Tompkins & Peters CPAs, P.C.

"We are extremely pleased with the service and professionalism of this firm. They have the absolute highest standards of customer service. They are responsive, professional and knowledgeable. The entire staff is highly competent. They really have done the best job possible for our business and personal taxes this year and we are grateful to have found them. If you are on the fence, call and make an appt. All of the staff have the same high standards of customer service and professionalism. We have found that to be the case across the firm. Special thanks to Beau and Austin for their time and expertise to straighten out our challenging tax issues that we brought with us. We could not be happier and are looking forward to continuing to do future business with Thompkins and Peters."

"As someone who was not a current client, I scheduled a telephone appointment with MJ Huffman regarding a tax question that had me worried. She called me right on time, and she answered all of my questions in more detail then I had expected. I was quite reassured by the end of our conversation. Compared to a previous accountant we used in Helena, she was stellar. We are going to consider having Tompkins & Peters do our taxes in the future because I was so happy with the telephone consultation I had with MJ."

"PROS: - MJ is nice & personable - staff are friendly CONS: - Collectively, they quoted $2,450 for tax filings that ultimately cost me a whopping $8,760. That's 3.5 times what I was expecting to pay, and far more than I have ever paid for a single year's accounting fees in my entire life. - Because of the way they handle billing, I had no idea what I was being charged, or that the fees had gone so far over the initial estimates until it was too late to stop it. - I had 3 separate filings to submit (1 closed LLC, 1 new LLC, and personal). After the first fee payment was so wildly over what was quoted, MJ assured me they would communicate with me in the future and let me know what something would cost beforehand. This did not happen, and both of the other filings were far over budget as well. - The closed LLC taxes accrued late fees because no one checked with me beforehand to ensure the bank account that was being drawn from was accurate. As a result, the state didn't get paid. Additionally, no one on their team checked afterward to make sure this went through without errors. In the end, I was the only one who caught the error. I'm also the one who paid the late fee. - When I asked about bookkeeping, Lairen gave me some quotes and then just stopped replying to my emails. I've since hired someone else outside of the Tompkins & Peters firm. - No one told me my final taxes were ready. I had to email them to check on the progress. - A payment plan was setup without telling me my final total. Therefore, I was charged recurring payments with no end in sight and no idea of how long payments would go on. That's incredibly stressful. - Every time I asked for invoices so that I could fully understand what I was being charged and when the payments would end, I only received part of the equation - one invoice for one LLC, once there for the other LLC, but not a full snapshot. - When I did finally get all 3 invoices after pressing the matter, I did not get them before the phone call where I was supposed to discuss them with Renee. They came afterward. - When I asked Renee what they would do to avoid going so massively over the estimate again in the future, she said the same thing MJ did - that they would talk to me before charging me. Since that didn't happen, I have to assume it won't happen in the future either. - When I went in to pick up my returns (in the future I suggest TPCPAs offer to mail the returns via FedEx, instead of assuming clients want to pick them up), I had to ask them how my tax refund was coming to me. This started an email chain where I got no reply for 11 days to a series of very simple questions. - They did not ask me how I wanted my return to be paid. They simply sent it via check when I wanted it as a bank deposit. When I brought this mistake up, no one apologized or admitted it was an error at all. I asked an additional question in an email on 9/30 that Renee still has not replied to. (as of me posting this, it’s 10/28/19) - They did not ask me where the IRS should mail the refund check. We moved, and they had it sent to the wrong address. If they had checked ahead of time, this would have been avoided. - When I emailed them, politely saying that I wanted to stop any charges and discontinue future service, they never even bothered to respond. OVERALL THOUGHTS Some people could argue that I should have checked on these things, but I disagree. That's what I pay a firm like TPCPAs for -- to handle it for me and take a stressful matter off my plate. When I feel like I have to check after my accountant, it adds significant stress to my plate and takes away the trust I had for the firm. Considering the way they position their firm, I expected superior communication and a firm that checked things before and afterward to ensure accuracy. When considering how much I paid them, as well, I was expecting more. I'm very disappointed and cannot recommend this company to anyone."

"Not a fan. You go in for a 45 minute meeting and end up with a bill for over 2 hours. My last accountant would charge $1000 for a tax return on average. TPCPA would average closer to $2500 for a return. They are not up to speed with the latest technology but charge a premium to sit their and try and figure it out. It is painful having to show them how the accounting software works, knowing they are charging upwords of $300 an hour for the lesson. I thought if I was paying top tier rates I would be getting some excellent advise to save me money in the long run. I was disappointed as they never offered up any strategies, they only input amounts into boxes and submitted returns. I could have used turbo tax for that."

"I have the honor of being Tompkins & Peters first Client. Following their advice for both personal and business tax strategy we not only survived the 2008 crises but where able to do so without having to discharge one employee. They have led me on my way to a stress free retirement. Hiring them was the smartest business decision I made."