Marc is an amazing accountant. He makes everything seem so seamless and easy. He really simplifies the processs alot
Reply from Rayner CPA PLLC
2024.01.29
Thanks so much Phil! I try my best to make it as easy to understand since tax law can be so confusing and I am glad that comes through.
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By the far the worst experience I've had with a professional. Nothing has been done on time and a completely disorganized mess. I HATE leaving yelp reviews, but I feel like I need to warn others. I hired someone to make this process easier and it has done nothing but add stress. Listen to the one stars, they are beyond accurate!
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Marc has prepared my taxes for the last few years and both times did an extremely thorough job. This year in particular, he was able to prepare my return extremely quickly and was extremely approachable and happy to answer any questions I had. I would thoroughly recommend him and will most definitely be using him again next year.
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I don't write many reviews but this is warranted. As a freelancer in the city, I needed help filing taxes so I went to Marc. When filing as a freelancer on 1040ES, you're supposed to pay quarterly estimates. Repeatedly over the 3 years I used Marc, he told me as long as I paid ALL of the estimated taxes by the final due date as opposed to quarters, I'd be ok and not be fined. Well I'm sitting here at 3 years since using Marc and now I have received fines from the IRS for 2 of the years I used his services. Luckily I've switched to someone else who told me I should 100% be paying quarterly and no fines so far. And also saving a couple hundred on prep costs.
I cannot recommend Marc's tax prep services for this reason. If you're cutting corners on taxes it'll end up costing you in the end. I gave Marc an extra star just because he was a nice and pleasant guy but fines speak louder.
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I made a yelp account just to post this review.
I can't say enough how frustrating it is to work with Marc, having been a client for over 5 years now. I almost went elsewhere a few years ago after he repeatedly filed my taxes late or incorrectly, but he apologized in 2014 and said he'd hired new people to help him in the future, which did fix things briefly.
But this year has set a new low. He had all of my documents weeks in advance and promised they would be filed on time, but they were not. I then emailed him a day after filing day only to get en email saying that he was "taking a break" after all the hard work of tax season. I then called his assistant, who apologized and promised me he would have the filing done two days later. That was 2 weeks ago and I've heard nothing from them since. They also seem to have stopped answering the phone. Needless to say, I have found another accountant.
To sum it up, if you value your money and/or your sanity, please find another CPA.
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Previously I left a very positive review of Rayner CPA upon leaving the firm and taking my business elsewhere. I had no major quibbles at that time, and appreciated the service I received. However, an issue has now come to light 2 years later that changes all of that for me.
Rayner was dealing directly with the NY Dept. of Labor on an audit of my business' records (probably due to many missed deadlines and other issues in 2012/2013, see other reviews for customers dealing with poor service at that time), and that audit was still ongoing at the time I left Rayner in 2014-- however, despite promising they would "tell me when it was settled", he nor anyone else at the firm notified me when I switched CPAs that the audit was still ongoing.
As a result, the Dept. of Labor assessed a penalty the next year, but it was sent to an old address, three times removed from where I was at that point, and the mail never made it to me. I was very surprised that Rayner didn't tell me when I was leaving that he hadn't received a final verdict for the audit, which he was dealing with directly. Now, two years later, this audit has led to the freezing of my bank account and other assets due to nonpayment. Part of this is due to the issue of the mailed notification not reaching me, and that's on me. But I was shocked that Rayner did not communicate anything about the open audit being still open at the time I took my business elsewhere. Furthermore, in a recent email exchange when I inquired about why he never told me the audit was ongoing, he did not express any concern for that lack of communication on his part.
Beware of poor communication, and good treatment only when it's convenient-- this was a major communication issue that led to some very serious problems for me.
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I've had my review removed countless times now by Yelp.
Rayner calls Yelp and asks them to remove it, and Yelp does.
So to summarize again, Rayner was unresponsive, unprofessional, disorganized and uncontactable to the extent that it led to incorrect and late submissions of my tax returns by Rayer, costing me $50k in taxes and late fees that I had to personally work to get back by resubmitting my tax and pleading forgiveness with a new accountant. It was a nightmare.
DO NOT listen to these reviews, he doctors them to get the bad ones removed. Please do yourself a huge favor and STAY AWAY.
It's possible if you are one of Rayner's "important" (or lucky?) clients, you'd get good service but for me, I felt he he simply saw me as a simple $500 tax return to churn through without any thought or consideration or responsiveness.
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After hiring a different CPA and deciding I was unhappy with his services, I was in a panic to find someone and meet with them and have enough time to file my taxes before April 15th. I researched Marc, found him via Yelp, submitted an inquiry on his website in the evening, and had an email from him first thing in the morning. He was able to meet with me the next day. Taxe are a foreign thing to me, especially after starting my own company and being responsible for self employment tax. Marc took his time to explain the breakdown of everything to me and helped me estimate what I needed to save in order to have enough money to pay taxes each quarter. The meeting took less than an hour and he was able to schedule all of my payment taxes through the rest of the year. I would recommend him to anyone.
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I started working with Marc last year, and I would like to counter some of the negative reviews on here. First of all, he was very responsive both this year and last, responding personally to my myriad of email questions and meeting with me in person. It was my first time going to an accountant, as I had always done my taxes myself, and thus, I wanted to be very involved and understand what decisions he was making. While my taxes are fairly straightforward, I had some extenuating circumstances that made itemizing tricky.
I could not have been more thrilled with the service that I received and the refund that came my way. He totally got it about how to handle airbnb income, and relieved my anxiety about how that might impact what I owe. The best part was that he actually found me an amazing deduction for educational expenses that I had no idea about, since I always assumed my income was too high to benefit from any of the tuition programs out there (I am a part-time grad student). It is a no brainer that I went back to Marc this year. He is young, tech-savvy and approachable for all those Millennials out there who may be overwhelmed about finding an accountant (I was for years!). His online form upload program is easy to use and convenient. I know that my boyfriend still has to email all his paperwork piecemeal to his accountant, which seems like a pain.
Keep up the good work Marc! I'm looking forward to seeing your magic this year!
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I have been a client of Marc's for about 5 years now - Marc has been phenomenal in helping me file my personal and small business tax returns, getting me the largest possible refunds that I qualify for. He has been great about working around my crazy schedule and filing extensions as I needed them. He gives me great personal attention, I can communicate with him on many levels - shows great interest in finding me ways to help grow my business and open up doors for possible networking with some of his other clients. Marc is very honest and open about my finances and always provides me with great pro tips on how best to manage them. My returns are always done accurately and on time, and with the utmost professionalism. I highly recommend Rayner CPA for all accounting needs.
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I finally heard back from Marc in early March of this year, he gave me a partial refund, I like supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses so I really wish things had gone down differently.
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do not hire him, for the love of god, he will only bring you misery and pain.
i hired him to do my taxes, he put me on severe extension because he was having "problems". low and behold, two years later, i get notices from the irs and nys that he never, yes never, sent my personal or corporate tax returns. just never sent them. irs has charged me 5k in penalties, and i tell marc, and he has been ignoring me. just ignoring. i paid him thousands upon thousands of dollars for him to do returns he just forgot to send. he says its impossible, it got lost, but thats 4 returns that are just missing. also, i never got refunds because of these missing returns, for some reason before i knew about this huge error, he told me that he was doing things differently, he hired new staff, he had a new partner, he was not ill anymore, blah blah, bullshit bullshit, so stupid me hired him again, for him to again mess things up and put me on extension and ignore my emails and calls, and do everything last minute, and make mistakes. now i have to spend thousands of dollars to fix his errors. marc- you have to pay for my penalty, it was your fault, or i will report you, sue you, do whatever i have to do.
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I reached out to Marc during the peak of tax season, but was pleasantly surprised at how responsive he was. He was up front about the fact that he probably wouldn't be able to file my taxes in time, but was still able to quickly calculate the tax estimates needed to file an extension. After the filing deadline he was able to take care of my return, and was very accommodating about accounting for some more income sources that I forgot to provide with my original estimate. He also took the time to answer some questions I had.
Overall, it was a pleasure working with Marc and I'm definitely planning to return to him next year for my taxes and perhaps other financial advice.