update: After I posted the review below, Honest Buck contacted me immediately and refunded us the charge for filling state return. Thus I am returning a couple stars back to them. Sorry, I am still not "a fan", so cannot give more stars than three. I sincerely hope my experience was an outlier, as I know those good reviews here are not made up. Two additional notes for your reference: 1. As I said in my original review below, 2016 was a complicated year for us and 2017 was the first time we used a tax accountant. We may not be the most organized or experienced clients in any way. 2. As Honest Buck disclosed to me, they experienced some personnel change while preparing our tax return, which could be rare. __________________________________________________________ The bottom line: you may want to look up closely who you work with. Our experience last year was horrible. Full disclosure: our income for 2016 was very low due to life changes; and due to the same life changes, we decided to use a tax accountant to help us sort out the more complicated situation. However, honest buck wasn't helpful in any way to save my time, and as they charged upfront, I don't believe I should receive inferior service than their richer clients. Of course, maybe due to our low income that year, they were trying to send us a message that we should never go back to them. Long story short, here are what happened to us last year: - My husband and I ended up filing a 1040X by ourselves to fix the errors in our federal return, as honest buck used my husband's business's billed invoice instead of received payment to fill 1040 Schedule C. - We wasted a lot of time to send them all the information, and the only places they did not make any mistake are the forms that I sent them the filled forms directly. - They charged us for filling our state return (we moved to WA from a state with state income tax) and then told us they cannot do it but never refunded us any money or even provided any apology. It was very simple to file. I felt like an idiot through the whole process, as I paid some strangers money, shared everything about our financial details, wasted probably 50 hours+ time to get stuff organized in spreadsheets or forms to send to them, and ended up doing the whole tax thing ourselves anyway. Honest Buck was unprofessional and indifferent to us. Good luck to you! read more

I used honest buck for a few years and was passed around to different accountants and had a couple issues with IRS fees. The last one was $1,200 due to Rachelle saying I could file late for the extension but when I talked the the IRS, this was only for personal, not business taxes. This is something an accountant should know. I sent 6 emails and 2 phone calls in 1 1/2 months to honest buck asking to send the proof of extension to the IRS. I finally got a rude response saying she wasn't answering because I am no longer a client since I only use them for tax services and an extension was never filed. Highly recommend finding another company for your services. read more

They charged me in advance, filed my taxes late, made significant errors (wrong SSNs, wrong business ownership info) in the first draft they sent me, and they failed to respond to most of my communication. I think the only reason my taxes got filed to begin with was my own persistence in making it happen. The frustration and time it took trying to work with them left me thinking it was better to just do them myself. I won't use them again. Response time on emails and voicemail was often several days, even when I asked questions like, "I haven't heard anything from you guys, should I get another firm to work on my taxes?" They charged me in advance, which was weird. I paid it, then expressed discomfort with this and asked for a partial refund - pay the rest when the taxes were complete - and was said they would refund me. They did not, even after multiple follow ups. Being paid in advance, I guess they didn't have a lot of motivation to do a great job... I finally got Lesley to file an extension after many attempts to contact her (like, ON tax day - still no response). I had to be additionally persistent to actually GET my taxes filed through them...late. I'm not sure my taxes would have been completed at all if I hadn't been so persistent. I had sort of expected an email from Rachelle or Lesley after the fact - sorry we did not deliver your taxes on time, sorry we never responded to you - but received nothing. Maybe they got overwhelmed? I had hoped for more counsel and guidance versus someone doing data entry in a tax program. I could have done that myself...that's why I called what I thought were experts. read more

I'm a small business owner and am not very knowledgeable about accounting. I generally prefer the overview perspective as opposed to understanding the intricacies of accounting work. Thus, I hired Honest Buck to help and essentially handle all business taxes, routine accounting work, reports and payments. I've worked with them for two years. My experience - not so great. This review is the most honest and unbiased as I can be: PROS: They know their stuff. Very knowledgeable and truly understand everything there is to know about accounting principles, including changes due to reasons such as new legislation. They are also very organized and have taken steps to create a modern, convenient, and tech-oriented experience for their customers. They are a well-established organization and there is absolutely no question about the integrity of their work. CONS: I dinged them two stars for several reasons. Let me preface by saying this is MY experience only, and I speak for no other customer, former or current. The first issue is communication. While they have been timely in their responses, it's always been a challenge fully understanding their explanations to particular issues I've come across with taxes and/or general accounting. As I mentioned before, I need an overview explanation that can be understood by someone with minimal accounting experience. They were not able to do this, and in many situations I left the conversation more confused than before. The second issue is essentially part of the first - they get frustrated when I don't understand their explanations. This is what really bothered me the most. Time and time again, I would receive sighs and passive-aggressive behavior every time I had to ask the same question twice because I just didn't understand their explanation. It was very noticeable that they adopted a more "hands-off" approach with me, whether it's because they got sick of trying to explain things to me, or perhaps they just didn't like me and wanted to avoid me as much as possible. I know I can be difficult at times, but for a well-established organization to act like that, I don't believe it's professional, but more importantly, I believe it's just mean and belittles the customer. The third issue - they're not very welcoming when it comes to questioning charges on their invoices. I was charged extra labor for filing 1099s for 2018 because the accountant had to go back and forth, adjusting 1099s because the amounts were incorrect. I provided all the necessary information they requested upfront to be fluid in their process, yet they took extra time, and charged for me that. I questioned this, only to receive pushback and was told "this isn't a good relationship for us". To be fair, this statement was inclusive of other issues and heated arguments from the past, but even so, I felt that was extraordinarily unprofessional and showed a lack of compassion for their customers. I work in the music industry - if I said something like that every time a client gave me pushback or got angry with me, I wouldn't have a business. I believe they can be elitist at times. As I mentioned, I'm a small business owner. My company financials obviously do not compare with those of some of their other clients and at times I felt like I wasn't worth it to them. It got to a point where I felt like they're just waiting for me to end the relationship. They ended up forcing me (and allegedly some other clients) on to a different accounting firm, without my consent. Much of this is certainly me being overly-sensitive; however I don't think that really matters. I'm still a customer by the end of the day and an organization such as Honest Buck should be willing to accommodate all customers and all personality types. I just wish they tried a little harder instead of going into their turtle shell. read more

Rachel is a life saver. Dealing with the IRS is scary and stressful. I received a nasty-gram from the IRS saying I owed them 9000$ in back taxes, penalties and fees. I needed a professional! Within 1 day Rachelle was able to review and amend my return, find 1600$ in missed deductions as well as file a request to remove the ~1500$ in penalties and interest. We were able to take care of everything over email and phone. She was ultra efficient and thorough. She uses electronic signing and other software tools that make signing and reviewing government paperwork SO MUCH easier. Rachelle's was the 5th firm I contacted off yelp (due only to her not showing up in search ranking the first 2 searches I did) to assist with my tax issue. My experience in reaching out to other firms ranged from them stating that my case was too small to handle, non returned calls, and another that said there was no sense in amending my return. One individual was no longer taking clients and kindly provided me with a reference to another accountant.. Who did not return my call. I wish I would have gone with Rachel first. It would have saved me time, money and stress! She is a true professional and I will be taking last years return to her to review and update. Thank you Rachelle!!! read more

I would give them zero stars, if I could. I worked with them and at the time, their client books had not been touched in months, yet I was told to not spend time to correct the errors that I noted in their books. As an employee, Rachelle was completely abrasive and did not want to address the issues that I brought to her attention. Rachelle is a very knowledgeable person in the accounting realm, but she has taken on more clients than she can actually manage, and her abrupt personality is hard to deal with. This is not a fake review, as they would like you to think. They have deleted any access to my email conversations where I brought up these points previously. Look at Oren S.'s review, which is accurate to my experience. Oren, just so you know, they get a kickback from the accounting firm that they referred you to, 30% of what you pay them for 3 years. I was told that difficult clients were terminated and referred to the other firm. Rachelle is elitist and only wants full-service clients, as this is where she prefers to make her money. read more

TWO WORDS - problem solver. Super good experience with Rachelle. I found Rachelle on Yelp and was impressed with her reviews. Rachelle is professional, efficient, and great at what she does. She always gets it right and secures the highest returns for me on both my Federal and State returns. I have worked with many accountants and Rachelle is by far the best I have worked with. Her past experience she worked as an auditor for Deloitte and now runs her accounting firm (Solide). - Rachelle is smart. - Rachelle is super responsive with my questions. - Rachelle is extremely knowledgeable about with my accounting questions. - Her rate is reasonable. I have recommended Rachelle to many of my peers, friends and family members who had problems with their accountants and wanted a simple solution. I couldn't be happier with Rachelle and what the work she delivers. read more

I am so pleased with the customer service, friendly advice, and easy online portal for scheduling. I am getting into freelancing and needed someone to help me make sure I was sending the correct estimated taxes each quarter so I don't get hit with a big bill when I file next year. Lesley walked me through everything I needed to know, going above and beyond to let me know about other things I needed that I wasn't even aware of. She was so helpful and kind with all the questions I had that I decided on the spot that I'll be using them to file my taxes next year. read more

Rachelle and her team provide thorough, organized, reliable and prompt services. We tried two other CPA/bookeeper teams for our small business finances and are thrilled to have found Honest Buck -- a big improvement in terms of communication and quality of service. I really feel like I can trust their work and that our finances are in competent hands. They are a great addition to our small business team. Highly recommend. read more

I can't recommend this firm highly enough. I hired them for a time-sensitive project and they were exceptional. You need this firm to help run your business. read more

We recently started working with Rachelle after our previous longtime bookkeeper moved out of the area. I was really hesitant about finding someone new due to some bad experiences with some past bookkeepers, but I took a chance with Rachelle and I am very happy that I did. I contacted a number of bookkeepers that I found on Yelp and she was only one of two companies that actually responded (it's amazing how bookkeepers do not answer emails or phone calls). I really liked that fact that Rachelle is a licensed CPA and has worked at a "big four" firm. In addition to her solid technical skills, she is extremely efficient and simply wonderful to work with. In fact, for the first time ever in our nine years of business, our other tax CPA had no complaints about our bookkeeping and found no errors. I highly recommend Rachelle! read more

I would recommend this accountant. Walked away with a bit more knowledge on how to run my business. Will continue to work with Rochelle for as long as I own my business. Rochelle thank you for your patience and answering all my question. From Amazing Grace Vending. read more

My wife and I worked with Rachelle at Honest Buck last year for our 2015 taxes. She was GREAT! Extremely responsive and really worked with us through the process. And the rates are extraordinarily reasonable. We're definitely planning on coming back again this year. read more

Rachelle has made my life SO much easier- from helping me iron out problems with Quickbooks, to managing my quarterly and annual small business taxes. She's fast, affordable and very professional. Highly recommend! read more

Lesley and the team worked so smoothly and fast to address all of our issues. Quick turnaroud, extremely professional and responsive, which is very important for clients! They have fair pricing as well. I'm still working with them. Highly recommend. read more

Lesley is a pleasure to work with. She is detail oriented, thorough, low-key, and as far as I can tell expert at what she does. This is our first year using Honest Buck accounting, but we look forward to a long relationship to handle our complicated returns for business and personal. And she is also taking over some aspects of the S Corp work - quarterlies, and state B@O tax. read more

Wow. Just wow. I had a couple of questions about my business that I wanted to talk to an accountant about. Rachelle took the time to carefully answer my questions. Better yet, I felt comfortable asking her the ridiculously stupid questions I was too shy and embarrassed to ask the other accountants I interviewed. And even better, she explained it all in a linear, careful way so I actually understood. Rachelle went above and beyond to reassure me that I had been filing correctly -- even though that meant less immediate business for her. She is now my go-to accountant for all my business and personal tax questions and issues, particularly as my business grows more complex. I feel very grateful to have found an expert accountant whom I like and trust. read more

I'm so glad I found Rachelle. Not only is her advice super helpful, but she's very generous with her time and expertise and always answers every little nagging question I have. She also got me using a better system so I can keep track of my expenses and make future tax years less of a mess for both of us. :) I feel like it's a way more personal and approachable relationship than I had with my former accountant, too! read more

Honest Buck Accounting and Rachelle are fantastic!! Great to work with, seamless and incredibly responsive! I worked with her last year and came in last minute this year and she was a lifesaver! Amazing all around....Highly recommend! read more

Rachelle is a total life saver!! I've been using her for about 3 years now - from just me & my small business, to adding my husband to the mix - she puts my mind completely at ease. She does quarterly payments & bookkeeping for my business so I don't have to worry about a thing & that let's me focus on doing what I love! Couldn't reccommend her enough - I am so thankful for the sanity she has brought to my life & business!! Thank you Rachelle!! read more

I just recently moved to Seattle from Denver this past year and my biggest concern was finding a tax professional that could answer all my freelancing and relocation questions. Rachelle was wonderful to work with, helped me to understand anything that was unclear in my prep work, and was completely flexible with my schedule and document needs. The entire process was hassle free, personable, and timely. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. Thanks again for all your help! read more

Great service, very professional and quick. My wife and I needed help filing our returns this year and Rachelle was super helpful.

Rachelle was very professional while making you feel you are in good hands. I will definitely be using Honest Buck in the future...I like working with someone who is interested in keeping my hard earned Honest Buck in my pocket...Thanks again Rachelle read more

I've had Ms. Calina as my accountant for 5 years now and have had consistently excellent service. She is always quick to respond to questions either via phone or email. I had several changes in my finances in the last few years. She has worked diligently to help us figure out a plan to keep from having to pay extra taxes and get onto more solid financial footing. She consistently helps us not just with taxes, but also with our questions about health savings accounts and our 401k accounts. All in all, she has been an excellent accountant for us and I highly recommend her. read more

I was glad I chose Honest Buck for my 2016 taxes. Usually I use the TurboTax app as my taxes are as straight forward as they get. However, in 2016 they were more complicated than i felt comfortable doing on my own and I am happy to have found Rachelle. I made my appointment about a month in advance, and was seen on a Thursday in under 15 minutes- in and out. I was quoted a 10 day turn around and Rachelle got my initial draft back to me in 2 days. She was very available over email and was able to help me work out an error on my W2. Even though I owed money, I had peace of mind working with Honest Buck. read more

Mrs. Calina has helped me on several occasions with my taxes. She can help locally and by remote location. She communicates well and knows taxes extensively. I have gone to her on several occasions, asking advise and questions and she not only answered them to best benefit me, but was also rapid in her response. I would highly recommend! read more

Unprofessional and amateur. They gave me wrong information, were not savvy about tax codes, and I ended up paying more for all these unexpected taxes and fees. Lesley was not my advocate and I felt that she was uninterested in my business. I made an appointment to be seen, showed up on time, and was kept waiting. The 95% of times I called, I got a voicemail during regular business hours. They are very hard to reach and I believe were a large part of why I needed to get an extension on my taxes this year. I agree with other reviewer that the only reason my taxes were filed was because of my persistence. In fact, I am paying more money to have my taxes reviewed by another accountant because I think they were not done correctly this time around. Will not be using them again. read more

I was stressing out about filing my taxes as a small biz owner. Found rachelle and could not have been more thrilled. So professional, fast, comprehensive. She even sent everything I needed in a beautiful file folder complete with tabs for future reference right to my doorstep. Awesome to work with. I'll be working with her for years to come. read more

Rachelle has kindly and competently helped me prepare my taxes for the past two years, for both my small business and personally. She has answered questions and provided great advice when major life events have occurred (getting married!). She is proactive and provides incredible value. She makes tax season easy and hassle free! read more

Lesley and the team at Honest Buck Accountants are friendly, professional, and knowledgeable. We look forward to working with her again for future tax preparation and planning needs. read more

Rachelle is fabulous. Read her reviews on Yelp, agree with everyone 100%. She's been wonderful so far. Looking forward to a smooth 2016. :) read more

It is the 2nd year I asked them to prepare my tax return. Their service is very quick and professional. Plus, people there are very friendly and open to any questions. I highly recommend Honest Buck. read more

Every time she does my taxes I have no doubt they are right. She also is very willing to help with any financial situation which is always a plus! read more

Rachelle was fantastic! She made the whole process extremely easy on us, got our taxes filed quickly, and charged a really reasonable rate. She answered any questions that came up and helped make sure we got back an excellent return this year. We will definitely be using her in the future for all our tax needs. read more

Rachelle is great. She helps with my businesses' taxes and my personal taxes. Her advice is excellent, her services are tailored just for our needs, her rates are fair, and she's super nice. Not sure what else you could hope for. read more