The Tax Expert

Our taxes tend to be complicated as we own numerous businesses and rental properties that we have to account for on our taxes. In the past we’ve always done our own taxes but this year we decided to setup a test:
We did our own taxes and then took our taxes to three different tax accountants in the area to see if whatever additional savings they were able to come up with paid for their tax services.
We found three different types of services to evaluate:
1) Liberty Tax — your run of the mill chain tax shop
2) Gardiner & Appel — a high end boutique accountancy firm in Severna Park
3) The Tax Expert — a small independent shop in Glen Burnie run by Bob Hannan
Our findings might surprise you, ranked below (worst to best):
Last Place: Gardiner & Appel — we had hopes going to this firm as we thought their nice lobby and premium location would translate into extremely smart accountants (we were wrong). We met with an accountant for about an hour who collected all of our financial data and then sent us on our way. A couple weeks later we finally heard back.
The results? A bill for $ 1,250 and no additional savings over the taxes we did on our own whatsoever. In fact, when I questioned the high bill (initially we had been told we could expect to pay around $ 500) the lady we worked with turned extremely rude and insulted us numerous times for having the audacity to question their prices.
What a nightmare, do not recommend at all.
2^nd place: Liberty Tax — the results at Liberty Tax were about what you’d expect. You don’t really get to work with a true certified tax accountant, they’re simply filling out forms on a computer the same way you can easily do yourself using a program like TaxAct. They charge a fixed rate based on the type of forms/​schedules you’re filling out, and offer little insight beyond what is visible on the computer system.
Liberty Tax found some small things that would save us money but the $ 644 they found in additional savings did not beat their $ 800 price tag.
First place: The Tax Expert (Bob Hannan) — Bob was nothing short of amazing. Not only did he find us numerous areas we were missing deductions for the year we went there for, after reviewing previous years he found additional savings we missed and did adjustments to get additional money back from the previous year as well. Even more impressive was him doing research on numerous things well after doing business with him in March. In August I emailed him to ask about a solar tax rebate and he took the time to look up tax code for me. Then again in September when there was another question he went back and spent even more time to get things right for us.
We ended up paying Bob $ 450 and saved more than $ 3,000 in deductions we otherwise would have missed. These are legal and legitimate deductions as well, nothing questionable about it at all. Bob knows tax law and takes the time to get to know his clients.
We’ve moved from the area now but will be returning each year to continue to do business with him, he is just that great.
I highly recommend Bob, his services are above and beyond what you’d expect and at a price that can’t be beat.
Thank you Bob!

That was not true. It was a misunderstanding. I’m sorry!