We've had a good experience working with Aaron at LA Tax Service. We switched over from another accountant and the process was pretty seamless. The process of getting our materials over was easy and we asked plenty of questions that were promptly answered. Our taxes were done within a timely manner and we were satisfied with the results. We actually were referred to him via a family member and have since referred some of our friends to him as well. Very thorough job! Taxes are not fun, but it makes it a whole lot better when the people you are working with make it as easy as possible. read more

I would absolutely advise against having Esther Eisenstein doing your taxes. My mother used her for many years because her office was convenient to where she lived. Sadly, I can remember many times that Esther made a mistake on my mom's tax returns, so they needed to be redone. Unfortunately, my mom was much too sweet and loyal to look for a more competent CPA, and so she stayed with her until she died. Beyond that, my brother and I were shocked to discover that he and I had very similar histories with her ourselves. My brother used her one year to do his taxes, and she assured him she would get him a really good return. He was young and didn't make much money, and she made him feel comfortable that she would do right by him, but would never give him a price for her services. Well... she did get him a refund of over $400, and guess what! She took the entire thing as her fee. He could have just paid $50 for a general tax service to do his taxes, and gotten the rest of the much-needed money back for himself. And she did the same exact thing to me. I was really struggling one year, trying to make ends meet by tutoring and selling things, and since it was the first year that I didn't have a W2, I wasn't sure how to file. She used the same approach with me that she did with my brother: She used the whole familiarity and family history thing to convince me that she would do right by me, but she refused to give me a fee. She would always just say "not much", so I (not unreasonably) assumed it would be maybe around $50. Well, I made less than $20K that year, and was struggling just to eat, and she wound up charging me $250. That was pretty much everything I had. Fast forward to years later: After our mom died, my brother and I had significant difficulty communicating with her. We would send detailed emails with bullet-pointed or numbered questions, and we'd get back a non-sensical sentence or two without any punctuation. We constantly had to try and interpret what she was trying to say or ask, because she doesn't appear to believe in punctuation or sentence structure. Then, when we wouldn't understand what she was asking for, she would get frustrated and blame us for not getting what she needs. Another HUGE red light was when I asked her to send me a link to ShareFile or some other secure uploading service, because I was uncomfortable emailing tax documents, and she had no idea what I was talking about. All these years as a CPA, and she didn't know about secure links! She just expected us to email sensitive documents back and forth, and had no concept of how utterly dangerous that is, and how vulnerable it makes her clients to ID theft. I would never recommend using her. Never. There are far too many CPAs and tax services in Los Angeles that are friendlier, literate, upfront about their fees, and not careless with their clients' taxes. I regret that she got as much money out of my family as she did over the years. read more

Aaron Rubenstein provides services way below the standard of care: lacks professionalism, does not provide phone consultations during tax season, sends condescending, disrespectful, and unhelpful email exchanges. When I ask valid questions, he responds with " do it yourself; I've already spent hours on this task." When I got penalized for not paying quarterly taxes, I highlighted that it was his responsibility to do his due diligence and communicate this to me wherein he responded that "it was no big deal. " This place is a literal joke. The whole entire operation is subpar and I would not recommend this service. read more

I have been using L A TAX - mainly Esther Eisenstein, her assistant, Nataliya since the 1990's. They are great. I travel a lot and am never in town when I should be. They always get my taxes done. And all the personal help is beyond words. Everyone in the office is like family. They simply could not be more helpful and I know I speak for many who never use Yelp since it feels to expose one to unwanted email. But, for them, I will post their praises! They are the best!!!! read more

DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE! They over charge, and they take forever... I've been waiting for them to finish my taxes for MONTHS now. Scott rarely answers emails or phone calls...I've had to call the office 5 times before I finally got him on the phone. Very Unsatisfied. read more

I have used Esther's services, have left to try other accountants, but time and time again, I come back to Esther. She was a recommend from many, many friends in the entertainment industry, and boy, she knows the industry! She's a brilliant accountant! She knows exactly why us entertainment folk have certain expenditures, and she knows how to apply them. I've needed to call her for advice throughout the year, i.e. college planning for kids, professional advice on investments, etc. Esther and her staff are always accommodating, nice, and extremely helpful. I've utilized many different accountants, thinking that all accountants are the same. They aren't. LA Tax Service is one of the best in this town! read more

Highly recommended! I've been doing my taxes with Aaron for 5 years now. He is very knowledgable with returns in entertainment business and reasonably priced. read more

I was a client of Scott Rubenstein's for more than 25 years. He was always available and I had been pleased with his work, though I thought he was overpriced considering he wasn't a CPA. Everything was ok until 3 years ago when Scott went MIA. We had open business tax issues which he was helping us with. It turns out he made huge mistakes and to this day I have never heard from him. When I finally went to a CPA, he had to re-do my 2013-2015 personal and business returns that Scott did. Being a long time xlient I was actually concerned something was wrong with Scott. My concern turned to anger when no one in his office was honest about why he didn't return calls or emails. He cost me huge amounts of money and to this day he's never called. read more

I gave them three (3) stars because the staff overall was pretty friendly and professional but $350 for tax services? and I received the same (return) amount even though I had a medical expense that cost over $20,000 and only received a small return. I could have gone to my old tax accountant and paid $75 and have gotten the same return or even more. Maybe because of its location the prices skyrocket. Sorry, but I will not use their services again. read more

i hate paying taxes. i write off absolutely everything i can, but not to the extent that i feel like i am cheating the gov cause lets face it we all need to chip in to the system. anyway, i'm not too dumb. ivy league educated, twice haha. but seriously, doing taxes is something i just do NOT want to do... i hate it. i hate collecting receipts. i hate keeping tabs on what i spend where and who i spent it with. (btw, get quickbooks and make sure it is compatible with your bank it will change your life......!). the only thing that makes doing my taxes easier is working with l.a. tax and scott. he was recommended to me by a writer friend who said if u work in entertainment (yeah, like i'm uhm... a stripper and gogo boy), then talk to scott. there's all these rules about what you can and can't write off if you work in entertainment, and scott knows the rules. i have no complaints here. i just give scott all my facts and figures. i don't know the rules. he does. and le voila... my horrible heinous taxes are done. i went to scott after i got audited a few years back and i realized oh geez i gotta get more on top of this, let me have a professional handle this, i found scott and i was happy that i did. nice personable, knowledgeable service. i have no complaints. and i hope the irs doesn't either........ read more

I have been using LA tax service for the past three years and each year I have been extremely pleased with the service and expertise of Aaron Rubenstein in handling my taxes. He is so knowledgable; he goes beyond tax preparation to strategies that have helped me financially and saved me from all of the frustration and uncertainty I used to feel when filing on my own. A while back I recommended Aaron to a co-worker and she still thanks me every year. read more

I have used Scott Rubenstein at L.A. Tax Service since 1987, until the IRS informed me that no return was filed for 2009. The IRS explained that if my return had been e-filed as I had paid L.A. Tax Service to do, all they needed was the confirmation number for the e-filing and all would be square. After giving Scott Power of Attorney to look into this, he stopped returning my calls and cut all communication. I ended up paying close to 50% of the original tax bill in penalties for that year and am now having to take Scott and L.A Tax Service to court to hopefully get my money back. And an explanation after 23 years of being a loyal client. read more

No customer service what so every! Female who answered the phone was rude....what a great first impression of a business who provides services to the public....ya right! I start to ask a question, she rudely interrupted an placed me on hold. Apparently she transferred me to another female who then transferred me back to the rude lady. NO THANKS! read more

I'm relatively new to LA and I needed an accountant for 2015. A friend recommended Scott Rubenstein, of L.A. Tax Services. He was the worst. He didn't return calls nor did he respond to emails. At one point I was receiving letters from the IRS monthly, stating there were delays...this was because forms weren't signed or supported paperwork was not provided. Because Scott wouldn't communicate with me, I had to continually show up and barge into his office in order for him to respond. He never apologized, his attitude was one of indifference. Definitely not someone I'd EVER recommend. In fact, quite the opposite! I'm sure I had to pay penalty fees as a result of one delay after another and Scott never offered to deduct anything from his bill. I was so disappointed. Please do not use this guy. He doesn't care about his clients. read more

Worst experience ever. They made up numbers and made a complete mess of my company's taxes. When we confronted them they actually said, "accounting isn't black and white". Uh-yeah it actually is. That was just one of a myriad of awful experiences we had with them. Spare yourself! read more

Twenty year veteran and I keep going back. Scott Rubenstein is the best!

I'm an attorney in Northern California and I place a high value on competence and creativity. Aaron Rubenstein and Scott Rubenstein provide both without fail. In particular, Aaron has come up with multiple creative strategies to plan my personal and professional finances in a way that maximizes my tax savings each and every year. L.A. Tax Service has been worth every penny ten times over. read more

This is my third year using Aaron Rubenstein for taxes. I highly recommend Aaron and find him to be patient and willing to take the time to explain the little details that are not often easy to understand to a "non-tax person". He has also been helpful throughout the year in financial planning in order to make tax time less painful and more profitable. read more

Scott doesn't just do the job, he takes a great deal of pride in saving his customers money, and he'll find every legal deduction there is. He thinks you should pay your taxes -- but not more than you have to. He's also funny, a former writer for sitcoms and Star Trek. Great experience there. read more

Aaron Rubenstein is the best! I have gone to many different accountants throughout the years- but not anymore because I found Aaron. He's smart and quick but most of all he saves me money and has been instrumental managing my business and personal taxes. I am from a small town so it can be overwhelming finding someone to trust in Los Angeles. I'm so glad I found Aaron. read more

Scott Rubenstein has been doing my taxes for twenty years and as a woman afraid of commitment- that's a huge compliment! Scott really is as good as it gets. Seeing him once a year doesn't make me dread getting my taxes done. He saves me money every year, helps me to understand how to maximize deductions and as boring as that all sounds- actually makes it interesting. Way better than an accountant in a box! So glad I found Scott. read more

I have been a customer of LA Tax Service since 1985. They have assisted me through various phases of my career. I started as a salaried employee, then declared a small side business; and in 1986, I opened a consulting practice. LA Tax Service's Esther Eisenstein has been my tax preparer during this entire time. I have found her to be very knowledgeable and professional. She has given me good advice over the years and has tried to get me to be more organized. I've never experienced her making up numbers, nor have I ever experienced anyone there being rude. I like the sort of informal, non-corporate ambiance of the office. As LATS has grown, the staff has increased; so it is more formal than when I first went there. Still Esther and Scott have maintained the personal touch. I never feel that Esther is rushing me. She takes time to explain new tax laws and the implications for me. I also like the annual year end newsletter she sends which includes updates about her family. I HIGHLY recommend LA Tax Service. It is the only thing about filing taxes that I like. read more