Gleave Nathan J CPA

Brent Kelley

Oct 4, 2024on

I was referred to Nathan to help me with my 2023 tax compliance work both for my personal return and for a business entity that I hold an ownership in. When I met I asked about specifically about his pricing to get a general range of how much the work would cost me. I was not given a specific range, but instead was told a very vague general answer that he charged by form that needed to be filed, but no numbers associated with this. Because of the referral I received, I decided to move forward and work with Nathan. He filed my business return which is just an investment holding company and received 1 K-1 from the investment held by this entity and only required the preparation of 3 K-1s for me and my two partners that hold ownership in this business entity. He then sent me the bill. The bill only consisted of the total number and included no detail as to what made up the amount. I reached out to him and asked how he got to this total fee (because I was surprised at how high the amount being billed was). Nathan provided detail behind the number which included the base fee for filing a business return + an extra charge for preparing the filing close to a deadline (something that was not mentioned at any point previously) + hourly charges for Nathan's time working on a complex return. Nathan did offer to cut "the extra charge for the filing close to deadline charge" in half, which was very appreciated, but I inquired about why there was so much time charged for a "complex return" and specifically what made my business return so complex. I then proposed to pay a reduced amount of that piece of the bill as well and said if he agreed, I would pay the revised amount promptly. I received a response to send the payment that day, so I assumed he agreed with all the adjustments and proceeded to send the payment. The next morning I received an email from Nathan stating he would not be helping me file my personal tax return. He listed 4 other CPA firms I could reach out to, but other than that did not give any reason as to why he was dropping me as a client less than 2 weeks before the filing deadline. When I called no one answered and my vmail was not returned. I emailed (twice) and after a day of waiting for a response received a short response stating "his time is more valuable to others, and that he was not interested in working for me." This is a totally acceptable reason, except that it should have been established way back when we first met and I asked about his pricing, not in the 11th hour when I now need to scramble and inconvenience some other CPA during their busiest time of year for tax filings. I was also surprised by Nathan's response all because I negotiated his fees. I work in business and negotiations of fees is a very normal part of business and I've never just been dropped by a service provider because I pushed back on their fees a little. I found his conduct very unprofessional and a little unethical. He should be much more upfront about his pricing to allow potential clients the ability to choose whether they are ok with the cost upfront. Those that aren't won't waste his time and will find someone else. Nathan knows his stuff with taxes and so I have no complaints from that standpoint, but he is on the expensive side and I would be careful before agreeing to do any work with him as if he decides he doesn't like you, then he'll drop you no matter how close you are to a deadline.