In 2021 I hired a guy (maybe a Denver CPA, now I’m not sure) to do my annual taxes. I noticed from the very first call that something was off with him but was trying not to be too judgey and give him a chance. Initially he appeared to be responsive both through emails and phone calls.
His office is in his very small, old, quite unkept apartment off of Colfax. I noticed that the lock on the door was very flimsy, your typical apartment lock and became more and more concerned about security. He has a huge conference table in the livingroom which takes up most of the room. Everyone’s personal papers were sitting out all over the room. The whole scene made me uncomfortable but again I was trying not to be too judgey. I should have trusted my gut feeling about the whole deal. Once when I went there for a meeting he was basically in his undershorts and undershirt. It was summer and pretty hot…also his apartment is very hot in the summer in that crammed space.
Once tax season started he stopped returning emails, calls and texts. He had all of my information months in advance and the banking and investment tax records at least a month in advance of April 18th. I tried to reach him to find out whether he was filing my taxes on time, whether I owed money and whether I was getting a refund. That’s ALL I wanted to know. He would not respond! Finally 3 days before the 18th he called (he wouldn’t put it in writing because then I would have evidence) and said he was filing an extension and when I asked if I owed money he said, “probably not since I paid quarterly tax”. PROBABLY NOT???? 3 days before it’s due you don’t know for sure? You get a penalty charge if you don’t pay at the time of the extension!
There really was nothing I could do at that point. I tried repeatedly to get him to put in writing that he had filed an extension and that I didn’t owe anything and he wouldn’t. Finally he wrote in capitol letters that he filed an extension and called me a psycho! I have no proof either from him or the IRS that an extension was filed. Again, penalty fee for not filing an extension.
Greg Guarnero became extremely abusive. When I finally could get ahold of him, he would say he’s got 400 returns to do and he’s not returning calls or emails and that he’s up from 5am to midnight every day. Well, then he shouldn’t have accepted me as a client! My return is simple and should have been done way in advance, yet I’m quite sure he didn’t even file an extension. He started yelling at me and calling me names. He wrote to me calling me names.
I am writing this as a record in case this guy does something to my home, my confidential information or to me. This is my record as he is extremely unstable and pops off at the drop of a hat. The bottom line…TRUST YOUR GUT!
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