McGowan Michael D Certified Public Accountant

Mike McGowan has a solid reputation as a CPA in this area and has worked with a wide variety of clients to their benefit. A very close friend of mine used him for decades and was most complimentary about his ability to keep them on the right track with their tax returns.

I just read the only other Unilocal review from a very disgruntled client, Jen R. As someone who has worked with Mr. McGowan for over 30 years I think I can shine a more accurate light.
Mike has prepared tax returns for everyone in our family. My father and mother used to do their own taxes, however the complexity of the returns eventually led them to consider using Mike. He also does our family’s business returns.
Simply put, Mike is brilliant and has an excellent reputation. When I first employed his services, he asked to review previous years’ returns which generated a refund. The amount paid for his services for several years thereafter.
Mike also prepared my mother and father’s estate returns as well as working with our estate attorney over several decades to stay abreast of the changing tax laws. When it came time to settle our parents’ estates, everything went smoothly which I frankly did not anticipate given the complexities involved. John J. Rank was our estate attorney and both he and Mike work very well together.
I find it hard to believe what was stated in the previous review about Mike’s assistants not communicating clearly. I have never had trouble with Kelly or Jen answering the phone or Mike getting back to me promptly.
We as a family are extremely pleased with the service, cost and attention to detail that Mike and his staff provide and has provided over the last 3 decades.

For all those Butte County Taxpayers out there, let my misfortune hopefully save you the same. For the past 18 years I have calculated and filed my own taxes, in their entirety, for free. This tax year, because of the sale of a house, I decided to use a local CPA — Mike McGowan — who was supplied with complete copies of previously filed taxes as reference and quoted me a total of $ 450 to process my 2013 State & Federal Returns.
Based on this quote, I completed an extensive planner, making all my own tallies needed for the returns involving the sale of my home, business, and income. I simply needed the CPA to put it in the correct order, and specifically, make sure the reporting of income from the home sale was accurate.
I never spoke once to Mr. McGowan during the process. I spoke to his asst. 3 times, for a total of less than 40 minutes. His asst. stated in these conversations she was completing my taxes, and would give to Mike for signature/​review. I received a final call from her giving the tax amounts that I owed, and was told I would receive paper copies in the mail, along with the invoice.
When I received the copies a few days later, to my shock, the invoice which was quoted to me initially as $ 450 now was costing me $ 950. There was no explanation, no line item charges listed, nothing but a total, due in 10 days from the date of the invoice, which was 6 days prior to me receiving it.
Calls and emails to the office went unanswered for many days — when the explanation was eventually given via email it said that the change in amount owed (by $ 500) was due to a phone call. And that a couple changes needed to be made to the planner I submitted. Call me crazy, but as a CPA, wouldn’t you naturally figure that you would need to SPEAK to your client during the process and shouldn’t that be reflected in your quote for services?
Also in this packet with the invoice was a 2 page letter outlining Mr. McGowan’s process, and asking for my signature to agree to the fact that he, as the CPA will be charging $ 200/​hour and his asst. will be charging $ 75-​$ 150/​hour. Something that should have been disclosed (and signed) PRIOR to the start of services.
It’s now been 6 weeks and even though I paid, in full, the total amount quoted of $ 450, I just received another invoice demanding an additional $ 500 which was never disclosed, authorized, or approved. Simply billed after the fact.
As someone who does their research before obtaining services, I took the advice of my Realtor for using this office, but would strongly encourage anyone reading this to steer clear.