I lost over $5000 by filing with EJ Tax. SHORT VERSION: The individual who prepared our return made a large error, writing off our rent for the year as a charitable donation. As a result, we were audited and lost over $5000. We were compensated a mere $350 by the owner. That loss of money has deeply impacted our family's financial well-being. The individual who made the error is still working at the company (to my knowledge) and EJ Tax will take no further action to correct the situation. LONG VERSION: The individual who prepared our return made a large error, writing off our rent for the year as a charitable donation. This was not a keying error, but an obvious error in judgment. As a result, our tax return was much higher than I had expected. I asked the individual to confirm the amount and check the numbers and to explain why it was so high. She did so and explained that it was because we had had a child, as well as a few minor other things. As I am not a tax accountant, I do not have the knowledge to double-check the work that I am paying an accountant to do -- therefore I believed her reasoning. When we signed the confirmation form I asked if I could look over the numbers briefly and she said no, I didn't need to, they just needed my signature so they had permission to file. Even so, I am not trained as a tax accountant - I would not have caught her mistake. We received our tax return about a month later and prepared to budget for the next year (including some large purchases, such as a vehicle, made possible by the return). As we understood, this was our money. The tax accountant had confirmed the return amount, and the sum had been deposit into our account. A month following, I received a letter from the CRA that we were being audited. I read the letter explaining why and saw the error that had been made. I immediately called EJ Tax and spoke first with the individual who had filed our taxes, then with Lars, the owner/manager. I was told that the error would affect our return amount greatly and that I would need to pay the money back. According to their recalculations, I owed over $5000. This was a massive blow to my family. We had budgeted accordingly and were about to purchase a family vehicle with our return. We had made investments with that money. None of this was done prior to receiving our return, we budget responsibly, but once we had the money it was needed and used. To find out two months later that we had lost over $5000 because the individual who prepared our taxes didn't realize that rent was not a charitable donation was absolutely crushing. I spoke with Lars and asked for compensation. He offered to pay us back for the cost of preparing our taxes (this seemed absurd - our taxes weren't done correctly, so wouldn't a refund be an absolute minimum expected?) as well as for a portion of the interest accrued. After several weeks Lars sent me $350. This hardly put a dent in the financial hole that was created by the incompetence at EJ Tax. We were refused any further compensation, even though the error was completely the fault of EJ Tax. My family has now lost not only a large sum of money but must also strictly budget to make up for it, cutting things we could easily have afforded before. We are not able to buy a vehicle large enough for our children because the money is now gone. I went to EJ Tax because they told me they could help me with write-offs for my small business so we would receive a maximum return, but they offered no insight beyond what I could have done on my own or with a simple e-filing service. I would never trust this company with my money again. While they were friendly and fast initially, as soon as there was a problem I was left stranded. They "pride themselves on efficient and reliable service", but make baffling mistakes. The individual who made the error is still working at the company (to my knowledge) and EJ Tax will take no further action to correct the situation. read more