We used this firm in 2013 when my Mom passed to do three 1041 trust returns. They came highly recommended. The three returns, keep in mind, were nearly identical, especially the two for my brother and I.
We were assigned a lady they said would do a great job. What that really meant was she'd be great for McDavid's bottom line, not ours!
We did most of the data gathering for her ahead of time,so we had pre-prepared a lot of the summary calcs in Excel worksheets, and had 1099-Bs for the rest. Plug n play return preparation.
McDavid charged $250/hour back then. The estimated amount fot each return was $500 each, but additional hours would be billed at $250 hr.
This rep we got went over, and over and over every factoid, apparently redoing every calculated value we provided ( none of which were wrong). She'd call and ask about line items we'd already worked out and turned in. So, she apparently didn't trust college-educated engineers to use Excel unless she recalculated every single datapoint herself. At $250 per hour. That's my guess on how the bill became as big as Mt. Everest.
We had gotten the info turned in early March and expected to file by April 15. Nope! Instead, our rep said she'd have to file three extensions for all three returns.
Then took her sweet time getting them done.
The final cost was $1500 per 1041 (similar in effort to a 1040 return) x 3 returns, no multiple return discount. No explanation for the overrun on costs we expected either.
We were shocked to learn our returns were finally ready and the bill was $4,500, three times what we were led to expect they'd cost.
No one even communicated why to us. Our returns were handed through the sliding glass window, and the lady who prepped them didn't come out to say "Hi" or anything. I was livid.
If you're in the upper 2% and you don't care what your tax preparer charges, then these folks are probably great for you.
As for my family, we've always watched how our money is spent. We felt like we got shafted by this company, and we'll never use them again, nor can we recommend them.
Three almost identical returns are not an excuse to run out the meter like a cabbie in NYC taking advantage of out of towners.
If you use this company, you'd better insist on a very detailed estimate. Not an approximate one along with an hourly rate, and then trust they wont overcharge you.
The bright side is we learned how to do our own 1041s thanks to McDavid! Filers beware. read more
