R G Castillo Tax & Bookkeeping

Unfortunately, my experience with Raul has not been positive like the other reviewers. I had been using Raul for tax services for quite some time and I thought he did a great job until my husband and I were audited by the IRS. I thought Raul would assist us in resolving the audit however, Raul provided minimal help and we had to pay approximately $ 6,000 back to the IRS. This was really upsetting especially since I don’t have a spare 6K laying around. I had a lot of questions about why we were audited for such a high amount of money because I did not try to «fudge» any numbers on my tax forms in order to get a bigger return or claim extra dependents or anything like that. Raul stopped responding to our questions and eventually became unavailable despite my request to set up a meeting. I felt like something wasn’t quite right and decided to get a second opinion and have a CPA review our taxes. The CPA explained that there were several mistakes on our tax forms and the mistakes were so terrible that he was surprised the IRS didn’t fine us an additional 20% in negligence penalties. As a result, we had to pay extra money to have the CPA redo and correct 3 years worth of taxes and after the corrections were made it was found that we owed another $ 12,000 to the IRS.
Ultimately, I do not recommend Raul as a tax preparer. Although he seems to be a nice person and he charges less than most tax preparers, he does not file his tax forms accurately/​honestly and this mistake has created a HUGE financial setback for my husband and I. Do yourself a favor and pay a little more money to have a reputable tax preparer or CPA file your taxes. In the long run you might be saving yourself (and your bank account) from the headache of an audit.

I was recommended to come to Raul from a friend. All the good recommendations usually come from word of mouth. Raul is professional and gives us advice on our taxes. Any questions we have, Raul gets back to us right away. He is extremely busy during filing time… make appointments as quick as you can.

I have been getting my taxes done by Kuya Raul since 2005. He is such a professional and so far I haven’t been in a jam with Uncle Sam. He knows his stuff and does it so well that I’m confident I won’t get in trouble.
Every year he sends me a Christmas card and a reminder to get my receipts together so when tax season comes I am ready.
He charges $ 185 for the long form which is a lot cheaper than most tax servicing I’ve heard about. It’s a plus that his office is close enough to my house and off the 10 freeway when I’m coming from work. He gets so busy during filing season that it’s best to schedule an appointment as soon as you get your W2s. They are open 7 days a week, but remember make an appointment.
I could try and do my own taxes, but I’d rather leave it to the professional. Now, I’m good till next tax season.