My brother and I were referred to KB by our Realtor in Venice and told they were experts in FIRPTA tax laws with the IRS. We were told by KB that they could file an application for my non-US citizen brother that would waive the FIRPTA withholding since we were doing a 1031-exchange for another property and met all the IRS requirements. Therefore, we hired KB and paid them the quoted flat fee. At no time were we told that the IRS could deny this application, nor that my brother could possibly have to pay the FIRPTA withholding a year later. Contrary, we were reassured multiple times that they handle these applications regularly, that we qualified under IRS FIRPTA laws, and that all the money from the sale could be used for the 1031-exchange. A few months after the application was submitted, we received a new invoice from KB for additional costs (over double the original quoted flat fee) stating that it took them longer than expected to complete and file the application. A lot of this additional time spent was actually with the closing agent who kept stating they still need to withhold the FIRPTA and KB stating that they can release it. If KB handles these applications regularly, why was this all new the the closing agent? Anyways, I showed KB the email proof that we were quoted a flat fee and that we were never told that we could be billed more if it took longer. A flat fee is just that, a set fee for a job or project. If it was based on time, then they should have quoted a base fee with a billable hourly rate. I never heard back from KB, so I assumed they accepted the proof and canceled the invoice. A year later, we found out the IRS denied the application KB submitted on our behalf, stating it was incomplete and did not meet their FIRPTA tax laws. My brother has 20 days to come up with a large sum of money to pay the FIRPTA amount due. Even worse, we had to pay KB additional $500 to file the new form with the IRS, a form I found out later was 2 pages and could be filled out in 15 minutes. As you can imagine, we are both furious as KB did not give us all the information and possible outcomes when we hired them. A certified accounting firm that specializes in FIRPTA should have known that this could happen and advised us properly so we were prepared to pay in case the application was denied. Also, the closing company should never have released the funds from escrow, which they only did based on input from KB via email that I was copied on! In conclusion, KB is NOT a company to hire for FIRPTA tax matters and they do not care about their clients in any way. Instead, they argue with their clients and keep changing their side of the story. I have been lied to at least 3 times now as they try to "protect themselves" because they know they did wrong by us. Do NOT hire this firm, they just want to make money off their clients without doing their due diligence, nor do they advise clients properly with ALL the information. This whole situation has left us in financial turmoil and it could have been avoided. I wish I never heard of KB because we would not be in this mess if they had advised us properly. We also would not have paid for their services if we had known that it could all be for nothing. We would have just paid the FIRPTA at the time of the sale and saved on the additional expenses. read more

Amazing personal service. Took care of my dad's taxes when he was in the hospital and guided him through everything like pros. Really glad they were there for him! read more