The Horner Group, LTD

I’m a bit frustrated so bear with me. I did my taxes with Horner and thought that largely it was a passable experience. Then I filled for FAFSA for the first time only to discover they put the wrong home address on all of my tax forms and so long story short, filing FAFSA is a massive pain now. I’m wondering if they messed up anything else that might get me into trouble.
I don’t recommend Horner not only because of this annoying error but also because customer service sucked (aside from the nice receptionist lady). The man who helped me was really dry, disengaged, and somewhat rude. I suppose it’s not a requirement for the tax guy to be pleasant, but I’m all about customer service and so really the receptionist is what pulled this up from a 1 to a 2.

Filing taxes yourself (in my world) is confusing.
When you have new life events, a wife that works in freelance sometimes, I have a side business and a myriad of other «is this a deduction» questions, doing taxes through a computer program became too much.
With only 1 review I was hesitant to trust the folks of Horner Tax but we pulled the trigger.
To have a real person handle them, submit and explain our taxes for us cost less than it would to buy the H&R block or other computer tax software.
It also saved me time and headaches.
The tax man we met with went over all of our questions and ensured we had everything necessary for a smooth tax season.
We felt confident about the entire process and I actually look forward to this season’s tax time so we can scurry over there and let them show us the money we would’ve, otherwise, overlooked (and help keep us out of an audit!)
Oh — in 2011, their cost for doing all of our taxes and filing them was a whopping $ 60. Not too shabby when you consider your time and patience.

It’s tax time once again. My wife’s uncle, a CPA, did it for us for free for the past decade, but has now retired and left us to figure it out for ourselves. So I looked at my options.
1. Get one of those «EasyTax» software programs for $ 30-​$ 40 and try doing it myself but missing key deductions or entering something wrong and misstating my taxable income. That route will only lead to scandal, fraud, significant fines, financial ruin and ultimately land me as Bernie Madoff’s cell mate. Even my kids will be too ashamed to visit daddy in jail.
2. Get it done online with H&R Blockhead, but filing it electronically and having the «Signature Service» with a professional review will cost me $ 80. Should it cost so much if I still do it myself and some faceless individual spends 5 minutes rubber-​stamping it?
3. Have Horner Tax Advisory Group do it for $ 49 and know that a real person did it correctly, thus averting a potential fraud investigation caused by my own financial ignorance.
It was a no-​brainer for me. Located about 2 miles west of Arlington Racetrack in an office park off of Hicks Road & Euclid, this is a good place to know about. I think most of their clientele may be wealthier individuals with more complex returns than a regular guy like me with no extraordinary portfolios or investments to untangle each year.
Their waiting area has pebble-​studded waterfalls trickling down in a relaxing way as I pondered my net worth and taxable income for the past year. The background music is a selection of 60s and 70s classic rock tunes, indicating the average age of the people coming here. I didn’t have to wait long, as I got called into a private office. I met one of their accountants for a brief interview about my financial situation. He looked over my paperwork I collected with my W-2’s, bank interest, IRA statements and property taxes paid, plus all the other bits and receipts I had compiled for 2008. In about 20 minutes, he sorted out the things he needed and gave me back the rest. I signed a paper allowing them to file it electronically and set up an appointment for the return visit.
Roughly 1−½ weeks later I returned and this time I got to meet Randy Horner, the president of the firm. He took the time to go over my tax return line by line and explained how he came up with the numbers. Then he went over my Illinois return as well. It all made sense to me. I was enlightened. The heavens opened up and I saw a vision of President Barack Obama, IL governor Pat Quinn and Uncle Sam dancing in delight and clapping their hands in approval that I made the right choice and would be getting well over $ 2500 coming back to me. With the stroke of a pen, I authorized the direct deposit and I was on my way.
So what’s your choice going to be, folks?