Jay Shah – California Accounting Center

Jay and his team are fantastic. Price is excellent for the quality of the work.
When TurboTax and I could no longer handle my increasingly complicated tax returns, I contacted Jay. He was referred by colleagues who raved about the quality of his work. I sent my info over to Jay, had a chat with him, and after a few follow up emails/​calls, TY2014 was done with better than expected results!
After spotting some inconsistencies, they reviewed and cleaned up previous year’s returns and re-​submitted to the IRS. I finally feel like my taxes are in order and have been done correctly.

Jay Shah made serious mistakes in business tax filings for my former business, filed incorrect information without my authorization, and then told me that he had «lost» all the records for my former business tax return and for my personal tax returns. Then, after that, he simply stopped responding to phone calls, emails, and letters.

Jay Shah has done my taxes for the last 6 years. I was previously over charged by a firm with partners, a well known accounting firm in the bay area. Jay and his staff are thorough, asked me the right questions, and streamlined the tax preparation on line. I pay quarterly taxes, have never been audited. I work as an independent consultant, and some years I end up owing what I owe, which is honest and fair. Jay has guided me in many areas suggesting how I could lower my taxes, ands save money. Jay and his staff are a pleasure to work with. They do a great job for a very fair price.

Absolutely the worst accounting firm i have come across. The owner, Jay, tries to sell you on things out of your price range, and also does not like that you ask any questions. I want somebody that i can ask questions too, not a slimy accountant that will funnel my money into a slush fund for his drinking habits. These people are on the bottom of the pool and are most likely stealing from their customers. STAY AWAY.

Great! Wonderful! They handle all the accounting, corporate tax, and payroll — all state of the art, online, paperless !! If you are a corporation or LLC, CAC is the place to be bar none.

Last week I walked into the office because i had several questions regarding estate taxes. Jay was very nice and friendly to me. He listened to my questions and explained what I should do. He did not charge me for the consultation, and said «If you want to use us next year for your tax preparation, feel free to come by» I was very impressed that he didnt try to get a fee out of me and he genuinely cared about how I can get my tax situation resolved.

California Accounting Center provides very professional severice for me. Thanks for Jay!

I know I’m not the only one out there — you know who you are, designer/​freelancer type — good with the colors but not so good with the numbers. Anyways, that’s me and I had dug myself into a huge tax hole that became so overwhelming I lost track of how much I actually owed the IRS? So like a tool I call the first lawyer who’s ad pops up on TV — he ends up telling me not to worry about a thing — because for a sizable fee they would be ready to fight the IRS for me. This sounded unbelievable and expensive I didn’t want to «fight» the IRS? After confiding my situation to friend, she recommended call her accountant Jay — so I did.
Jay and the people in his office took the opposite, non combative approach. We did everything by the book, I laid my cards on table and worked with IRS to eventually come up with a compromise for a «fraction of what I owed» just like they say in the ads but it’s real. Yay Jay!

I recently moved to the US and was looking for a good, straight forward accountant that could help me with my taxes. Given previous reviews I gave Jay a call. We only spoke briefly on the phone but I was gobsmacked by his approach. He said: ‘you seem to have too many questions, you either hire someone to do it and don’t ask questions or have someone explain it to you which will take hours so no accountant will want to do it.’ I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t. So if you think you should know what your accountant is making you sign this is not your guy.

This is the best place on the planet earth !! These guys really know what they are doing. They ask the right questions and take charge, which makes me feel very comfortable and confident that they have my best interest at heart. Jay has a degree from Cal Berkeley, he is extremely smart and charming. Go see him, you will not be disappointed !

I am a financial advisor and have come across many CPAs in my line of work
Jay and California Accounting Center are extremely competent and professional. I have referred friends and colleagues and they have all had great experiences working with Cal Accounting.

Jay and Chris at Cal Accounting Center are the best! I have had my taxes done by several people in the bay area over the years but have not had a great experience and always wondered if there was money being left on the table.
I met Jay after seeing a good review on Unilocal and now use him for all my personal tax needs.
I started a business 2 years ago and went to Jay for assistance with this and he not only helped with setting up the business, but also served as an incubator of sorts for my new company.
Jay gets it done and has earned my repeat business!

For whatever reason Unilocal decided to filter my original review, I will stand by CAC and Jay Shah! Thanks to their lightening fast service, our refund was in the bank within a few weeks. I would highly advise people to make their appointment with CAC right away, because you will be so pleased with the results. Hopefully this review will stay put as is…

If you’re looking for competent, knowledgeable accountants — Jay and Chris are your guys.
If you ALSO want an accountant who is easy to talk with because he explain things simply, is very laid-​back, non-​pretentious, and doesn’t talk gobly-​gook accountant-​lingo– Jay is your guy.
We’ve used Jay for both our business and our personal tax returns over the years and trust them to handle it all. Jay gave us some good advice that our past accountants missed, which saves us a lot of $$ each year.
I highly recommend California Accounting Center!

There are not enough good things I can say about Jay and his staff. They are truly AMAZING. Ever since I’ve opened my bar, they have been helping me every step of the way. They handle everything for the business from payroll to taxes. In addition, they have excellent recommendations for bankers, insurance carriers, etc. While running a business is a full time job, it really puts my mind at ease knowing California Accounting Center handles all my finances with ease and perfection. I can’t live without them. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Ten stars and more if that’s possible ! I have been working with Jay at California Accounting Center for over 10 years. He incorporated our business, does all of our accounting, does our corporate tax returns, payroll and much more. He has been a pivotal element in the success of our business. He certainly saved me a lot of corporate paperwork headache.
Everybody there is fantastic to work with and they have provided us with a wide range of business expertise. Whenever we need any help, they have no hesitation to step in.
I highly recommend Jay and his team. They get 5 stars for being extremely talented accountants and an extra 5 stars for just being good, solid, fun people to work with.

I only met with Jay once, so take that in to account. The meeting I did have was to discuss retirement strategy. My documents were given a quick glance and then the conversation proceeded to selling me on home ownership as the best track to retirement. The amount of mortgage he was attempting to squeeze me in to was staggering. I walked out in disbelief. I should say this was in the pre-​economic collapse days of easy credit and expanding housing bubble.
This one brief meeting makes me hesitant to rate Jay, but I really feel that he should have been questioning my ability to afford something like a ¾ million dollar loan on my salary, rather than telling me how if I bought it through him I could save a fraction of a point. I would never qualify for that in today’s credit market. Obviously a lot of people screwed up in regards to easy mortgages but I feel like selling a mortgage was the primary motivation for talking with me rather than looking at my situation with a critical eye.

Coming from a numbers freak and a rockstar real estate mogul (just kidding) — I can seriously vouch for this wonderful man we have to come to know as Jay Shaw. I initally interviewed over 13 CPA’s and was starting to lose hope as I seemed to know more than they did about the tax process… that is, until I met with him. He has a ton of experience and is specifically helpful with tax planning, something I am very sensitive about. And no, I’m not a yuppie — but if I am going to work my ass off, I want to take full advantage of my deductions and future retirement benefits.
In the future — I know that I will use him for my business in addition to my personal, and I have successfully referred him to 12 of my friends and 6 of my work associates, including other broker’s, managers, financial planners, and company owner’s. Wouldn’t you want the best for your friend’s and associate’s?
I am sure that if you are in need of an excellent CPA, do NOT go to a run of the mill, non-​local shop. My advice is to call him and see what he can help you with — you won’t regret it one bit!