We have been going here for about eight or nine years, for our taxes; ALWAYS SEEING Michael Wasczcak!!! He is the absolute best at what he does. He enters all of our information with ease; going over every document, entering every necessary code. We have gone from owing to getting regular refunds!!! His value is in his knowledge, especially in terms of having deductions from paychecks. AMONG OTHER THINGS!!! We would not think of ever going anywhere else. His efforts are INVALUABLE!!! read more

Nola is my tax therapist! I arrive on the verge of a nervous breakdown & she, besides being so thorough & attentive to every detail of my financial circumstances, also soothes my soul & calms my mind. Long Live Nola so I can get through tax season for the rest of my life! read more

Outstanding customer service experience here. Again Michael was amazing job for me. I couldn't sleep about refund and he solved my issue right away and wonderful communication! I will highly recommend him I also like to introduce my coworkers as well. I am proud of you michael thank you for your great job you made my day again!! read more

NOLA SMITH FOR PREZ! she was absolutely amazing and made me feel comfortable with doing my taxes. she made a stressful time for me easy and actually pleasureable. she was welcoming and her energy just made everything go smoothly. i will definitely use her again!! the absolute best ! read more

10/10 - The Best Tax Expert in Pacific Beach! I can't say enough good things about Nola Smith at H&R Block in Pacific Beach! Taxes can be stressful, but Nola made the entire process smooth, efficient, and even enjoyable. She is incredibly knowledgeable, detail-oriented, and takes the time to explain everything in a way that actually makes sense. I have been seeing Nola for my taxes ever since I moved to San Diego in 2019. What really sets her apart is her patience and expertise--she finds every deduction possible and ensures you're getting the best return. She genuinely cares about her clients and goes above and beyond to provide outstanding service. If you're looking for a trustworthy, skilled, and friendly tax professional, Nola is the one! I wouldn't trust anyone else with my taxes. Highly recommend--I'll be back next year & every year for sure! read more

Try to avoid! You are better off doing your taxes on credit karma or turbotax. Last year I was convinced to leave my regular tax guy since I moved to SD and the reviews on Michael really pushed me. His personality is great, but I am barely realizing this year that he completely screwed up my taxes. My boss normally includes the driving costs as part of my income so I asked him if that needs to be deducted but he said no it dosn't apply to me and completely ignored it in my taxes. So I basically paid taxes for the driving costs that my boss was supposed to pay for, all thanks to Michael. read more

Earlier this week I schedule an appt online for 9 AM today. Confirmed by text. Office doesn't open until 11 AM, however. It didn't occur to me that they'd schedule and confirm an appointment for a time when they were closed. The woman that it directed me to centrally didn't seem to care or even apologize for the inconvenience until I asked her to. She wasn't even going to send the office a message to let them know. This doesn't bode well for customer service or attention to detail, but we'll see how the reschedule appointment goes... read more

Michael Wasczcak, Period! Best tax advisor in the world hands down. There is the standard, the golden standard, the best, then theres Michael Wasczcak! My wife and I have been returning to him for years now, and he goes above and beyond with his knowledge, dedication, and work ethic. Not only is he smart as a whip, but he is very personable and reliable in a pinch. He always works his best to help us out the most he can. He will always be our tax guy because he's that good. He knows business taxes, w-2, investments, you name it, if there is a deduction, he knows about it. This year he stayed late because we asked him to do our taxes early. He added to his full schedule (Usually Michael is booked solid for months-a year!) He saved us this tax season because we needed to get them done by a deadline, we had insane amounts of paperwork and he completed it, organized it, and helped us through it with ease. We moved to Colorado, but we never forget service like today. This man is worth his weight in gold. #1 Tax professional Michael Wasczcak read more

Nola was very helpful and kind! I would definitely recommend seeing her for a consultation.

A little background: Normally my Father does my taxes, but I wanted to take that burden off of him and take care of it myself. So I decided to walk into HR Block with the intention of paying someone to do my taxes as a convenance. I made an appointment and came with all of the required documents (both digital and paper copies). Upon sitting down with the tax-preparer he immediately started going through my documents and marking them up. Great! He asked me to sign something so he could begin adding the documents to the software. Okay. What was strange is that he never mentioned anything about cost. I was fine with that though because the website said prices start at $59. My first question to him was about home-office deductions. He was pleased to tell me I could write off a portion of my rent with this deduction. But it turns out this is wrong. A tax preparer in the next cube chimed in saying that deduction has been eliminated. Okay, thank god that guy was listening. So after 30 minutes he told me that he had another appointment and I would need to come back to finish it up. He said when I come back it would be done so I could sign and pay. Okay, great! I returned after the weekend for my next appointment, and to my surprise nothing else had been done to my return. He made me sit in his office for another hour as he handed-pecked all of the numbers into the software. But on multiple occasions he got stuck and had to ask for assistance from another tax preparer, which was visibly irratating the other busy tax preparer. After 1 hour, he still wasn't done adding my information, and had multiple errors reported in the software he didn't know how to fix. The other tax preparer wouldn't help him anymore so he told me he would call me at 5pm when he was done. 5pm came and went. So I called. He was with another client. Okayyy. Finally at 6:30 he called. He said he needed another week to complete my return. Why is this taking so long?? This takes my Dad 30 minutes to import into Turbo Tax??? I curiously asked asked him how much this service was going to cost me. $480!!!! WHAT?! 4 days later I got an email from the Tax preparer saying my return has been complete, but I was being transferred to another guy since he isn't in that office very often. Weird, but okay. I go to the office to find out how much I am supposed to pay. Well, H&R block gave me back my paperwork and wouldn't tell me the outcome of their work. I looked in the cube of the tax preparer, and he had left to hide in the back of the office. What is going on??? I asked to speak to someone about the result of their work, but they wouldn't share anything. All they would say is, "I'm just a receptionist. Come back later when this other guy is here". I took my paperwork and left. What happened?!?! This was a giant waste of time. I had my Dad file again and I paid $40. Not $480. This office needs to hire qualified tax preparers and not computer illiterate retirees. read more

Michael Wasczcak is fantastic! My bf and I were in dire need of someone to file our taxes as well as clean up our previous tax audit and help us with the future. Michael not only got us both the best bang for our buck from our return, but he took the time to TEACH us to make taxes not as scary! I feel more confident in the tax world to hopefully make my taxes go more smoothly in the future. I also understand it better which I feel will help me financially! He will take his time and go through all information with a fine point comb to get you the best and CORRECT return! He is a man of his word and definitely knows what he is doing. This is the first year that we feed CONFIDENT in our returns all thanks to Michael! read more

Made on my experience this year I'd give zero stars. I'm giving two because I've done my taxes with HRB for a long time without issue. This year I had them prepare my personal and S-corp taxes, and I'm not sure we could have had more issues beginning with bugs in their myblock.com site that had my docs lost on their site for a month and a half. The status I saw was "In Progress" but long story short-ishy docs were in their Bermuda triangle. Eventually got taxes complete with 6 days to spare. That's after I made endless escalation calls with lots of "it must be you" responses. But, after submitted I found an issue where one of deductions was completely skipped. They agreed to prepare an amendment (at no charge because it was their error)...which they did 2.5 months later. Had a quick question and messaged my tax pro within just a few hours. Nope, she's done for the season so another person called me with no history on my taxes and was gaslightng me about having called my tax pro (I hadn't). I got 3 different answers to my question; and lots of reasons (excuses) for not knowing the answer. "I don't know" is a much better answer in my book. And, calling a 43 year old woman dear and sweetie in the absence of solving the problems HRB caused is not appreciated. read more

I went to turn in my taxes today because I've been kind of behind on them and I got the best customer service got it done in a timely manner and learned so much info about my taxes that I did not know before, Michael Wasczcak did my taxes beautifully and I will consistently be going to him now on definitely recommend him!!! read more

All the reviews are true...Michael Wasczcak is the best! I had to find a new tax pro this year because mine retired and I'm so happy I found Michael. He was very knowledgeable and very thorough. He gave me great advice helped me get all of my paperwork in order. Will definitely be going to him next year and would recommend him highly. read more

I saw Michael Wasczcak after receiving a letter from the IRS requesting money owed that I honestly had no clue was coming! He was a WIZ helping me respond, bundling up a ton of paperwork he compiled for me to mail, and helped me submit the online payment. BOOM! DONE! He basically went through my entire tax year in question, and immediately caught several critical points the IRS overlooked (even before thoroughly going through each section he seemed to know what they failed to consider in their proposed amount owed), and set me up to pay the state, which hadn't caught my mistake yet, but unbeknownst to me, was coming soon. By catching this early I believe I avoided further fees. Bottom line, after Michael's calculations, I ended up owing about 1/3 of the IRS' original estimate, amazing and such a relief! He went through all the paperwork with me to make sure I understood everything, giving helpful tips along the way, addressing my business taxes, as well as personal. Michael was professional, efficient and is clearly living his work passion with the amount of enthusiasm he has toward educating on all those tricky tax details; he made dealing with this huge surprise challenge extremely smooth and fast. I felt completely taken care of, knew he wasn't leaving out any important details, and I'll go so far to say he made the process fun! He also offered and went through my last 3 years of completed taxes to catch anything off-mark, this additional service included in my original reason for walking in the door! What a great deal for such high-quality, experienced service! It was a pleasure getting support with my IRS hiccup and taxes with Michael, something I've never said about a CPA before; I've consulted with 3 accountants prior to Michael, and I'm sticking with Michael! read more

If I could give negative stars, I would. Lorena Lopez, tax preparer, refused to answer my questions. She also refused to speak to me, because I speak English. When I stated if she didn't begin to answer my questions (because my information was inaccurate from her), she wouldn't complete my return, she blasted me and called me racist. I have the texts of this racist preparer that needs to be fired immediately. Stay away from H&R Block. Btw, her racist texts began at 12:41am. Yep. 12:41 at night. Stay away read more

Tax time again, Ugh! But you gotta do it. If you find yourself at H&R block in Pacific Beach, Peter is the best! He takes his time and makes sure mistakes weren't made. He explains things throughly so you understand everything. Let's be honest, taxes are no fun, Peter is very personable and empathetic and will go the extra mile to help one out. He knows his stuff. I'm so happy I went to him and you will be too! read more

I have been going to this H&R Block location for 4 years. Always have seen Santosh Barat who was great but he's at another location now. I met with Peter Szendroy and he was very friendly and professional. He answered all my tax questions and was very thorough. Thank you Peter Peggy Lee H. read more

Thank you Michael Wasczcak, PHD Very informative and very knowledgeable. He made my experience very helpful. I will def come see him next year. Best regards, read more

Pete Szendroy is the best! He is a gentleman, very unassuming but knows his stuff inside and out. He is very kind and takes an interest in you and your life aswell as the job at hand. He was fine with our little puggle Lisa being there aswell and he always makes us laugh. This guy makes tax season actually enjoyable if that is at all possible and ALWAYS manages to get us a good tax back payout! Do yourself a huge favour and pick Pete he is just great! Alan and Lucy.. and Lisa the puggle xox read more

I relied on Yelp to continue from last year to do my taxes through H&R Block. My last experience for 2018 was good (I am very detail orientated and am a how when where kind of person and so wish for someone to be the same when business and especially when taxes are involved). This time when Yelp highly recommended Michael, I went to him. He was so thorough, efficient, extremely knowledgable and fantastic. Thank-you Yelp! If you need his info....(hopefully he is not too busy for me next year as he is truly one of the best). MICHAEL WASCZCAK H&R Block 1084 GARNET AVE SAN DIEGO, CA 92109 858-581-3768 read more

Michael was unbelievable. I have been coming in for three years now and I ALWAYS leaving feeling relieved AND with a NICE return. One of the great things about Michael is that he is not only quick and efficient, when I have a question, he takes the time to answer it in a way I can understand. There are so many different things that are important for people to know when they are getting their taxes done but it's SO overwhelming. Michael makes it all simple and easy. You have to come and see him. Ask for him. Come with your questions he has the answers. You will leave feeling great, knowledgeable AND with an AWESOME return! Thanks Michael!!! read more

Michael Wasczak is the BEST! My experiences with tax professionals had been extremely poor, prior to meeting Michael. Michael makes me feel heard and understood. I feel like I finally understand my taxes, thanks to Michael. Please, never retire! I don't know what we would do without your annual help! H&R BLOCK, whatever you're paying him, it's not enough! I can't say enough about Michael, he makes us no longer fear our taxes, because we know, not only will it be done correctly, but we will understand all aspects of our tax situation and how to improve for next year! Everybody needs a Michael, I don't know how anyone does their taxes, accurately, without him. read more

I would give negative 1 star if I could. This was my first year trying H&R and will be my last. For tax season, they hire older retired people to help with returns. This is fine as long as they can do their job. When they cant type your name correctly, work a computer, and have a hard time hearing you speak it can make things difficult to sat the least. Here are some numbers for you: H&R cost was $188.00 for a BASIC return. They told me I owed $6,992.00 for state and Federal. I went back to my CPA: $125.00 for the return and i really OWE 1928.00 dollars. I would have overpaid by over $6K!! Never again H&R....never again. read more

Thank YOU Michael Wasczcak! Your assistance gave me peace of mind. Taxes are stressful enough without the added confusion of Divorce! But, your guidance helped me greatly and I appreciated your calm and professional manner. Warmest regards, Paula read more

Today was my first time meeting with a Tax accountant. If all tax accountants are anything like Mike Wasczcak, then i'm a fool for never having gone in for help with my taxes until today. Seriously, if you need help with your taxes, do yourself a favor and go see Mike.. read more

Michael Wasczcak was extremely knowledgeable and professional. He offered great insight and feedback regarding tax code, retirement opportunities, and tips for next year. The wait time was a little over our scheduled appointment time but it was later in the afternoon and we felt it was well worth the wait as we understood he truly takes time with his clients. He cares about you and his service. We highly recommend Michael!!! read more

Everybody here is really nice. Peter really helped us out when we has some issues from past documents. He even came in on his day off to help us. Really cool guy read more

I moved to La Jolla in 2018. When I needed someone to do my taxes, I searched right here on Yelp and found Michael Wasczcak at H&R Block in PB. That was my lucky day! Michael is brilliant, knowledgeable, professional, personable, and kind. The first time I met with him, he gave me my "homework" and specified what I'd need to bring to our next meeting. The 2nd time we met, he told me what a good job I'd done collecting everything. He called a couple of times for clarification and clearly was very familiar with my finances. Our final meeting was today; Michael not only had my taxes all set to go, he saved me a boatload of money and recommended a future tactic. I honestly can't believe how easy Michael made this experience. I look forward to having him do my taxes every year. I cannot recommend Michael Wasczcak highly enough. read more

I found this H&R on Yelp and saw the reviews for Michael and took a chance... well, everything everyone posted about Michael is absolutely true. He is amazing! He took the time, he educated me on the new taxes and even what to expect for next year! Friendly, funny and extremely helpful, what a way to do your taxes! Thank you Yelp and thank you Michael! read more

I've never been a fan of H&R Block, but when I moved to San Diego five years ago I went there because I didn't have time to find a different place to get my taxes done. By pure luck I got a guy named Michael Wasczcak, PHD as my tax advisor. Michael is the PERFECT combination of "cool guy" and "super deep tax geek". He seems to have every number and letter of tax code etched in his brain, and you'll sense that when he verbally flows through all your paperwork, fluently explaining all the specifics with a nice and smooth pace. I've used this guy five years and I can't remember a single time he had to go check or confirm any information - he was 99.9% confident on every word he spoke, every number he keyed in, and every tax tip he gave me. Excellent! read more

Another great year working with Michael Wasczcak. He is diligent and knowledgeable. One of the things I most appreciate is that I always leave smarter and with a better understanding about my return and preparing for next year. read more

Definitely go to see Michael Wasczcak. He ensured I got the discount H&R block was offering (half off what I paid last year for my tax prep!) and stayed late to meet that deadline for the deal. Besides the good price, he was very, very knowledgeable and I trust that everything was filed correctly. He even taught me things along the way and made sure I understood. I have a discount code for new clients so if anyone wants to go see him, you can hit me up and I'll give you the code. Would definitely recommend and I will certainly see Michael next year! Already made my appointment. read more

my software won't open. online support no good - worked on it for 2 hours. waited for 1 hour on the phone and then was disconnected before i could get help. deadline for extensions is in 3 days - unacceptable read more

Michael Wasczcak, PHD, senior tax preparer/analyst at HR Block in Pacific Beach was absolutely fantastic! A+, 5 stars! He prepared my tax returns this year and was so knowledgeable, informative, and an outstanding communicator. Honestly, after the great experience I had with him, I would never consider going to anyone else. He not only made sure that I got credit for all the possible deductions/expense write-offs I was eligible for this year, but he also offered to review my last year's returns, as some of those deductions were missed by another tax preparer. He also took the time to explain possible tax scenarios should certain things happen in my future that could affect my tax returns. I highly recommend Michael to anyone who wants an honest, straightforward, tax preparer. read more

My boyfriend and I dropped our taxes off last Thursday 7/9. I failed to do taxes since 2016 and my boyfriend had to do 2018/2019 taxes. I've never gone to anyone to do my taxes cause I usually do them myself, which I should of done this time. So we met with someone named Mike France. When I first said I haven't done taxes since 2016 he immediately was like omg don't do this to me.. I was hoping he was joking. Well come tax day 7/15 my boyfriend calls and Mike had "misplaced" his tax papers and wasn't sure where they were. My boyfriend went down to the office to try to get his papers back and Mike was there and he found all his paperwork, and he said he won't be able to get to his.. and he said for mine that he started my 2019 taxes and "might" be able to finish them. He ended up handing over my stack of papers and my boyfriends and said we are better off going to another office. My bf asked if anyone at that office could do them and they said no. I'll never be going back to hr to get my taxes done. Worst 1st experience and now I have to figure out how to complete my taxes by today. read more

Michael Wasczcak was extremely helpful I would highly recommend H&R Block to family and friends ! If you need your taxes done precisely and accurately I would highly recommend H&R Block Pacific beach ! read more

WASTE OF TIME - I made my appointment a week ago for today at 6:00pm due to the high reviews given to Michael Wasczcak here on Yelp. I arrive 25 minutes early and check in with the receptionist for my appointment. I hear the receptionist tell Michael while with a client that his 5pm is there, his 6pm as well (which is me) and that his 7pm cancelled. Keep in mind, this is about 5:45pm. At 5:55pm, Michael wraps up his appointment, takes his 5:00pm (:55 minutes late) at this point and instructs him to sit in his cubicle. He comes out and tells me that he's running late. I asked why couldn't his office call me to alert me? NOTHING... Completely dumbstruck. To me, it's just plain planning and communication. Had I got a call from this office to ask me if I could have come an hour later at 7pm, I would have had no issue. He tells me my options are to do a tax drop off. Did I make an appointment for a tax drop off... NO! Then he tries to push me to another colleague there to instead do my taxes. Did I make an appointment with your colleague... NO! His las option was for me to come back at 7pm, well over an hour. Did I make an appointment at 7pm... NO! As if my time wasn't of any valuable. It's my weekend! A total waste of time and I now I have to search for somebody else to file my taxes. The tax professionals of H&R Block are definitely not present in this office. #FAIL read more

I want to thank Micheal W for his GREAT ADVISE, very concerned about us. SAVED US MONEY.

What a positive experience! I've always been somewhat skeptical of the "big box" tax guys (I'm a huge supporter of the shop local/support small business movement), but after less-than-stellar experiences with sub-par preparers over the past few years it was an absolute pleasure to meet and work with Michael Wasczcak. He performed a second look on last year's return, which resulted in an amended return. Not only did he get us more money back, but also he demonstrated a vast amount of knowledge and provided me with an abundance of helpful information, a true testament to his expertise in the field. Not to mention he is passionate about what he does--it shows. The high level of customer service and overall experience could not have been better. The stress of taxes is difficult enough, but having a trusted advisor to help navigate the IRS maze makes it (dare I say) enjoyable. I walked out feeling as if I was more educated about taxes in this one visit than I have ever been able to absorb in my life up until this moment (and I consider myself to be pretty savvy). Please, do yourself a favor and call Michael when you're ready to file or if you want a second look--you might just get some extra $$ in the process :) read more