Client Reviews of John Hughes, EA

DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY!! It was the first year filing as a married couple, and we also had a new baby. We decided to go pay to have our taxes professionally prepared since two major life events had occurred. We did not know how it impacted us, what credits and write-offs we could claim, etc. we met with him and he literally asked NO questions. He took both our w2's and said "ok ft his is pretty cut and dry." He threw in the numbers from our w2's into what appeared to be just a generic tax preparation program and said, "here's your refund". I sat there shocked as he had never met us before, didn't know our circumstances, and yet still asked NO questions! It seemed as though he was just there to enter basic data, get you in, get you out, and get the next person in to make a quick buck. I stopped him and asked him about writing off the medical bills for delivery, as our portion was over $5,000. He brushed it off quickly, said nope, we would need over $18,000 in deductions before it would count (yet gave no explanation why). He just assumed we would never have such large deductions so therefore didn't ask. I continued to ask him about deductions for this or for that and he just kept quickly answering nope, nope, brushing off everything and trying to end the appointment. I also mentioned my husband getting a notic to assess from the state and from the IRS from a previous tax return. THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A RED FLAG RIGHT THERE FOR HIM. If he had thought possibly our return was going to be held to pay old debt, he should have started to discuss it further, and possibly consider filing as "married filing separately" rather than "married filing jointly". Yet he continued to try to end the appointment and be done with his "tax preparation". I also mentioned I had previously had money taken to pay old student loans. (Another red flag...which I Learned all too late). Bottom line, our entire tax return was taken to pay more of my old student loans. The entire return, including my husbands portion of the return. I am now filing an injured spouse form in hopes of getting his portion back. I called his office looking for assistance regarding all of this. I left a voicemail explaining, and he never called me back. I called 2 days later and physically spoke with his son, another tax preparer, and he sounded shocked and said, "uhhh let me have him call you back". He took my info and again, NO CALL BACK. I started to investigate further. It turns out, if we had filed separately, I could have only needed $5000 in write offs before qualifying for itemized deductions. I could have claimed the hospital charges, my cell phone bill for work, my work uniform costs, dry cleaning costs, hospital and dr copays, my insurance premiums (which that alone is $6,000!). Ultimately, he left a LOT of money on the table. Money that we could have claimed as deductions. Money that should have been in our pocket. Also, since there was a possibility one or both of us might have offsets against us for previous debts, that should have been a red alert to have us file separately so that ALL the money wouldn't be taken for one person's previous debt. If we had filed married filing separately, my husband would have received his portion of the tax return. Instead, both our returns were taken for MY student loans from 10 years prior. He still has yet to even call back. He doesn't care. All he wanted was his quick $120 tax prep fee. He's not truly concerned about getting you the best refund. I could go on and on about all the things he missed and screwed up, but it would just to far too long. Bottom line, don't waste your time of money using this guy. He is only in it to make a quick buck. Nothing more.