Bocek & Associates, CPA

I started working with Janet during the 2015 tax season… My previous CPA sold his business and Janet came highly recommended. She has been amazing… Being in Real estate, I have 8 (perhaps more next year) corporations for which I have to file taxes, and she has helped me get more organized, and made this a relatively painless process… (accounting is not my most favorite passtime :)… I have other investments which can be very complicated to those that dont understand it or dont spend the necessary amount of time to get it right, along with international tax stuff… Janet has really come through for me… highly recommend her!

How can you rate a company that turns you away in the first phone call? Here’s what the receptionist told me. «Unfortunately we’re not taking on ANY new clients.» My reply, «Ever?» Her reply, «Yep» Wow!!! I guess that’s one I don’t have to call again, and perhaps neither should you.

I can easily say she is still very good. Very responsive and gets back to me quickly. Year after year they continue to be very responsive and helpful. Thanks for keeping my paperwork in order!

After meeting with another CPA the following year, we found out that the return we spent $ 400+ dollars on, wasn’t even itemized! We basically paid someone to efile our taxes on Turbo Tax; we could have done that at home for $ 25! Such a disappointment… Glad we found a new CPA that has taken the time to go through all our questions with us and has given us some tips for maximizing our tax refund.

I used Janet Bocek for a few years for my fairly complicated tax returns. She was great until her office made a mistake and then handled it atrociously. Unfortunately, her office failed to include a huge sum of money– thousands on my return (I had noted it, they didn’t). I got a letter from the IRS and a bill for the missing tax PLUS interest. Ok– I get it– everyone makes mistakes. However, it was the way Janet’s office handled this mistake that ended my relationship with this office. For me, it’s all in the handling and as a business person myself if you can’t be professional to your clients then it’s kind of over. Here’s how it went:
— I contacted the office, and told them about the IRS letter. I was told «we can’t help you with that, you’ll need to take care of it on your own.»
— I pointed out that it was their mistake. They said, «OK, send in the form.» I did and they prepared an amendment and also emailed me to say that Janet would reimburse me for the interest since it was their error that caused it. The interest was dollars, but I appreciated that because it’s the principle of the matter that counts.
— I got the amendment and was promptly asked to pay over $ 100 for it. I told them to shove their amendment and I would do it myself. They sent me the amendment without me paying. Ok, good.
— I never received an apology and — this is the worst part– NEVER received a reimbursement for the interest the IRS charged me, and was not allowed to speak with Janet personally about this (I was always shunted off to someone else).
Janet is personally very nice and I’m sure capable but this was a greater problem that belied an overall failure of professionalism. I moved accountants and when I interviewed my new one, I asked what her policies were for handling mistakes and was very satisfied that she would take appropriate steps. As it is, maybe i was too small a client for Janet to care.

I’ve been going to Janet for 6 years now. She used to be great. Fast responses, good info, etc. Over the last couple years the service has gotten worse and worse. Communication got slower, returns slower to process. This past tax season I called numerous times to get an appointment and never got a call back. I finally went in person to make an appt. I got no apology for not getting a call back. Then a week before my appt. (in the heat of tax time mind you), I get an email saying that they are no longer going to process my returns. They’re too busy with other work. They did give a referral to someone else but after all that I wasn’t sure the referral would be any good so I decided to go elsewhere. I completely understand that businesses change. This was just a poor way to handle it.

Janet was quick & easy & professional to work with. Answered questions clearly & promptly, sent our tax return back quickly. No issues.

My husband and I have worked with Janet for about 2 years. We have come to trust her a great deal and really appreciate her professionalism. I sleep a lot better trusting my accountant has my back!

We could not be more pleased with our decision to use Janet Bocek to prepare our taxes. We were so unhappy with the accountant that we had used for 17 years. He had merged with another firm and had lost all customer service. So, we simply stopped dead in our tracks. As a result, we were a year behind in everything.
In just a few short weeks Janet was able to catch us up with both personal and corporate returns, prepare our estimated tax payments and file everything electronically. She worked with us to get us the maximum return. Her fees are fair and she and her staff amazing.
Thank you Janet for giving me back peace of mind. You are the Best!!!

She confirmed some tax information for us. If you call to make an appointment, you get a waived fee. See her website for details. She is well connected in the industry.

I had a wonderful experience with Bocek & Associates. I’ll be the first to admit my ignorance when it comes to taxes. Janet and her team were great. Not only did they complete my 2010 tax returns in a timely fashion, Janet found a substantial error back in my 2008 tax returns my previous accountant completely missed! She amended my 2008 & 2009 returns and I ended up with a pretty decent refund (which I was never expecting!), Thanks!
I’d also like to point out that Janet’s fees were very reasonable, expecially since she ended up doing 3 years for me for the around the same price my former CPA charged for 1 year! Saving money is nice and it’s nice to know I have a knowledgeable accountant on my side. She was even nice enough to refer me to financial advisor to help me out with a separate issue.
See you next year Janet!

Not sure what happened with these guys. They used to be great.
Last year, we didn’t get our returns until about 10:00 p.m. on April 14^th. The answering machine was turned on and we couldn’t get a live body for a week before the tax deadline. We assumed it was just a «bad year».
This year, we turned everything in early and the turnaround was fast but our questions went unanswered for weeks. No return phone calls. No response to emails. Nothing. When they finally responded, they were very apologetic. Would have been willing to forgive them again, but when I asked for an explanation about why something was handled differently in 2010 vs. 2009, I couldn’t get a clear answer. Worse yet, she was defensive and somewhat unpleasant. Time to shop for a new accountant. So disappointing.

I’ve been going to Janet for the past 3 years and had 3 different experiences. First of all, Janet has always been great to work with and is very personable.
1^st year: Just OK and the process was easy, but the IRS requested more money which I brought up to Janet’s attention. That sucked!
2^nd year: Great experience and no IRS chasing me. Yah!
3^rd year: Janet was great and the office manager was nice, but talking to the tax accountant, there were some discussions going back and forth (which I felt were pretty self explanatory and it increased my fee too — I did not bring this up to Janet, as I didn’t want to argue over a few extra bucks or so) Ugh!
You might wonder why I still keep going here — for me, it’s just easier since Janet’s been doing my taxes for the past couple of years and has all my relevant documents and my interactions with Janet has been great. You also get a 5% to 10% discount if you file early and set up an appointment ahead of time.

So, I called last Wednesday and spent 5 – 7 minutes explaining my semi-​unique tax situation to the office manager. She told me that Janet was out of the office and assured me she would call me back that afternoon. I had her repeat my phone number to me to ensure it was taken correctly and, as you may guess by my 1 star rating, I never heard back. Not from Janet nor the office manager.
Thanks for nothing!

I had a terrible experience with Janet Bocek in 2006 similar to Sarah W.‘s. The completed tax return that Janet did for us was full of errors, ranging from simple clerical errors such as transposing digits from the numbers on my husband’s W-​2 to improper accounting of expenses related to my business. The tax preparer that I later had review these returns for errors (whom I’ve been using ever since) typed up 2 pages single spaced in Word of errors! It probably should have been a red flag that even though I was a new client and had a somewhat complex return, Janet asked no follow-​up questions while preparing the return — as other tax preparers usually do — and simply called us when we could pick up our returns.
Perhaps the people writing 5 star reviews are long-​term clients who get special treatment, but if you are a new client, I would definitely not recommend using this company!

We chose Bocek and Associates after reading all the great reviews and had a horrible experience. During our time working with them, Bocek & Associates:
— lost some of our paperwork
— did not return several phone calls and emails
— did not prepare our taxes in the time promised (two weeks was promised, but taxes took more than 4, resulting in us running to the post office on April 14^th)
— did not give us some information that was promised during our initial meeting (how to change my husband’s withholdings), despite several calls and email reminders
— were not present at the office during confirmed office hours when I came in to pick up forms
— ultimately made a $ 1382 error on our return which the IRS caught and corrected, and were unapologetic about this when it was brought to the firm’s attention
In addition, when I emailed Janet Bocek outlining the above concerns, she did not return my email, leading me to the conclusion that she is unconcerned about this sort of service/​experience.
To say the least, I do not recommend Bocek & Associates, and will never use them again.

I explained my situation over the phone and was assured that it would be no problem. When I arrived I did not meet with Janet, but one of her employees. He said I should just file even though I owed a lot. He told me they would set me up on a payment plan. I am no accountant, but this was ridiculous from everything I have been told. So I call the next day and ask for all my information to be return to me. No one seemed to care that they just lost a client. Not a single question. Not even from the owner Janet. I feel my time was wasted, considering I had explained my issue over the phone. Is Janet a great CPA? Maybe, I will never know. But I did end up getting another CPA and that is quite a different story.
*****Update*****
I originally gave a one star review and have moved it to three stars after receiving the following email from Janet. She made no excuses and I respect that. I know it can be very hard to find good people. I did come in at an extremely busy time. I guess, it could have been the right place at the wrong time. I would say give her a try.
***email from Janet Bocek***
«Thank you for contacting us. I am very sorry about your experience, and as the owner, I assure you I would never guide someone to „just file“ without making the best possible effort to minimize the tax impact of their particular situation. Something clearly went wrong here, and is my fault.
The gentleman that you interacted with unfortunately did not meet our standards and is therefore no longer with us. I make a large effort to hire great people, and although the resume and background might look great on the surface, I am about to look for a wonderful replacement.
You visited us at a time when I am already committed to work with my current clients first, and I much less available to personally meet or engage new clients. That is no excuse for how you were guided, but that is the reason that you were not able to meet with me directly.
We are not trying to take on hundreds of new clients, so we are not a good fit for everyone.
We certainly do not want to waste anyone’s time.
We are happy to return information to anyone who asks out of consideration that they may already feel awkward about asking in the first place, and may just want the returns done more quickly than we can do them. (We are not H& R Block. who prepare returns while you are sitting with them.)
I am sincerely very glad that you were able to find a good firm to help you, and wish you the best.»

Janet has been an incredible resource, her wealth of tax and business knowledge has saved us a fortune. She’s also been a great resource in helping us building our small business via recommendations to other individuals she’s worked with including legal and health and bennefits providers all of which have been top notch!
Janet is phenomenal and I HIGHLY recommend her!

Janet has done my personal and business taxes every year since since 2003. She has done an amazing job each and every year. She is not just a CPA, she is a superstar!
More than just doing taxes, she knows and understands business, real estate and how to relationships.
I refer all of my clients and friends to Janet and know that they will be taken care of.

We have been working with Janet for about 5 years now and are always very pleased with her knowledge, diligence, and sound advice. She is a true professional that not only understands taxes, but also our needs as a small business.
It’s not just a tag line, she really works hard to make sure you «keep more of what you earn»
I’m confident we’ll be working with Janet for years to come.