Flex Tax and Consulting Group

  I was very disappointed with this company. I had high hopes after reading all these good reviews. I'm not sure why my experience was so different.

I made a free… read more 15min consult appointment to ask a simple question about ROTH IRA conversions and the pro rata rule. I did my own research and so already had an idea of the IRA rules but wanted to confirm it with a CPA. My plan was to use this firm to do my taxes this year if I liked them.

The guy (Alex #1) I made an appointment with forgot about our appointment, so I called him. He did not know the answer to my question, so after a while of explaining had to get someone else on the line (Alex #2) to help. This Alex basically told me he couldn't tell me any specifics without knowing my financial situation. I told him I gave him all the information and numbers he needed to know and I wasn't looking for specific tax advice, I just wanted to confirm what I already thought about the pro rata rule. Whenever I asked something, he just said I was right. Then he cut the conversation short because he said they had another call. The question would have only taken a few minutes if 1) they were on time 2) the first guy could answer my question or 3) the second guy would just listen to me.

Anyways I decided to give them a second chance because I was hoping a different person (made appointment with Will) this time could answer a simple question. This question is not that complex, the pro rata rule is commonly known and talked about in financial planning blogs. Again did not receive a call at my scheduled appointment time.

They use these 15min consults as a marketing gimmick but really it's useless if they don't make any effort to actually acquire a new customer. Was planning to use them for my taxes but I have no confidence in 1) their knowledge or 2) time they would spend doing my taxes correctly.

  I reached out to Flex Tax and Consulting Group and was able to find an appointment quickly. I met with Will to go over my tax questions regarding incorporating as… read more an LLC. He was thorough, patient, and explained everything very well. Will also followed up with me to send additional resources that would help me file correctly. I am very satisfied with my experience with Flex.

  Flex Tax is responsive, efficient, and quick. Their online portal made it easy to upload documents. We worked with Flex Tax on a time-sensitive project and they were able to… read more do it before the deadline – something other companies could not. We also worked on a complex tax situation that they dissected. Something we'd like to see more of is even more of a strategic partner approach, helping us look around corners and find tax benefits and savings as we navigate our financial situation. Overall, we recommend Flex Tax.

  I received an IRS notice recently with a balance due because I filed a form for gift tax incorrectly.  I did not know what to do so I asked my… read more friend for a referral and she gave me Alex's contact.  I went to Yelp to check out his firm and saw mostly 5 star ratings so I went ahead and requested for the 15 min consultation.  They got back to me fairly fast and I booked the appointment via their website.  I chatted with Alex to explain my situation and he knew exactly what to do.  He emailed me right away to give me a list of items to upload to him and began to help me with the amendment.  The whole process was seamless, fast and easy.  Now two days later, I received the package I need to send to the IRS to fix the problem.  Highly recommend them for your tax needs.

  Highly recommend this team for tax services – they are very knowledgeable and extremely responsive, and they take the time to thoroughly explain and address questions, which is essential in… read more gaining confidence for their work.

I had a need to address additional tax reporting based on recent local proposition actions, and researched and debated the DIY approach. I'm glad I reached out to this team for their expertise, as my reporting would have been problematic with potential long-term, costly complications.

I would highly recommend Flex Tax and Consulting Group – extremely straight forward and knowledgeable. Alex H is wonderful to work with!

  Response to Alex Kwan's comments to my Yelp review re 2020 Tax preparation with Flextcg.com from your second-year client at 1869 Park Avenue, SJ, 95126.  

I contacted… read more your firm on 3/26/21 to do my taxes for 2020.  My Federal tax return was E-filed by your firm 6/16/21.

This is the chronology of excessive “whose on first” communication required – usually “over and over again”.  When was the tax extension filed and what was the date of it?

On 4/19/21 your firm first responded:  “Thanks for contacting Flex Tax & Consulting Group!  We've received your message and our Team will respond back to you.

On 4/27/21 you sent the attached 2020 Tax Organizer for me to fill out and gave me a price for your tax prep.

On 5/18/21 I was told the tax report draft “was done” but I was sent NOTHING to approve.  I asked if we had filed for an extension and was told we had NOT.  What is the status of my tax return filing and how can I get more timely/competent communication and adequate time to proof the return.  There was NO COMMUNICATION from your firm before these recent calls

On 5/22/21 – I asked but received no response: “When is my new date after the extension, showing when I must pay these taxes?”

5/25/21 What is the date my tax return and its payment are due, please?

6/1/21 Hi there, just confirming that you all will be sending me the final tax returns for review and signing.

6/5/21 …When is the tax return finalized and what is the target date to submit it as final?  When is my new date after the extension, showing when I must pay those taxes?  I was given two different amounts for taxes owed on 5/25 (tax return drafts not received yet) and 6/5!

6/13/21 So how do I sign my tax return – my email is working A-OK but you all consistently have issues with getting me electronic copies for a week or more – why?????  Whom can I escalate this to in your firm?

It is 6/14/21 and I still do not have an electronic copy of your tax return that you prepared and should have sent to my @cindyj2.com which is a fully operational email.  I also looked to see if you had sent it to my google Gmail account and you did NOT.  Why not?  These are BOTH working emails – YOU need to resolve your inability to send electronic tax return documents ASAP!
You told me as an alternative to use the signature page from the snail mail copy but it has “Client copy” stamped on it and kinda in the way of the signature – will the IRS take this Client Copy as a final copy?
Do I fax you Form 8879 with my signature to what fax number or ??

Federal Taxes are due when?
For state do I use form 8455 CA e-file payment record for individuals and as well file form 8879.  I assume I also file CA8879.LD2 Direct Deposit/Debit Information??
Then there is the Client Copy ACH Payment?
WHAT IS THE FASTEST WAY TO SEND ALL OF THESE PAYMENTS – CAN I GO ONLINE AND DO IT?  I did not pull the two quarterly tax payments from investments so I will do that today I guess.  Exasperating!  

Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2021 10:38 AM
To: alex.kwan@flextcg.com; will.rao@flextcg.com
Subject: OK so why would you all not put a copy of my current Tax Return you filed electronically on your FlexTax share (where I gave you my input docs to build the tax return from and let me simply download it since you cannot send it somehow electronically?

  I had a semi complicated tax situation this year and couldn't trust myself to turbotax it myself, and FlexTax was recommended to me through a friend so I decided to… read more try it out. The 15 minute consultation helped guide me through all my concerns so I decide to follow up with their $600 estimated taxes service. Everything was done through email and the back-and-forth took 2 months. They were able to address my questions in text so I feel more confident this upcoming tax season to have something to reference with.

  I chose to work with Flex Tax after getting a thorough and thoughtful response from a Yelp inquiry. Unlike all the other tax consultants I'd reached out to, Alex was… read more prompt, professional, and helped me understand why I was being audited and how to move forward. Working with them on a tight deadline was far more painless than I'd expected it to be.

  I've been a client fo Flex Tax for three years after being referred to by a colleague. I used to handle my own taxes using Turbo Tax but after my… read more investment portfolio became more complicated I decided to turn it over to the professionals which is exactly what this company is comprised of.

Sam has been knowledgeable, helpful, and extremely accessible.

These guys are great!

  FlexTax has been a pleasure to work with over the past year. They helped with our 2020 taxes when another tax preparer gave us a quote that was over twice… read more as much as FlexTax!

They have also helped with the taxes for my sole proprietorship businesses and are always available for questions and very responsive. We're happy to continue using them for our future tax needs!

  I tried doing my taxes with Turbo Tax for the 2020 tax year. Because of an inherent Turbo Tax software error in computing the cap on a home mortgage interest… read more deduction, I kept on getting a different $ every single time (and I tried doing it on their web site, with their downloaded software version, called numerous time for help but the glitch in their system was insolvable and I gave up). I did a little research and called Flex Tax. I called and spoke with Jimmy. Outstanding service. Excellent fund of knowledge and great communication (these guys must work work all day and all night since I was even contacted a few times later in the evening for questions they had). Bottom line. If your taxes are getting to be even a little complicated, do yourself a favor and leave it to the Pros at Flex Tax. And, instead of owing  roughly $3000 per Turbo Tax, I will be getting a refund greater than $8000 because I used Flex Tax.

  I have done my taxes for 10+ years. I dread it every year. My 2020 taxes got too complicated with a change in jobs + 1098 + unemployment + all… read more the 1099s I received from Robinhood, TD, Charles Schwab, etc.

I found FlexTax through Yelp and Google. At first, I was a bit hesitant about the $459 pricing……..however, after a free 15 minute phone call with Alex and his team, they assured me that the process is easy on my end. And it was! All I did was:
1.  upload the documents to their secured website
2.  answer questions through email that they had about my tax return
3.  they reached out to me to upload more documents (I forgot to send them one of my 1099B supplementals)

By the way, this was all done in less than 48 hours. At the end of the day what I learned was that $459 got me the best service in the Bay. I can confidently say that FlexTax is a real time saver and worth the money.

  Very fast work, virtual meeting went very smooth. My accountant, Sam, was very quick to respond to any questions I had. He also helped me amend my taxes and fix… read more my penalty that my previous accountant did not help me with. Great advice and attention to detail every step of the way. These guys know what they're doing, especially with the constant changes in our taxing system, don't be afraid to ask for help!! They are always willing to help out especially if you have concerns.

  this is my second year filing taxes with flex tax and just like the first year I had a very good experience, they are quick to respond and help and… read more ready to do an extra mile for you.

  I was one of those guys that would swear by online tax platforms, but as I got older, my finances became more complex, and the online platforms simply did not… read more cut it anymore. Luckily, a good friend of mine referred me to Sam at Flex Tax a few years ago, and he has made my life so much easier! If you are looking for a knowledgable firm that understands businesses, deductions, and all the fun tax stuff, look no further. Sam is extremely responsive, he even gave me his personal cell # as I tend to have a million questions come tax season. All documents and sensitive information is exchanged via a secure portal with password protection on top. Thank you again!

  I considered myself a “DIY tax person” via TurboTax until this year…

Basically I found myself in a situation where I couldn't simply import my 1099-B data into TurboTax. All of… read more a sudden I wasn't an expert anymore lol.

After manually entering in data to calculate my cost basis for reported transaction, the numbers started looking really funky. Something was definitely off and I couldn't figure out how to correct it through TurboTax online.

TLDR:
Sam from Flex Tax helped sort out the bad cost basis numbers that TurboTax was spitting out. I wish I didn't waste all that back and forth time trying to get support, because Sam literally figured everything out within hours of me providing him all the data.

Highly recommend Sam's Tax services. Save your time, save your money.

  Sam was fantastic to work with!

We had originally booked a TurboTax review with him, but after quickly realizing our TurboTax draft was incorrect, we asked if we could proceed… read more with a regular filing instead. Sam graciously charged us only for the regular filing and not the time we spent reviewing the TurboTax to figure out the issue.

Sam was able to work with us to quickly identify our nuanced tax situation and saved us thousands. Additionally, he reviewed a prior year's tax return and noticed an error from a previous CPA's work, helping us to file a correction for additional savings. We're very happy with Sam's diligence and would recommend his tax services to anyone!

  This is my first time in years using help to file my taxes, and I 100% came to the right place.  They were so easy to work with, worked SO… read more quickly, and helped me maximize my return.  Absolutely would recommend and will be using again myself.

  Helped me navigate and estimate taxes during a company liquidity event.  I was satisfied with their services, they were able to provide me with the information I needed in a… read more time crunch!

  It's no wonder why this place has and deserves 5-stars. They've literally saved me $10k from a single year in taxes, and ~$15k in total from discrepancies for some of… read more my complex tax situations.

They've found discrepancies in my taxes, waived penalties, and saved me over ten thousand of dollars on my tax returns and penalties from IRS that I would've just paid if I hadn't found them.

Filing taxes can easily be done cheap and easy nowadays, and sometimes free, especially with software like Turbo Tax and Credit Karma. However when it comes to dealing with more complex tax situations, like purchase and sale of stock, RSUs, ESPP, 1099-MISCs and finding missing cost basis, the people at Flex Tax will find and do it all for you. Simply, upload all your tax documents to their online drive, pay half the invoice, and they prepare and e-file the taxes for you, even simpler than TurboTax!

So here's how they've saved me over ten thousand dollars:

TAX SITUATION ONE (SAVED ME $10K): I had no idea how to file taxes for my stock transactions, so I just didn't report them and figured IRS would just catch this penalize me later and I'll just pay it. What an idiot I was . The IRS did in fact penalize me 2 years later, as expected, and that I owed over $10k in taxes with $2k in penalties. I was going to just pay this, but decided to take it to Flex Tax because, why not, support a small business!

LITTLE DID I KNOW: Flex Tax have found discrepancies in my initial reporting, and was able to find out that my employer was withholding my shares to offset much of my taxes, that the IRS didn't catch for me. I ended up not owing $10,101, but actually just $275 dollars! They've also wrote a first time abatement letter for me for the IRS, which have saved me the $2k that the IRS penalized me with. The ~$500 fee that I paid Flex Tax in consulting fees  have literally saved me $10,000, I think they win the most valued business on Yelp that I have ever reviewed. I will even add a photo of the abatement letter with the amount they've saved me to prove I ain't bluffing.

TAX SITUATION TWO (SAVED ME 4K):

I've had bad luck with E*Trade, trying to do an ACATS transfer of all my RSU shares over to another broker. E*Trade failed to transfer to the broker, it moved all my employee shares to my individual account, and lost all the cost-basis for the supplemental statement for the year. I've submitted all of my tax documents to Flex Tax not knowing about the missing supplemental statements. They were able to not only filing most of my taxes, but they've reached out to be regarding these missing cost basis and to contact E*Trade, otherwise I would be paying an extra $4k in taxes. They've spent an extra 5 hours finding each sale of stock to find the explicit transactions that were missing. I've offered to pay them for the extra work and overtime, and they've only charged me for an extra two hours at $200 despite the extra 5 hours worked and $4k saved on my taxes. Another tax firm probably wouldn't even detect that some sale of stock were missing tax withholdings. Total tax prep fees given my super complex tax situation came out to be ~$600-700. They've also given me a discount for referring others to Flex Tax. OH. I forgot to mention that I also experiment between 6+ brokerages (WealthSimple, Acorns, Merill Edge, E*Trade, Robinhood, Webull and more) and buy/sell stock and options contracts almost weekly. I also have multiple savings accounts with interest from signup bonuses (Discover, Schwab, US Bank, BOFA, WF, Chase, more.) They've helped me report each of these brokerages, bank interest, W2s, 1099-Bs, for under $700. Quite a steal if you ask me.

Also, they've always responded to my inquiries or questions even on weekends and late evening, like 11PM. For Alex, Will, Katherine: take your time, I can wait till business days!

Flex Tax has literally saved me almost $15 thousands dollars in only 3 years by finding discrepancies in my complex tax situations, writing an abatement letter to the IRS for me to waive penalties, and e-filing my taxes so I don't have to step foot to a mailbox. I owe them so much for all the work and savings they were able to help me with. Some have mentioned their prices are pricey, but I think it's been absurdly cheap for the amount of money they've saved me. You get quality and thorough tax prep when you pay for Flex Tax, and I see myself continuing to use them for the indefinite future!

Thanks Flex Tax crew for all the help with my taxes, please know you are much appreciated by many of us!