Sanjiv Gupta, CPA

Heard about Sanjiv Gupta on radio, and I was impressed by his knowledge sharing with listener on tax return. I have decided to file my return for 2015, and staff is very humble & very helpful. Patiently answered all my questions. After reviewing my final draft of my tax return I was happy & satisfied.

Sanjiv has been handling my bookkeeping and taxes for over 10 years now. He is very courteous, professional and knowledgeable. I own a small business and Sanjiv is always there for sound advice and help. His service is extremely personalized and he strives to put his clients in the best situation possible. I have emailed him questions and he has responded promptly with professionalism. It is a smooth process to have taxes done with Sanjiv and I feel that as a CPA, he is very knowledgeable and I trust him do my taxes properly. I highly recommend him and feel that his fees are fair and reasonable.

Lack of knowledge in reporting taxes to IRS. Once they make any mistake on your returns, don’t expect them to help you out but they will ask you to get in touch with IRS directly. But everyone knows how big a hassle it is to get in touch with IRS representative with longer hold times.

Excellent CPA. So far the best one in the bay area from among many i have been to before Sanjiv.
I went to file my return for 2014 and the staff was very helpful and knowledgeable. They were very proactive and always kept me updated. Without even me asking they would give me an idea about what I could do to save more on taxes. They answer questions and listen to you patiently.
I would definitely recommend everyone to go to him for getting their taxes done

I went to Sanjiv Gupta after listening the advertisement at Desi radio in Bay Area. I went there for filing my taxes for year 2013. I was totally disappointed. I felt that these guys are simply trying to cover as many people as they can so that they can get more money. More people they file, more money they will get. I was not sure if I got all necessary deductions. The lady was nice first when setting the appointment, once we go there, she was extremely rude. One time, I thought to get up and leave without filing. I did not create any drama that tone. But, I will never go. May be they are ok for business taxes since they may make more money but personal tax filing. I will say BIG NO. I am not going again.

Expecting the best knowledge and service (since this name is famous and heard on radio shows), I go to this firm to get my tax filed, they charge me 50% of $ 350 = $ 175 upfront to get started (and lock in the customer so he can’t run away now). I get the following advice on matters that I thought were no brainers:
1) «Travel expense for relocation due to job can’t be claimed on 1040nr return».
I send them the 1040nr instruction pdf from IRS site asking where the heck it says so? They then fix the return to claim travel expense deduction, but had to file amended return since they couldn’t figure it out in time.
2) «Don’t claim more than $ 500 of charitable donations». Why? You might get audited for a valid perfect legal claim for which you have all the proofs. I had to push multiple times to get the assistant filing the return to claim the complete amount.
3) I made a mistake on a dependent tax id number due to which the refund got reduced. The best fee they offered for getting it corrected by filing another amendment was $ 450 (10% discount over $ 500 which is their regular amendment charge). I called up IRS and it turned out that error could be corrected over the phone! Phew, so I save $ 450 here.
4) All the while I am told the return will be e-​filed, then a day before last of filing deadline I am told 1040NR cannot be e-​filed. So I have to «Hand deliver» signed papers at their fremont office.
With all my interaction so far, I didn’t get a single point why this firm is so expensive ($ 350 for filing return that gets generated thru a software). Filing the returns myself would have been far easier and less expensive, verses paying them and then educating them about simple things that go into filing returns.

Ok so this is my first time I was going to use a CPA and have listened to lot of talk shows and heard about Sanjiv I decide to give him a try. I visited Sanjiv’s office to amend my tax return because of a revised W2 and my Turbo tax won’t work as expected.
So I walked in and was greeted by Gayathri. She knows what she is doing and is very direct in her approach. No fancy language, no beating around the bush etc. She said what she will do and she asked me for exactly what was needed. In the end she fixed a return that was filed by Turbo Tax which was showing a higher wage compared to what was on my W2 and I was happy and feel safe now that it has been reviewed by a CPA.
I would say the price for the service is little hight but hey you get what you pay for.
I will recommend using their service.

Very very unprofessional. Today I went to speak to him regarding some topics and the guy is so unprofessional. He attended me for 25 minutes and was busy looking on his computer for 10 minutes at the very least. I had to repeat my questions since he was not paying any attention. The guy is horrible and am going to write to AM 1170 to have someone more professional on their show. This guy is a complete stupid. I am still cringing on why I went there and paid full fee for a 20 minute session. Will NOT recommend to anyone.
To add to it, he did not tell me anything that I should be doing. He just gave me 1 point and that too when I asked him.

Unprofessional. His software was not updated. he is completely relying on his software. I told him the updated Standard deductions as his software was showing me the wrong results. I reached there on time. ended up waiting for 45 mins. basically I won’t recommend him to anybody.