Hood & Strong LLP

Hodd & Strong, LLP is professional in the way they handle every aspect of an audit engagement. The staff personnel is polite and manager’s and partner’s know how to deal with complex accounting and tax issues. We had an unidentified auditor in the past that was constantly repeating requests which lead to inefficiencies, but not these guys. A+ for Hood & Strong.

Awful, just, awful. Lynn Henley (Tax Manager) and Barbara Bond (Partner) at Hood and Strong were hired to provide tax planning advice and accounting services for us on behalf of our deceased father. Hood & Strong assured us that tax planning was their specialty and they could help us plan out what assets to use to pay the back taxes owed. Yet, they never provided the advice we requested and never responded to countless emails asking all kinds of specific questions. Hood & Strong gave us one week’s notice that certain payments were due, but refused to answer our questions about the tax implications of using different assets to make those payments, resulting in us liquidating an IRA and incurring an estimated $ 30K in new tax obligations that should have been avoided with proper planning and advice. Along the way, Lynn Henley made us feel stupid for asking about the tax implications of the sale of real estate instead and a possible 1031 exchange, and as to the whole matter, Hood & Strong refused to provide us with answers to what was left outstanding in spite of repeated emails. After we gave them a power of attorney, we had at least three separate levies and/​or liens by the IRS and FTB against bank accounts and real property because they failed to communicate with them and/​or obtain stays. Hood & Strong gave unsubstantiated/​erroneous legal advice (they’re not even lawyers) that, had we followed it, would have resulted in the estate paying out out $ 150,000 in funds. Hood & Strong filed an incomplete return for one of the years, but never told us about it and once we were notified by the IRS, they claimed they weren’t equipped to file the form that was missing. On the day before the tax returns were due, Lynn Henley made me sign a fee agreement agreeing to arbitration. When I said I wanted to think about it, she clutched the returns to her chest and said that Barbara Bond said we couldn’t have the returns without signing the agreement. What other choice did I have? In spite of volumes of emails and other written communication documenting these events, Hood & Strong refuses to acknowledge them. It took four written requests to get my client files back.