeks and reaching out to a few, it was Phuong's rapid response (by email and phone) and his kind demeanor that helped make my decision. Overall, working with Phuong was straightforward. After agreeing on an estimated cost, Phuong invited me to a secure portal to upload all of my documents. Alongside, Phuong provided a checklist to help guide all of the files/info that you should consider uploading. This was very efficient and helped expedite the process. From beginning to end, it took only a few weeks. It would've gone much faster, but I was delayed in uploading documents, so I caused the delay. Alongside, Phuong answered one-off questions as needed and quickly. And I had a lot of questions! But Phuong was always willing to help. The best part? Phuong confirmed I was actually owed a refund. I was stunned. Is there any better result than that? Of course, this means my quarterly payments were on target, but I'm not sure I would've reached the same result on my own. I can't recommend Phuong enough. He was fast, friendly and importantly, secure. I am certain I will be working with Phuong for all of my tax needs moving forward. Thank you Phuong!!

She's very nice and very knowledgeable! I feel comfortable working with her. She gave me more…read moreinformation I needed to know for the next year.

I had the same accountant/tax preparer for almost 50 years until he retired last year. After…read moreresearching tax preparers near me, I decided on MM Tax Preparers in Pinole. I feel very lucky to have found them. My tax preparer there was Ana Cardona. I was very impressed with the process they have there and especially Ana. She was very precise as well very knowledgeable about tax preparation. I learned things about my tax return that I had never known before. She answered all of my questions as well as going over my finished tax return with much detail. I brought all of the paperwork needed and we went over our tax return, line by line. What was also very impressive, after she entered my information into their tax program, we were able to complete the process right there and was told that our return would be submitted electronically that day. As our yearly tax refund is an important part of our yearly budgeting, to do this process so quickly was very unexpected and helpful. I would feel good about recommending MM Tax Preparers and, especially, Ana.

No one likes to do their taxes. Especially if you owe money. I reached out to Mauricio Midence tax…read morepreparation services to review my completed return. I had a great experience working with Geovanna and found her to be knowledgeable, clear and kind. I felt like we had achieved the best possible outcome and I will work with them again for future tax needs.

We scheduled a zoom call with Gary for some advice and to determine if we should use his services…read more He answered all our questions open and honestly, guiding us in the right direction. If the need arises to use a CPA in the future, I wouldn't hesitate to call Gary again. Thank you for your advice, Gary!

Gary was very professional and very helpful. Went over and beyond my expectations…read more Gave really great advice and took his time to explain it well. Would recommend!

Paula did my tax return in 2023 and gave me advice on contributing to an IRA that proved to be…read moreincorrect, forcing me into hours of work and headaches to reverse and document. She charged me over $2000 and did no better than TurboTax. And to make matters worse, she never took responsibility for her work. I wasn't able to give her a review before because she disappeared online. Now she's apparently back. Oh and she was working from Hawaii at the time, although advertising as if living in Sausalito.

AVOID This INCOMPETENT CROOK. Paula refused to respond to me until after I posted my initial Yelp…read morereview with screenshots proving her wrongdoing & filed a complaint with the California Board of Accountancy. I would've preferred to resolve this privately, but some behavior is so egregious that it cannot be ignored. On October 14th, she tried extorting an additional $250 from me ahead of the October 16th CA tax deadline on top of the $3,247 I had already paid her for a rejected return that had to be corrected and re-filed hours before the deadline due to her mistakes (screenshot below). Paula refused to respond to my emails & calls, yet somehow found time to respond to my Yelp review when she should've been focused on accurately re-filing my return. She can't even refute my post because the truth speaks for itself. Instead, she resorts to gaslighting & falsely claiming that I gave her inaccurate information. Rather than apologize and make things right, she attempted to publicly blame me for her error which demonstrates her complete lack of accountability. The only thing chaotic and disorganized is her manual client intake system. (See screenshots of her 42 page "tax organizer" that you have to manually fill out unless you purchase an Adobe subscription). She thrives in chaos because it enables her to charge additional fees for exchanging back and forth emails instead of replacing her inefficient document management system. I sent Paula multiple filing status clarification emails BEFORE the tax deadline (screenshots below). She didn't "donate" any time. It's an insult to anyone's intelligence to claim such nonsense after she received $3,247 for a rejected individual tax return. To add insult to injury, she brazenly demanded another $250 to correct HER mistake. When I refused to be extorted, she backed down and made the correction she should've made all along (an admission of guilt, although someone like this never explicitly admits when they are wrong (screenshots below). The updated return was half the length of the original, and since she refused to explain the discrepancy & has forbidden me to call for clarification, I hope the new return is accurate (screenshot below of me requesting clarification & her non-response). It never should have come to this, but bullies and con artists like Paula should never be acquiesced to. Beware of this wolf in sheep's clothing who seems pleasant and polite on the surface. Charm is deceitful. When people show you who they are, believe them.

DeMar Consulting Group got back with me right away and set me up with one of their…read moreconsultants/advisors. The associate was very knowledgeable, professional, and answered all of my questions regarding retirement investments, income, tax, social security, and which type of investment works best for which situation. Glad I talked to them. It'll save me thousands in taxes doing things the right way and I'm the right timing. I recommend them for your investment, retirement, social security and tax consultant needs.

I hired DeMar Consulting Group for accounting and bookkeeping services (Service Requested)…read more Overall, the work was completed, but the process was not as smooth as I expected. The quality of the consultation was average: I received answers to basic questions, but for more specific issues I had to follow up several times. Deadlines were met, but the response time to messages was sometimes slow. The cost of services felt a bit high compared to the level of support provided. In the end, I would describe the experience as just "okay," but not excellent. The company could improve by providing faster communication and clearer explanations of the details.

Zero response to multiple phone calls and emails. I don't think this business actually exists.read more

Lee is phenomenal. He has taken so much of the worry out of our tax preparation each year and…read morealways goes above and beyond to help us have the best tax filing experience each year. Our taxes are a bit complicated including personal and business and I fully trust him to handle both with excellence! Thank you for being great at what you do Lee!