Brass Taxes

As a freelancer finding a good accountant to do my taxes is difficult and important. I have been paying a lot for an accountant and heard good things about Brass Taxes, and I wanted to cut the cost of paying for an accountant.
From arriving, I see that this place is like a higher end HR Block etc… The rates are not that cheap when it is all said and done, I also do not like being in an open room discussing my private information with other clients sitting right next to me… The place should be more private etc
The woman that did my taxes, was awful, she did not know a lot about tax laws and deductions (important for freelancers). I am curious if she is an actual accountant and if Brass tax uses real licensed CPA’s or if it is people that take a tax class similar to HR Block?
The woman was ignorant to a lot stuff, but the main issue that I had with her was that she was dismissive, condescending, off-​Standish and callous… I did not like her attitude at all. She was awful, she seemed annoyed and like she did not want to be there. I had to constantly explain to her tax laws and deductions…
Overall, Brass Tax was not too bad, I would have given them a higher rating if it was not for the sub-​par employee… I may or may not give it another try…

I came to these guys for help with my personal income taxes after recently founding a startup.
Because the company itself is just designed to hold my investment while I develop a product, my lawyers who structured my company gave me very simple guidelines:
1. My seed investment is NOT income (common knowledge).
2. My wages from the business are LOSSES for tax purposes (company won’t make revenue in 2015).
3. I should DEDUCT these losses from my personal income tax at the percentage of my ownership of the company.
I explained these guidelines to the guys at Brass Taxes via email, asking if they made sense and if they could help me file. They said sure, everything looked good, and set me up with an appointment.
As soon as I sat down for the appointment, the woman helping me told me «what you told us in your email isn’t usually how we do this». I asked what that meant, and she basically told me not to worry about it.
I told her that if something was unclear, I had my Operating Agreement, sale of equity vouchers, and emails from my lawyer with me to help explain things. I even asked if she wanted the number of my % equity in the company, as my lawyer said that would be vital in determining my tax rate. She was busy clicking something on the computer.
She ended up taking my numbers for income and deductible expenses, but we never touched on anything my lawyers told me to make sure we did, even though she had my email right in front of her and I brought it up several times.
Eventually she handed me my tax vouchers with numbers WAY higher than I was expecting and no explanation of the calculations involved. I asked if we had done everything correctly and she said yes, so I paid.
On the taxi ride back to my apartment I called my lawyer to ask if the numbers were even in the ballpark. They were not. I emailed the woman at Brass Taxes as soon as I got home asking for the calculations she used and/​or why she didn’t follow the directions my lawyer gave me… no reply.
If there was some real reason why the directions my lawyer gave me were wrong, I wouldn’t mind doing things her way – but I was given no explanation and any time I brought it up it was met with «I’m not sure about that» or «we can come back to that» without ever actually discussing it. She never asked any colleagues about my situation or what my lawyers said, she just ignored the subject and moved on to whatever was next on her itinerary.
Yes, they «did my taxes», but they didn’t seem to care if they were missing anything or if I could/​should be paying less (in my case, literally thousands of dollars less). Honestly they just seemed dismissive, and more than willing to take advantage of the fact that I didn’t have much experience with this material. I felt like someone in a drive-​thru being rushed to make room for the next person in line. And they felt like those 40 minutes of negligence was worth a $ 125 consultation fee. Never again.
If there was some misunderstanding and I’m completely in the wrong, I’m more than willing to change this review, but I’ve still not heard anything back from them. At the very least I was hoping paying that $ 125 fee would entitle me to a timely email response. Still waiting.
UPDATE: The owner Rus emailed me on JUNE 3^rd saying «I’ll send over your refund now». It’s NOVEMBER 3^rd and I still haven’t seen a cent of my money back.
UPDATE: Turns out I did get a refund on JUNE 3^rd, but because Brass Taxes uses Venmo for payments it wasn’t reflected on my bank statement when I went to look for it later.

Guys. Brass Taxes rules. The entire experience was so professional, helpful, and actually really informative. I worked with Lori and she gave me some really solid advice on how to conduct myself as a better adult human for this tax year and wasn’t at all mad or judgey that I was a mess for 2014 taxes. Go. here. They rock!

I love this place!!! Seriously cannot say enough good things. I have been procrastinating on my taxes for months and finally made my appt. What a relief to have it done. The process was so easy and affordable. The staff is amazing and they patiently answered all my questions. This is the first year I have felt good about filing taxes. I will definitely be coming back.

I was so nervous about having to file taxes by myself considering I’m a freelance photographer. I made my appointment with Brass Taxes online, prepared all of my paper work as it instructed and met with Erin a few days later. Erin is a total tax god; everyone that works at Brass Taxes are tax gods. I could not have had a better experience, and to top it off, I got money back! Everyone is so sweet and informative, and their office space is beyond amazing. Completely hip and laid back, plus they let you choose the music you want while they’re filing your taxes. Yeah, it’s that amazing. Forget H&R forever!!!

Wow, they really made my day. The atmosphere was chill and cool, Lori was helpful and nice, and I got more of a refund than I expected. Well, well worth the money. Thanks so much!

TL;DR is they got me a bunch of money. Go Brass Taxes!

Awesome experience! They were super laid back and not at all angry that I was late due to the whack weekend train schedule… Way better than my usual H&R block experience and more affordable. Will def be going here from now on.

Very nice office with knowledgeable people. Marci helped me and took the time to explain a lot of things I was confused about. I recommend this office.

The atmosphere is fun and laid back. As soon as my husband and I walked in we felt less stressed about our taxes. We aren’t freelancers, but we moved to New York during the tax year and wanted to make sure we did the part-​time residency aspects right. Marci worked with us and was incredibly informative, kind, and patient. We were in good hands. I appreciate the ways they use the the internet to receive and submit all documents. Because of all the digital prep, we had less to explain during our appointment and could focus on our important questions. This place is top notch. We are grateful and will be back next year.

Never have I had such a pleasant experience having my taxes prepared. From the very first interaction with their website, to rescheduling, the team at Brass Taxes is A+++++. Extremely knowledgable with regard to deductions. Tres professional, upbeat, and friendly. Taxes are not fun. Somehow I had fun and walked away with a smile. Marci was quick and efficient and totally trustworthy. Go to them!

Brass Taxes is awesome. Not only have they helped me with my taxes but they have also helped me get my Quickbooks in order! Highly recommended for small businesses and freelancers.

After seeing all the good reviews about Brass Taxes on Unilocal me and my husband decided to file our 2013 taxes with them and we’re so glad we did!
We had our appointment with Marci, who was super nice. fun and knowledgable, and helped us with some questions we had because taxes for freelancers can get very complicated. I really like how their website is set up, basically you send all your tax info to them before the appointment so once you are there all you have to do is go through it to verify that everything is correct.
Marci was also very patient with the fact English isn’t my first language, explained everything very well and also gave us good advice regarding tax write-​offs, expenses, etc for next year.
Their prices are super reasonable too, we’ll definitely be back next year and I’m recommending them to all my freelance friends.

These folks are the best!
I had a terrible experience with getting my 2012 taxes prepared by a firm in Manhattan and having everything done by Brass Taxes for 2013 was like a breath of fresh air.
I met with Erin at their new office on Dean St and everything was very fast and streamlined, but I didn’t feel like she was trying to rush me out of the door. She took the time to go over some specific questions I had for the next year and even did a little research and got back to me via email about some stuff that she wasn’t able to immediately answer.
And their prices were soooo reasonable. Especially when compared to that jokester I went with for 2012.
Will definitely be returning next year and recommending them to all of my freelance friends!

Earlier today my husband and I went to the Brass Taxes offices, after a very warm recommendation from a friend. That friend’s credibility points went way up after our meeting.
We met with Rus, a great guy that totally spoke my «freelance language» and had tons of knowledge and patience to answer my questions (English isn’t my first language, and I don’t really speak Taxes at all).
We were not sure what to expect, but after today Brass Taxes have earned our business for life.
Rus made the entire process totally easy to understand, and completely painless. For the first time ever we’re not completely dreading this time of year.
We usually do our taxes with H&R Block, mostly because they’re on our block and we don’t know any better. Last year they charged us $ 633, because as a freelancer (stylist) we’re considered «complex filing». Brass Taxes charged us $ 275 for the whole thing, and Rus (and his team) were much more thorough, patient and legitimately fun.
Filing wasn’t taxing at all.
Pun intended.

Rus has done my taxes for four years. In that time I’ve worked three different W-​2 jobs alongside countless gigs as an independent contractor. He’s always kept it easy, affordable, professional, and, to as great an extent as tax preparation can be, fun!
I used to be mystified by deductions and played it safe, but I’m no longer afraid to report every honest cent and keep as much of my earnings as possible.
He’s worked with me as my career has grown and we even filed via Skype in 2012 after I moved to LA. I’ll never use another tax preparer unless he or she works for Rus.

I found Brass Tax online, and decided to go in part due to their perfect 5-​star reviews on Unilocal.I always take these with a grain of salt, but I now realize the 5 –stars is only due to the fact that these reviews don’t go up to 11! Rus was extremely helpful (and quick to respond) by email, and his website is very user-​friendly. In person Rus is friendly, funny, and completely relatable. But none of that would matter if he wasn’t great with my taxes. And he most definitely was! He explained everything each step of the way (he’s a great communicator!), gave me options, and really demystified the whole process. On top of that, he gave me some very useful advice about some things that I needed help with that weren’t in his scope! I definitely wanna buy Rus a beer or three, and thanks to his tax wizardry, now I can!
You’d be silly to not use him for your taxes. And no, I had never met him before today.

Rus gets my top rating. He has completed my taxes for me the last two years with great success. The man knows what he is doing and is very efficient about his clients’ time!
I highly recommend him.

Last year, after a not-​so-​great experience with another tax preparer, I was trying to find a new person to help with my taxes and almost as if an answer from the Universe, I came across a flyer for Brass Taxes in Brooklyn. I checked out the website, made an appointment, and really loved how easy it was to work with Rus and what an awesome tax guy he is! He played some cool music, asked me some questions and in no time had my taxes done and I was on my way!
After that great experience, I also went to Rus to get help with some LLC questions I had, and in general always seem to have some random, ridiculous questions (I sometimes feel like an annoying 5-​year old with all of my «what about this, what about that» questions), but Rus either digs in and finds the answer, or points me in the direction of someone who would be able to better answer non-​tax related questions.
This year I’m traveling overseas, but was able to send Rus all my tax stuff, he worked his tax preparation magic and sent me everything back prepared and ready to go. He also helped me out with my estimated taxes for this year, which for some reason is my tax achilles heel, and it has been awesome having the stress of figuring that out off my back!
I highly recommend anyone to use Brass Taxes. In fact, after my husband was struggling with his taxes this year, I recommended that he use Brass Taxes. After a quick and painless Skype chat with Marci (ok, sort of painful because of some technical difficulties on our end — not their fault and Marci was very patient), she crunched the numbers and he ended up with a nice return, so we’re happy customers all around!
Thanks for the awesome work, Rus and team!

Russell is a charming, intelligent and dare I say, funny, tax preparer.
But most importantly, Rus takes the horrifying stuff that creative types wince, shirk and scowl at — namely forms, ugly rows of numbers, glaring empty boxes and the like — and transforms it into a tidy piece of government paper that says you’re a bonafide human being who pays their taxes correctly.
Don’t do it yourself — it’s time consuming, frustrating and you’re probably not getting all the deductions you should… leave it to Rus.
He’s professional and impossibly pleasant.