I've had the pleasure of working with Brandon for a few years now for my tax and financial needs. He is the definition of a professional--always quick to respond to questions and exceptionally fast during the filing process. It's rare to find someone who balances efficiency with such a high standard of care. I couldn't recommend him more highly! read more

Helped me with 2 years taxes during crunch time!! All at a reasonable price. I'm also hard to reach via phone and he was accommodating to communicate via text or email. Pleased with my return as well. Highly recommend! read more

Brandon was very fast, responsive, and professional for our small nonprofit organization's taxes! Highly recommend.

Impressive! Expert and responsive help for financial and tax planning. Was looking for some professional help to review our tax and financial planning, centering on someone with both Certified Financial Planner and IRS Enrolled Agent certifications. Wasn't sure if that was asking too much, but found a few options and AFP/Brandon caught my attention for the detailed and positive reviews. He responded within hours and we set a time to check in. Have been impressed at every step. On tax reviews, he identified some savings that I had skipped due to being too cautious. Explained things, covered an exceptional event and timing, and we were set on taxes. For retirement planning, he understood my mix of investments and did some arcane calculations that don't apply to many folks. Set there and confirmed I'm tracking where I thought. Excellent guidance on college savings that led me to making a shift of providers due to fees and performance. Last, he answered a bevy of questions I had on real estate scenarios, including tax implications and target ranges. Bottom line: I had a superb experience and will look forward to periodic check-ins. The financial platform he uses with his clients is easy and reasonably secure. He presents and communicates things clearly. And Brandon was expert enough to be able to answer almost all my questions and scenarios with financial/tax/legal context on the spot, without having to get back after taking time to research. Fully recommend. Truly impressive. read more

It has been nothing but phenomenal working with Brandon. From his level of professionalism in filing my taxes to educating me on my savings and financials, I am now a loyal customer of his and looking forward to working with him moving forward. Thanks Brandon for all your amazing help! read more

Brandon is great to deal with and very responsive. He completed my taxes fast. I would highly recommend his services!!!

I am very grateful to have found Brandon when I was searching for a fiduciary/fee-only financial planner. Before finding Brandon, my family met with another financial planner who was recommended through a workplace event (who was not a fiduciary, meaning she tried to sell us various products that may or may not have been in our financial best interest) and another fee-only financial planner who had much more expensive offerings. What we have appreciated about Brandon is that he is great at answering all of our questions, patiently explains everything from investing to taxes to offering unbiased recommendations about various types of insurance (renter's, car, health) and how to make an estate plan. Being new to the Bay Area, we had tons of questions about taxes/RSUs and deeply appreciate Brandon giving us advice, in addition to filing our taxes as well. It is nice to have someone kind and reliable to help us wade through all these issues. Working with Brandon feels like having a great personal trainer for our money matters! read more

We have been working with Brandon for the last 2-3 years. We feel very lucky that we found Brandon! Not only Brandon knows that these tax jurisdictions exist, but also does he know how to maneuver through them should you ever run into a problem. Same as others' comments, Brandon is very professional and knowledgeable. More importantly to us, we just feel good about working with him. We will continue suggesting Brandon to our friends & family who may need helps on tax preparation and financial advices. read more

I reached out to this tax firm to handle my tax returns and uploaded my documents as requested. I was informed that one document was missing, which I couldn't locate in my online portal. Instead of trying to help me out or give suggestions, he stopped responding. Later, when I managed to find the missing document on my own and sent it to them, I still received no response. It's been several weeks without any follow-up or acknowledgment. Overall, his demeanor felt quite impersonal and unfriendly. Definitely would not recommend. read more

I was looking for a new EA after my previous tax preparer had forgotten to file an important document for 4 years straight for my LLC. I found Brandon and after reading other reviews I went ahead. From the start, Brandon had excellent communication. He thoroughly answered all my questions and made the process very smooth with lots of online options. His questions he asked were ones my previous preparer never asked me, which impressed me and showed me his diligence. He always answered questions regardless of what time it was. My rather complex taxes were done in just a day. If you are looking for a tax preparer that communicates and works to ensure his clients get their taxes filed correctly, Brandon is your go-to! read more

Brandon was very well versed in all the aspects of my tax return, and was super helpful in identifying mistakes in past returns as well. He was a pleasure to work with, as he was patient, thorough and attentive to detail. I highly recommend his tax preparation services to everyone. read more

We have been working with him for a few years now and Brandon was very attentive, professional and personable. He contacted us quickly and responded with clear and helpful answers. He completed our return quickly and answered all of our questions. He very easy to work with and I highly recommend him! read more

Brandon made filing our taxes an absolute breeze. We have a somewhat complicated tax situation and he was very responsive and thorough in answering our questions. His attention to detail ensured that we had minimal back and forth with edits and updates that I'm used to when dealing with other tax professionals. I highly recommend his service, it makes a normally stressful process as easy and painless as possible. I'll definitely be using his services in the future. read more

I had a complicated tax situation in 2023 and for the first time in three decades, I felt I needed professional help. After three failed earlier attempts to hire a tax preparer, I was getting anxious about the whole process, and I turned to Yelp and found Amaral Financial Planning. The Yelp reviews for his services were impeccable and I am here to add to his reviews. Working with Brandon proved to be an easier process than I'd imagined. He reviewed the documents and alerted me to some errors/omissions. After looking at our tax situation, he recommended ways to save on the taxes we owed. Needless to say, not overpaying taxes is a good thing! Brandon's fees for his services were very fair and he will be our "tax guy" in the coming years. If anyone is looking for tax services, I wholeheartedly recommend him. read more

I received a notice from the IRS saying that I owed money from 2022 tax year. Needless to say, my wife and I both freaked out. After looking through my return, I realized that I made some errors and needed someone who knew their stuff to help fix it. I messaged Brandon and got an immediate response. He set up a secure portal for me to upload my letter from the IRS and my documents. Within the hour, he was done. Everything was corrected and he even did the response letter to the IRS. What a relief! Thanks Brandon!! read more

Brandon is a great financial advisor. I've worked with him for over a year. He understands RSUs and also can give guidance on broader financial goals such as buying a home etc. on top of regular services you might expect such as doing taxes. He is very knowledgable and also very responsive - if you text him or email him he always replies very promptly. He is also good at keeping you accountable (a problem I have) making sure you follow through on the tasks that he's recommended you do. Overall would recommend working with him! read more

I had the pleasure of being Brandon's client at his previous firm (very sad he left!). From advising me on stock options and the complicated taxation involved, to being a knowledgeable and reassuring friend who guided me on landlord issues, travel and possible identity theft, Brandon encapsulated everything you could hope for in a financial advisor. Better yet, he's extremely personable and working with him is really like working with a friend who constantly has your back. Definitely give him a try! read more

Brandon was recommended by a friend and I'm glad she did. The entire process with Brandon on my tax return was seamless from start to finish. Brandon is knowledgeable and easy to work with. He was able to tell me what I needed to do on something I messed up on financial planning. I recommend him 100%! read more

Super responsive and helpful for my particular situation. Thoroughly answered all my questions in a timely manner. Highly recommend them.

I've been working with Brandon for around 1.5 years and he has been amazing! He always answers all my questions promptly and gives me a plethora of advice. Highly recommend! read more

So glad to have found Brandon to help me with my taxes since they have become a bit more complicated and I can no longer file them on my own. Great communication and fast filing! read more

Brandon has been handling my personal and business taxes for the last year. I highly recommend him to anyone starting out with a business.

Brandon is amazing to work with. He's been helping us for the last couple of years with both tax planning and preparation. He is detailed in his responses and insanely knowledgeable! Really thankful to have found him! read more

Highly recommend Brandon who helped us with filing taxes. He did a great job in understanding our situation and telling us about tax laws we were unaware of. All this helped ensure taxes are being filed correctly. He also helped us with refunds and found issues with previous years' filing. Good luck Brandon ! read more

Brandon's services were highly recommended and after working with him this tax season I fully understand why. He is personable, responsive, and goes above and beyond to provide an excellent customer service experience. I can not recommend his services enough! read more

We have been working with Brandon to manage our financial and taxes. We are very pleased with the level and quality of help we have been receiving from Brandon. He did our taxes very quickly and helped us get all possible deductions in order to minimize our taxes. On the financial planning side, we have been working with Amaral financial planning (in specific with Brandon) to set target goals for retirements and have made significant improvement in how we manage our finances. We are continuing to work with Amaral financial planning for the coming years. Some observations with working with Amaral financial planning is: Personal attention, very detailed, great customer care and responsive just to name a few. read more

Brandon made tax season seemed like a breeze. Worked through all my questions and made the process super easy. Thank you for all your expertise. ~Retuta family read more

Brandon was very courteous, honest, reliable and professional. He did an excellent job everything is done electronically and very hassle free experience. Everything was well organized and efficient. I highly recommend using their services if you need assistance with filing taxes. read more

I really appreciate Brandon with me on my complicated tax situation. He was understanding, very responsive and demystified the things that caused me worry. I am happy I found my Tax professional in Brandon. Thank you so much...The beautiful part of this is that everything was executed electronically which worked out great due to the logistical distance between his office and my home. read more

Bottom line: Hire Brandon if you want a fast, easy, and affordable experience. My partner and I have always filed our own taxes. Recently, CA made it a lot more annoying and difficult to file as domestic partners, so we decided to hire someone to help. We found Brandon on Yelp and it has been such an easy, painless, and super affordable experience. He was even able to estimate what percentage of our joint return was due to me and what percentage was due to my partner. He is extremely knowledgeable about tax law and his communication is top tier - he always answered our questions either immediately or within an hour. His online portal makes it super easy to upload your documents and he does the rest. I would say we spent under an hour setting up Brandon with the info/docs he needed to complete everything. I highly recommend Brandon! read more

I would recommend, Brandon for all your financial needs. He was professional & easy to work with. I will continue to use him in the future.

Amaral Financial Planning would get 6 stars if allowed! We have been working with him for years and all I can say is great things. His professionalism and response times are amazing. Very adaptable and willing to work with you in any way, shape or form! We are very pleased to have Amaral Financial Planning work with us and help us have financial ease of mind with taxes, investments, and anything finances! read more

Brandon is awesome! I hired him after I got early exercise options from a startup I joined. He helped me understand the complexities of taxation related to early exercise in a manner that made total sense. He also advised me on the best way to invest and grow my savings. Brandon filed my taxes this year. He has great attention to detail. He found a problem with my 401k contributions that I was able to fix in a timely manner and also saved me tax money on my HSA contributions. He's also always very responsive and professional. Working with Brandon was a pleasure and I'd highly recommend him! read more

Excellent, fast service. Very knowledgeable and professional. I highly recommend Brandon's services. Thank you! A++++

Brandon helped file my taxes for both myself and small business for the first time and he made the process extremely easy. He is fast, proficient and entirely helpful about answering any questions I had. Most importantly he is kind and empathetic which is rare. I am so glad I found his services and highly recommend him! read more

Brandon did a great job for me. He answered all my questions promptly and made suggestions that saved me a ton of money.

Brandon was wonderful to work with! Had my small business return completed in a few days! Fast, friendly, and thorough! I'll be recommending him to my family and friends, as well as having him do my taxes next year! read more

Brandon is an amazing adviser. He stays on top of our need whether it is kids education, their future needs or our future plans related to retirement, investment, tax savings etc. He is punctual, hard working and smart. He gives personalized plan and take care of our needs in very organized way. Highly recommended for tax prep, tax saving and planning. read more

My partner and I worked with Brandon for several months at his prior firm. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and really helped us get our finances in order as new homeowners. Would highly recommend him to anyone looking for comprehensive financial planning and advice. read more

I have worked with Brandon for sometime now. He is very knowledgeable in all that he does and has been super helpful in my own personal financial journey. When I first started I had no idea on what I was doing and I had no idea on how to start investing for my financial future. Thanks to his tips and advice, I have been achieving my goals steadily. I am now debt free and am saving for retirement! It has been a pleasure getting to know Brandon as a person and a financial planner. He really cares about his clients and provides quality work. Thank you Brandon for all your help!!! read more