I hired Spain & Higginbotham CPA Group to prepare my income tax return for 2005 by signing an agreement on February, 23rd.
At our first meeting I was told that the fee will be $100.00 per hour. However, the "Terms of our agreement" signed on the above date fails to disclose what they called "standard billing rates", which later ended up being $175.00 per hour.
After about 8 months I was hit with an invoice of $1,475.00 plus a $29 late charge fee (?).
I called them for clarification believing it could have been a mistake.
They sent me a detailed print-out with times and charge for every service, which were "explained" in a manner more confusing than on the original invoice. The explanations were ambiguous to the degree that it is impossible to tell if they are real or not. (who's to decide?)
All the time allowances for each service were grossly inflated as were the "preparation of returns", duration of our meetings and phone calls made to me or in my behalf.
This is a problem of ethics and is my word against theirs.
Due to the fact that I sold a property in New York, my 2005 income was very high as well as the taxes to be paid.
It is my belief that since the income tax implied a large ammount of money, their charge for this service will go unnoticed "for my pocket" and I will not question it.
The bottom line is to let you decide if an annual tax preparation could possibly be charged with $1,500!
I am (and was) willing to pay for honest and real efforts carried out for this kind of service not imaginary ones.
This situation is outrageous and shameless.
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