CPA in the east bay

December 30, 2008 9:02 PM

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good CPA in the east bay (San Francisco) area. We don't know many locals who don't use turbo-tax and have a complicated year's worth of taxes.

We live in Hayward california, and i've searched google, CL, Yelp, and metafilter, but have yet to find a good site recommending local CPA's. We've got some wierd stuff in our taxes this year and therefore i'd like a professional to check out our issues. somehow i don't think turbo tax will have good info for the following:

*Moved from DC to SF december of previous fiscal year (should have been covered with last years taxes). My wife's company paid for the move and temporary housing into the new year, but we're not sure if we count it as income

*Bought our first house, as part of a new job my wife's company paid our closing costs and a point, i'm not if this counts as income either

*Put about 4K into an IRA, but now i'm not sure if we made too much income to use it tax free.

I want to get a human to look at all this, but i don't trust the H&R block type stores. I know a real CPA will cost me some more money, but i'd like to keep it less than $250 if possible. We could also use a financial planner, but i'm not sure if most CPA's do double duty as that as well. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

posted by NGnerd to work & money (6 comments total)

I highly recommend Bonnie Kwan, in San Francisco. Mefi-mail me for her contact information.
posted by mattdidthat at 9:21 PM on December 30, 2008

I've gone to Franklin Management in Pleasanton for the past few years and have been satisfied. I've paid about $100 for a basic return with some too-complicated-for-me-to-do-with-TurboTax investment paperwork. It looks like they can help with your financial planning, too.
posted by phatkitten at 9:24 PM on December 30, 2008

Terry Enfield, in Walnut Creek, is excellent.
posted by judith at 11:28 PM on December 30, 2008

I was about to make a MeFi post asking the same thing so I hope you don't mind me piggy backing on your question: I need a CPA in the east bay (I'm in downtown Oakland) who can get me set up with TurboTax or similar software. The catch is I am a self-employed freelance artist, I don't know much about taxes but I think what I need might be semi-complicated so someone who works with freelancers a lot would be great.
posted by bradbane at 11:31 AM on December 31, 2008

Just the other side of the Dunbarton bridge:

Hal Friedman
[phone]
2483 E Bayshore Rd # 203, Palo Alto, CA

He's helped me sort out loads of things, including the (erroneous) tax bill for $7,000,000 I got a few years ago.
posted by tkolar at 12:05 PM on December 31, 2008

Bradbane, no problem and thanks to everyone with info. i've been happy with turbotax previously (you can buy it at best buy, etc), but there's some comfort knowing a knowledge worker has your back.
posted by NGnerd at 2:34 PM on December 31, 2008