Horrible experience using Capital Tax Service to complete my 2022 tax return. Details below but in…read moresummary:
* Sloppy work with many mistakes on their part from confusing me for a different John and sending outdated intake forms to having 2 major errors (that I discovered) on the tax return once it was finally completed.
* Awful communication, I had to reach out each time to get any information.
* Poor planning and communication on their part which required an extension to be filed the day taxes were due.
My wife and I were very disappointed with our experience using Capital Tax Service. This was a shock because of the numerous great reviews online, however what happened for us was far from that. Starting out, we reached out to schedule a free phone consult. We were sent an email to set it up and Sandra replied saying that our free half hour consult had been used up. Future consults are $150 per hour with a minimum $150 fee paid at the beginning of the consult. She said, this situation had become increasingly complicated therefore additional tax research will be required. We had not had our consult yet, so we were confused and asked her to clarify. Sandra apologized as she confused me with another person. First red flag! We took this as an honest mistake and decided to move forward. Looking back, that was the kind of attention to detail (or lack thereof) we could expect from the entire experience. The next issue was we were sent old forms labeled 2021. I let Colleen know and she apologized saying the 2022 forms were still being finished. Sending incorrect forms was another example of their lack of attention to detail. After we sent in all of our tax documents on 3/18, we were not told they needed an additional info until 2.5 weeks later. We sent that over right away and then silence. We were not updated on the status of our taxes, and had to reach out ourselves as we were close to the filing deadline. We contacted Nikki on 4/12 and were told they would let us know when the documents were complete and ready to review. Then again... nothing. On 4/17 I reached out again because I hadn't heard anything and taxes were due the next day. This caused a lot of stress being so close to the deadline. We were then told that they were still working on our return and we would be followed up with tomorrow. On the day taxes were due, 4/18, we again heard nothing. At 2:51 pm I sent an email and by 4:50 pm there was no response. I then called to speak with Sandra. She told me Nikki was working on our case, but was too complicated, so handed it back to Sandra. I was never made aware of this. She told me I'd have to file an extension. On 4/27 after no update, once again, I reached out and was told there was another form they needed me to complete. On 5/2, I received an email that my tax return was complete and ready for my review. First, this return never included my extension payment as Sandra forgot to communicate that to Nikki (so it was never handed over to Sandra, it was back to Nikki again?). I reviewed everything that night and found 2 major errors; incorrect child tax credit (they only listed a $500 credit when it was supposed to be $2,000) and an issue on my business return where my cost of goods was incorrectly added as gross income. On 5/3, I emailed them regarding the 2 issues that I found. They responded later that day apologizing for the mistakes and then sent me a new completed tax return. The result of these mistakes changed my tax burden by about $2,000, and I was the one to find them! Not only was this an awful experience, full of poor communication, delays, and mistakes but they ended up charging me 40% over the initial estimate to complete my taxes. Because of this experience, my wife and I would not recommend Capital Tax Service.
