Kenneth Dale Jacobson 500 West 2nd Street, Austin, TX 78701

"I do not recommend working with Dale Jacobson. Dale Jacobson did our personal, and my business, tax returns for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020. He was knowledgeable on phone calls, but a bit dismissive. On paid consulting calls, he would ask for very basic information and it was always clear he had not reviewed our file prior to the call. He did take time to respond in a detailed manner via written messages when I had question. However, our 2020 tax return with them resulted in over $25,000 of errors on their part, which we painfully discovered over the next 2.5 years. His attitude toward the entire situation was cavalier. After filing our 2020 tax return, Hannah (someone on his team) summarized all of the documents (taking into account quarterly payments that had been made, etc), and let me know that I owed $19,XXX to complete my tax year. I submitted the payment to the IRS. In April of 2021, I received a notice of underpayment. Turns out I owed $10,000 more and Hannah had subtracted quarterly payments twice, instead of once. This was frustrating, but an honest mistake on her part - we paid the difference to the IRS and moved on. Imagine our surprise when, in September 2022, we received another statement from the IRS for nearly $15K based on a different error on our 2020 return. We later confirmed that I had provided all the documentation needed for that and that their team had missed it ("Hi Allie, we did miss the 1099B from E*trade and I apologize." - that was the only address of the mistake). Part of that statement was a $2300 fee for the mistake. Dale offered to help me get that fee removed on the condition that I sign a document agreeing to not review him negatively on any public forum. Super shady, and ultimately that move is what led me to write this review. He also seemed very annoyed and unknowledgeable when I asked him to help me determine what tax withholding and salary I should have for myself to minimize end-of-year lump sum payments. He made it seem like this was incredibly difficult (I now have a CPA who has shown me that it's not difficult). Am I petty for not utilizing his help for the fee just so I could write this review? Sure. But I also don't want other people to be blindsided by $25K in additional fees and a CPA who, in my opinion, is not capable of accurately managing a business return. My small business return is not complicated (1 W2 employee, and 1 contractor 1099), but I understand that tax withholding is a mix of art and science. Nothing is perfect. However, we have moved on to another CPA, who I am very happy with. She has filed 2 additional years on our behalf, not resulting in any surprises later (in fact, many savings, despite higher revenue). She has also (diplomatically) called out several large errors with my tax withholding strategy (designed by Dale), and said they have "never seen anything like it" which probably explains the issues we had. She has recommended many strategies to save on taxes, optimizations to my tax withholding, and is fully up to speed on my account anytime we speak on the phone. All this to say that there are great CPAs out there - go find one. Dale is not who you're looking for."

"Waste of time, dragged their feet for 2 weeks, then when I mentioned how impatient I was getting after doing ZERO work and paying the money upfront - they felt exposed and embarrased I assume at least they refunded money in total."

"Great, professional service. Quick and clear communication. Highly recommend!!"

"Dale and his staff were prompt and communicative. They were clear on what I needed to provide. I needed my taxes done early, which they accomplished. I highly recommend."