BKS CPAs

"Jessica and her crew are so good at what they do. I have worked with them for years and am consistently impressed with their professionalism. Whenever I have a question about something, Jessica responds almost immediately. I cannot recommend this company more."

"I had Eric Kaster do my taxes two years in a row. I will never trust this company with my tax needs again, and I hope that nobody else will trust them either. The first year, I never had a phone call or meeting to discuss my tax situation, everything was traded back and forth with email. Felt very impersonal. Mr. Kaster informed me that we would need to make quarterly tax payments to the state of Oregon the following year. After filing my return I got notices from both the IRS and State of Oregon that my taxes were done incorrectly. The IRS notified me that I had paid them too much (!!!!), while the state of Oregon notified me that I hadn't paid them enough and assessed a penalty. Mr. Kaster had incorrectly assumed a penalty from the IRS for not making quarterly tax payments. Never once did I get an apology nor any effort from Mr. Kaster to make me feel at ease. I ended up taking the standard deduction and was charged $700. The next year, for some reason, I thought I would give them another chance. Once again, no meeting to discuss my tax situation, and this time, it wasn't even Mr. Kaster sending me emails to ask about my taxes, instead it was one of his underlings. After providing all of the needed documents, I received a call from the office telling me that they were filing an extension to my taxes because they hadn't received what they needed. I questioned Mr. Kaster on this and resent the same information as before. He said that they had what they needed and would file (a few days late). No apology. I was charged over $900. When I questioned the astronomical prices that I was being charged, the lady at the front desk offered to discontinue our engagement and not do my taxes. How dare I question those rates.... Considering that I had hired this firm to do one job, which is do my taxes accurately and on time, and they had failed to do that, I can't say that anyone should have their taxes done by them. The lack of personal attention and any sort of customer service really made me feel like they were just extracting money from me. Further, since starting to work with another accounting firm, I have been told that the quarterly tax advice Mr. Kaster had given me was incorrect and that I didn't need to make those payments. Don't trust this firm with your money. What a joke."

"I called after getting a referral to Eric Kaster from another Eugene CPA firm. But the woman who took my call wouldn't even let me speak to Mr. Kaster. Not unless I first sent her my prior year's taxes, filled out forms, and paid $100. She relented on the $100 but still wouldn't budge on the rest, even after I explained that I was interviewing firms and that others had been happy to answer my questions. In fact I'd just gotten off the phone with a competing firm who'd happily spent 45 minutes with me. Business customer here, it would have been several businesses with complicated taxes, plus personal taxes from owners. I wonder if the owners realize the front desk is beating off their potential customers with a large stick?"

"BKS has provided me with the best experience I have had with any accounting firm! I have gone through a lot of them, and I am very happy to have found the right one. They are great to work with and provide a lot of value. From relatively simple personal returns to sometimes complex returns for my business, they have taken very good care of me. Everyone in the office is very friendly and approachable (staff and CPAs). They are very responsive to all of my requests, and I get lots of direct communication from my accountant (Eric). I highly recommend anyone to give these guys a try! They were also recommended to me by a financial advisor who spoke highly of their work."

"If you plan on hiring an accounting firm to relieve the stress and frustration of doing your own taxes, best to look elsewhere. BKS is definitely NOT the place to go for tax assistance. I got in touch with BKS on the recommendation from a friend who vouched for them and said they were great at getting great deductions. I emailed Eric Kaster directly, looking forward to a stress-free tax filing season. Boy, was I in for a shocking disappointment! The administrative/support staff at BKS are great! Super helpful and friendly, and they got me all set up with their online portal to submit documents. This was easy to do. I thought that Kaster would have a look at my tax documents and then give me a call or email with follow up questions to help me maximize my deductions. My return was simple after all, just married filing jointly with the standard deduction. But Kaster never got in touch. Not even once. Then he sent a completed return where I owed much more than I expected. So I found some deductions on my own, then sent him an email. He said I was wrong. I pushed back, and he admitted that I could make this deduction. What kind of CPA doesn’t know how to get the maximum deduction for their clients?! I thought that maybe he was just busy with tax season. Crisis averted? No way! After he had filed my returns, I called the awesome admin staff to make payment (a very expensive payment, by the way!). But when I called, the amount was $70 more than the invoice that I had received! Surely there was some mistake, right? Nope. It turns out that after I found deductions on my own, then had to insist that Kaster fix his mistakes on my return, he increased the cost of the invoice and didn’t even have the guts to notify me. I flat out refused to pay the increased amount after this frustrating experience with this sleazy character engaging in shady business practices. If you like to pay a lot for subpar services with people engaging in unconscionable business practices, by all means, sign on with BKS! I was asked more questions and received more tax guidance by using TurboTax online than with Eric Kaster at BKS. Save your time and money and go elsewhere for a less stressful experience. P.S.: In looking into their firm, I learned that Eric Kaster was disciplined by the Oregon Board of Accountancy in 2020. Take that as you will."