Carl Hakenjos & Associates

Carl has always done an excellent job on my personal and business taxes. No problems, always fast, friendly, accurate and cost effective. A real pleasure to do business with. Gary

What a terrible accountant and business man… Screwed things up on my payroll and my profit and loss statements… When asked for the money back from the penalties he cost me from his mistakes he told me to go get lost!
R.P.

Have used Carl for 3 years. Polite, competent, and as good as I could possibly ask for.

I used Martin and my previous review was based on his services; we gave the new owner a chance; we had an appointment at 6pm and arrived on time but he got to us at 7pm. It took him almost one hour to do our taxes and seemed unsure of how to proceed; we didn’t feel we could trust his tax preparation skills.

Carl is great at what he does and he also gets things done quickly plus his rates are more than fair. I should have gone to him years ago.

Carl took over the business from Howard and there was a delay in filing my taxes (I think they forgot until I called them) that wasn’t a huge deal, but I got a letter from the IRS saying that there was a mistake on a previous return done by this company. I pay the extra many to have my taxes done so I have that backup if the IRS comes back. Well I emailed the letter and I never got a call back from Carl. I tried several times and recurred a few responses from his assistant but now they aren’t responding at all. They will take your money but won’t be there if the IRS has problems.

For 3 years I used the old accountant here, who I found to be far to casual, carl on the other hand is a true professional, he’s done a great job on this years tax return and I got a huge refund so couldn’t be happier with him, and definitely will be keeping my business here for years to come!

I have gone to Martin Schwartz for the last 20 years and he has always been very helpful and professional each year with our taxes. Martin has unfortunately left the practice. Now I can see why! We went to Carl to have our taxes done, since we really didn’t know where else to go. BAD IDEA! We went to our appointment, which he was late starting by a half an hour and completed our taxes. He was ok, but nothing great. Short and simple, I guess. So were waiting for our tax return so that we could pay our other taxes. We waited and waited. Still no return. We called the office to get answers and they had none. Suddenly, on-​line we saw they were filed (magically!) It was a month after we had our appointment! He could not explain how it didn’t get filed. When I called repeatedly, he wouldn’t return my husband or my calls. When I finally got someone to talk to, they eventually put me on hold and hung up on me. Eventually, he did return my calls only to say he has no idea how it was filed but that I am not to yell at his employees and he proceeded to hang up on me. Great way to treat a long standing client! He charges and processes the payment quickly, but do not plan on him filing your taxes any time soon!!!

We have been using Martin Schwartz for our taxes and payroll for about 15 years. We are so pleased and can’t say enough good things about him. It wasn’t until Mr. Hakenjos came on that things went south and fast. We insisted on using Martin to file our taxes both personal and business but Mr. Hakenjos took over the payroll services. From the very first payroll he did, they were screwed up. He had one accountant who was completely inept. So much so, Mr. Hakenjos had to step in and try and fix things. Payroll taxes weren’t paid for 2 months! It was too the point that we were looking for another payroll serivce company. Thank goodness Martin got out of this arrangement so we didn’t have to go that route. Use GREAT caution if you utilize Mr. Hakenjos’ for your payroll.
BTW, our experience was with his payroll services. We can not attest to his tax services but if they are anything like payroll watch out.

We have used this company for several years. Last year we had Carl do our taxes and he has won our business and loyalty forever. He did my 93 year old mom’s taxes as well and treated her with exquisite courtesy and kindness. The office is easy to get to, the staff is great and we are so happy with Carl. We have recommended him to our friends and family without hesitation.

Carl took over from Martin and what a disaster. I’ve never had problems with the IRS until Carl took over. After Carl failed to file my payroll taxes on time we had problems that resulted in penalties. The state of Louisiana contacted me about Carl and requested info on his shortfalls. His CPA license is in question and under investigation.
Avoid this company like the plague.

I started writing this review last year in June of 2014 and never finished it… I feel that I have done a disservice to my fellow Unilocalers who did not get to read a piece of my mind about this place of business.
I had been trying to get assistance in getting copies of two of my paystubs as my former employer contracts them for payroll services and what a nightmare they were!!! I was given the runaround for multiple days and no one called me back until I had to pay them a visit myself in June of 2014 only for them to tell me that they did not have the paystubs and even if they did they could only provide them to the employer and not give me a copy. It was such a waste of time! They were rude and unprofessional!

UPDATE: After taking my business elsewhere, I learned that the printed copy of our 2011 return that Martin gave us was different from the return that he actually filed, and it looked like the difference between the two was precisely the issue the IRS was flagging and asking us to pay for. Was this why he didn’t want to speak with me when I was asking for his help? Was it an attempt to cover up and not own up to his mistakes? That’s pretty low. I’ve always thought very highly of him; what a bitter disappointment…

The first year we had Martin do our taxes, everything seemed fine and we were happy. The second year things went down hill. He presents as a nice person who appears to know what he is doing. He forgot to apply for an extension on our taxes causing us to be charged a late fee by both the federal and state government which totaled approx. $ 2400! When we asked him about this and to prove that he filed the extension he actually created a false extension document showing he filed a extension, but it had no date on it! Then he made a copy of a envelope addressed to the IRS that could have been for anybody! I had called multiple times to speak with Martin prior to the tax deadline to check on the status of the taxes but was always told he was busy and he would return my call, but he never did. He would only return my emails asking him if my taxes were ready on time and if he had filed an extension. I saved all of the copies of the emails proving he lied and was aware of the fact he didn’t file an extension on time. Later, he would not return our emails when we confronted him about it or contact us in any other way. I spoke with two representatives at the IRS who confirmed that he never filed an extension and did send in our taxes six weeks after the deadline!
I also have a friend who used his services and will not return to him. He messed up her taxes causing her to have to pay thousands more in taxes that she should have. She had the taxes looked at by two other Tax Accountants who showed her the mistake.
I would NEVER return to him or recommend him to a friend! Can you imagine having to pay late fees that are the result of your tax accountants inadequacies? He is a nice guy, but BEWARE of his lack of character and honesty. He makes big mistakes, so check your taxes very carefully!

Worst tax place in the county! My family and I had this company do our taxes for a few years. It wasn’t until recently that we found out they made errors on all of our taxes costing us thousands of dollars. They were not willing to compensate us in any way. I would stay away from this company! I am writing this review in an effort to save other people from going through what we did. DO NOT use Schwartz & Associates! Anywhere is probably better than here.

Apparently Martin is the guy to see based on the other reviews. Can’t say the same for his partner Carl Hakenjos. I scheduled to have someone do my taxes this year since I was very busy with work, house renovations and a 9 month old. The morning of our visit we had our 9 month old with us. Carl ripped thru the number entry in short order after looking at the forms we supplied. Seemed easy and quick. Unfortunately, we realized some days later a little too quick… since we never had discussions about child care expenses, in fact, just about nothing else was explored, outside the papers I handed over. We didn’t file the child care after re-​consulting with him.
Another item that was missed was stock sales. I didn’t recall at the time that we had stock sales also, until a few weeks after they were already filed. I called Carl to find out that an amended filing would be $ 75.00, which I think is steep considering the $ 145, I paid him previously, was for about 25 minutes of work. Now, it can be viewed either way, I suppose, that I should have remembered the stock sale and alerted him. but I’m paying someone else to do my thinking essentially– ask ME what I should be aware of that might shave my taxes — and that service in my opinion wasn’t fulfilled.
I’ll file my own amendment and head elsewhere next year, or do them myself where E-​filing will coach me more thoroughly.

All I can say is Martin knows what he is doing. Ive been going to him for the last 4 years now. He is up front, quick, funny, professional and knows current tax info.
Very good staff.

My husband and I have been going to Martin for years. He’s fast, efficient, on the level, and smart as a whip.
Taxes can be grueling, but Martin is a pro, and a good guy. He’s done both our personal and our business taxes.
His staff are also professional and top notch.

Martin is a first-​class, honest-​to-​goodness, kickass accountant. We’ve been to two different accountants and were completely screwed over (to the point where we were fucking AUDITED!), and finally we decided to go with Martin. He does the books for the nightclub my husband works at and for other employees, and I’m grateful for the recommendation.
Not to go too much into our finances, we were anticipating getting ass-​raped by the whole mortgage industry fiasco, especially since we had to short-​sale our Hillcrest condo. My husband and I honestly thought we were going to owe something to the tune of $ 10K in taxes because of it. Martin crunched the numbers and we actually ended up getting a fucking REFUND! Miracle worker.
Now I can’t promise he’ll line your pockets with money, but I will say that he knows his shit, gets the job done quickly, doesn’t bullshit with you, and if you do end up owing the IRS for some reason (it’s really not his fault, is it, you’re the one who probably fucked up), he’ll tell you how to NOT do that again next year! Fabulous.
His fees really are reasonable, but I’d pay him twice as much for the peace of mind I got after doing my taxes with him.