Andrew Stern

Next time I’ll use TurboTax instead…
Andrew Stern is full of excuses and happily places the blame on the clients when it comes down to the wire. «You waited too long», «it’s crush time now» and other colloquialisms are tossed into their official emails along with a clear disregard for punctuation, capitalization, and tact.
My wife and I were looking for a reliable accountant to help us do our taxes this year (for the first time, filing as married and with a joint income). We were recommended by a friend who had used their services before.
As they filed our return they first told us we owed over $ 13.5k — we reviewed it ourselves after they prepared it the first time around and realized they had made a mistake and left out important information regarding our mileage driven for work and vehicle expenses. After pointing it out to them, our return dropped down to $ 10k — that’s an «oversight» of $ 3500. Andrew himself referred to this error as an «oversight» (hence the quotation marks). When we pointed it out to them they revised our joint return without even addressing that we had discovered a huge error in their calculations.
If we are paying them a hefty fee (about $ 700), shouldn’t they be the one to catch an error this significant?
Oh wait, no, he just told us that we’re supposed to be doing that… checking THEIR work for them. I guess I’ll keep their $fee for myself and buy a TurboTax cd with it for next year.
We had to email them multiple times in a more stern tone of voice to even get something close that resembled an apology from Andrew Stern. HIs excuse «we’re down to the wire, working 7 days a week for 12 hours every day». He even said they have «2 pairs of eyes on every return». Okay, so not one but TWO professional accountants missed an error of $ 3500? That’s promising.
If they are too busy they should NOT be taking on new clients or even taking clients calls. As professionals, you should not be misrepresenting your ability to take on new clients when you can’t handle the work load you’ve already acquired. Greedy for money, not accuracy.
Look elsewhere.

I’ve worked with Stern & Associates for 2 years and they are simply terrific.
Nancy is awesome. She has the patience of a saint. I am having a chaotic year and needed last minute assistance. After 2 notices of a deadline from Stern I sheepishly emailed Nancy at the 11^th hour and she was wonderful. Within 24 hours she asked all the questions, reviewed my information and had my return ready.
It’s wonderful to work with a professional services group that offer such guidance and peace of mind.

If there were more stars available I would give them. Straight up the best ! Don’t waste your time going anywhere else! For those of us with odd nuanced taxes that require thinking outside the box and still won;t make you fear spending the rest of your life in prison for something YOU missed, he will find it, keep it fair and keep you funded, fed and fueled. His team is just as stellar.

Andy has been doing my taxes since 1992. It doesn’t matter if I come in with a shoebox full of receipts or attempt to fill the Excel worksheet. He is patient and attentive. He can decipher anything! I have kept him as my taxman, even though I moved to AZ 13 years ago. Highly recommend him.

This is my second year working with Linda at Stern and Associates and she is awesome. This office is especially good for professional musicians as both Linda and Andrew are musicians and understand how it works. Linda is extremely nice, knowledgeable, and ethical. I learn something new every time I talk to her. I have at least two other professional singer colleagues that work with Linda and we all rave about her. I feel completely comfortable having Linda help me get my taxes filed.

Nancy is the best! She is a no nonsense woman who gets it right! I would not go anywhere else.

I cannot state this more clearly: I love Nancy. This is the fifth year she’s done my taxes, and she’s a goddamn gem. Not only does she take from my self-​employed self the burden of doing my taxes, she’s a total joy to talk to. She’s fun, she’s funny, she’s wry, she’s smart, she remembers me right off the bat even though I interact with her only once a year. She’s awesome. She prepares the filing quickly and correctly. She offers helpful ideas about deductions I may not otherwise think about and which IRA it makes most sense for someone in my position to have. Plus she always manages to compliment me on something I’m wearing. And who doesn’t love that?

12 March ’12
Been using Andrew Stern for many years and my partner has been with Andy for over 25 yrs! You can depend on Andy & his staff for all your tax needs, up-​to-​date, reliable info. He is now on my list of most IMPORTANT people in my life… hairdresser, mechanic, doctor, optometrist and my taxman!

I was reading a Washington Post article today about MDs who try to squelch bad online reviews and I came upon this quote: «But nobody says: ‘Oh my God, I have the greatest accountant in the world.’» Au contraire! Andrew Stern and Associates (mainly we work with «Associate» — Nancy) have been doing our taxes for neigh on 25 years. We have fairly complex returns to file and have been more than satisfied with their help.

I have been using Andy for more than 20 years, and he’s a gem. I’ve used him when I was an employee, I’ve used him when I was a sole proprietor, and now I use him for my personal taxes as the owner of a C-​corp business. I have never had anything but a great experience with him; professional, accurate, helpful. I wish he did corporate taxes too.
Incidentally I’m in the wine business, and Andy does most of the people I know in that business, another specialty.

i didn’t end up going with them but they were curt and condescending on the phone when i called in. if that’s how they treat inbound business, i don’t want to find out how they treat you when they already have your $

I’m a tax novice and also a bit of a procrastinator. If you’re anything like me, you’ll love Stern & Associates. They were great about educating me and asked a few simple questions that ended up saving me thousands on my taxes. They have the process down so well, they can also turn around your paperwork pretty quickly. Definitely glad I went with Andrew!

I have abused this guy every year for 20+ years — complicated filings, missing documents and info, last minute submissions, etc. — but every year he rises to the occasion, does a great job and saves me money.
You will not do better anywhere else.

I called Andrew based on a recommendation from a friend. I have always done my own taxes, but when the IRS came calling for an audit, I knew I needed professional help.
And man, did I get it. Andrew called me back and talked to me for quite a while about what to expect and the kinds of things I’d need to prepare. I decided to hire him and he told me exactly what to do. I found him to be a great communicator, responsive to questions and concerns, and he led me through the whole process.
Getting audited is something I hope you never have to go through, as it’s a royal pain in the ass, but if it happens, having someone as competent as Andrew in your corner is absolutely mandatory.
Thanks, Andrew!

and… for anyone who doesn’t know this, he IS the Music Industry specialist (PD’s anyone?), and a lot of people i know in the biz use him.
i’ve been using him for i reckon about 7 years now.

I am an independent contractor (designer) and Andrew was extremely helpful (and patient) talking me through the tax implications of my situation. A straight to the point, no BS guy who really knows his stuff.

FIRST AND FOREMOST:
I’ve been working with Andy — and his associate Nancy — for, YIKES! — 20-​plus years. How can that be?
AND IN THAT TIME:
In spite of my disorganized, mercurial, fantasy-​based approach to accounting, they’ve always helped me figure it out, get it filed and paid easily.
My wife Karen, who is a numbers person, first assumed that if I’d chosen to work with them they must be as flaky as me. It only took one meeting with Andy and one tax season for her to confidently, and happily, hand things over.
THIS IS FOR NANCY:
— Thanks for your diligence, attention to detail, friendly persistence, disarming candor and wonderful humor, even on deadline.
— Thanks for replying to emails at 5:30 a.m. I still bet you sleep through June.
— Thanks for reminding me, pleasantly, each and every year for the past who-​knows-​how-​many-​years, to include the miles for my car. I never remember that
— Thanks for presenting options and variables in a way that 1) makes the choice understandable; and 2) doesn’t make me feel like a dope for not having thought of it myself
— Thanks for that great, sultry, evocative whisky voice of yours. Seriously, if you every quit accounting you’ll make a mint doing phone sex.
FINALLY:
We didn’t need the extension. The SEP contribution and Fed refund are a wash so we just funded the SEP. I’ll call …

I thought Andrew was kinda gruff at first, but let him do his thing, he is an amazing tax accountant (not to mention a huge music fan!). Even when we threw stuff at him at the last minute he went above and beyond the call of tax duty. I cannot recommend him enough.

Some musician friends recommended Andy about 12 years ago, and I wouldn’t go anywhere else. I had a VERY small nest egg when I was 26 (yikes, 11 years ago), and Andy kept trying to convince me to buy into the housing market. I was terrified, and didn’t feel like I was mature enough to handle it. I also didn’t feel like I had enough income to cover any kind of mortgage payment. After the second year of doing my taxes, he sat me down and ran an amortization schedule for a loan, figured out my property taxes and incidentals, and pushed that monthly figure under my nose to prove that I could swing it.
After two evictions during the dot com years, I finally took his advice. There is no way I could EVER afford to buy into the market now, and I thank god he pushed me. I never would have done it without his repeated reassurance. I have likened him to a protective older brother.
He is not a coddler. There isn’t a lot of polite chit chat. He’s got that east coast gruff thing. He knows his shit, and he has your back, and it’s saved me lots of money over the years.

He is great. Very personable and pleasant, and he handles things quickly and well. We’re paying a lot less taxes these days, as his tax organizers help us understand all the deductions we can take.