Chernoff Howard ESQ

Allow me to preface this review by saying I had begun using this firm in 1988 or thereabouts. Howards father did my income tax for 15 plus years. His father was an extremely competent account with a very pleasant demeanor which kept me coming back year after year. When the father passed away a letter was sent out that his son Howard would be taking over his father’s accounts. For no other reason than he had all my previous returns on file I decided to continue using the firm. After my first yearly visit with Howard approximately 5 years ago I could see he was not his father. He had an air of arrogance that was very unsettling to me but for the once a year 20 minutes or so I had to sit in his office I did my best to ignore his pompous attitude and focus on the business at hand.
This year was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. After spending 25 minutes in his office going over my 2013 taxes which involved some inheritance funds from my parents estate (which he didn’t even have the decency to give his condolences) not that I would have expected it from him, from his father yes. Without getting to involved with specifics, he told me I needed to obtain a letter from the financial institution from which I received the inheritance in question. When I got home I made the call to the institution, the woman I spoke with requested that I check back with my accountant since she was not aware of this type of request and had some further questions. When I spoke to Howard later that same day, he told me and I quote «You are wasting my time, I already told you what you needed!» Let me reiterate this, my wife and I paid him $ 300.00 for 25 minutes of his «time» to fill out a joint tax return and he had the audacity to raise his voice as if he was scolding a child and told me I was «wasting his time» by asking for clarification on behalf of the financial institution, I hung up on him and retained another accountant. Fortunately for him this conversation was over the phone and not in person. I hope this 100% honest/​accurate review was helpful.