Richard Birnbaum, CPA

What an absolute disaster, and an expensive lesson to learn. RUN, don’t walk… AWAY from this place.

Do not EVER go here.
It is known now that Rick Birnbaum is shady and may have been doing illegal activity. He is now gone, but still DO NOT go here.
I was a new client. Rick meddled with my old tax filing and resubmitted it quite questionably and despite my protests. I asked him not to bother if the return wasn’t significant and he said not to worry, that he would charge me «peanuts». He was fired or left the firm immediately after this. I received no notice.
I called for over a month and his office could not find my paperwork (they had all of my orig paperwork). Finally got it back with too many apologies. I was shown that my refiling merited a whopping $ 220-​ish. Then they sent me a bill for over $ 400. I called to explain what Rick did and what he’d promised me and they finally offered a «discount» of $ 100.
My adjusted refund of $ 49 came today. What the HECK!!!
Nothing is right at this office. And now I am at risk of getting audited too thanks to Rick being investigated. RUN AWAY!!!

to check out rick birnbaum’s record or file a complaint contact
RICHARD J. BIRNBAUM LICENSE# 38 463
TAX PREPARER PTIN# P00016866
TAX PREPARERS FEDERAL ELECTRONIC ID (FEIN)
#26−1 465 192
california board of accountancy enforcement division
(916) 561 – 17 291
(filing a complaint, enforcement actions)
e-​mail:
Internal Revenue Service United States Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Bulletin: 2015 – 13
March 30, 2015
Announcement 2015 – 7
Calabasas Birnbaum, Richard J. CPA Suspended by decision in expedited proceeding under 31 C.F.R. § 10.82(b) Indefinite from November 18, 2014
Porter Ranch
Announcement of Disciplinary Sanctions From the Office of Professional Responsibility
The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) announces recent disciplinary sanctions involving attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, enrolled actuaries, enrolled retirement plan agents, and appraisers. These individuals are subject to the regulations governing practice before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which are set out in Title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 10, and which are published in pamphlet form as Treasury Department Circular No. 230. The regulations prescribe the duties and restrictions relating to such practice and prescribe the disciplinary sanctions for violating the regulations.

I regret ever going to these clowns. SO many mistakes that I had no clue about until I went to a reputable (and friendly) CPA. Also didn’t appreciate the bill from the IRS I got because this place does EVERYTHING wrong. I am waiting for the surely upcoming class action lawsuit against them and will happily join it to try and recoup some of the losses that associating myself with this CPA cost me.
And to make it worse, I referred a few people to these guys 10 years ago when they were still licensed.

My wife and I have been with rick for 15 years. As we have found out the hard way with IRS and a little research, Rick had his license revoked back in Feb 2012 as documented in public records. There was no mention by him or his office that there were problems with his practice prior to 2012. So we have been continuing to go to him unknowingly until this tax season when we got hammered financially. My new cpa found discrepancies on every page of our returns both personal and business. We have the supporting documents and information but Rick or whoever it is neglected to tell us that we need more specific information. The new CPA taking over Sunil (Neil) Khandelwal who did our taxes for the past 3 years did a number us and will probably end up in court because it is a total mess. I will be damn if I am going to pay on account of this idiot.
Bottom line don’t go to this office. Don’t get associated with thus sunil character.
If anyone who is reading this and has had problems with office in recent years, email me or respond to this Unilocal and I will contact you. I am in the process of getting a lawyer and taking this guy and the whole firm to court. If I can get enough people we can have a class action suit.

If you are looking at this review to decide if you should use him. DON’T!!!
If you are looking at this review to see if anyone else had the horrendous experience you are having, my condolences.
Everything listed here is unfortunately true. And as far as we know Rick is no longer affiliated with the firm. But the name remains the same. Just another mystery why a CPA would go so rogue and really fuck up the lives of people that trusted him.

Rick has provided my wife and I with prompt and ethical service for years. He somehow remembers our details very well and most importantly provides excellent and rapid feedback to our questions to guide us through the process. I know several other people who have hired him to file their taxes and no one has had a bad experience.

If there was a no star review I would leave that. From reading other reviews it seems that other people have had the same experiences that I did. Tax Lien, unanswered tax assessments. No return phone calls or texts. I also did not know that Rick Birnbaum lost his license as a CPA and was fined. I’m not surprised. Only one person stepped up to the plate after years of begging to have them fix their problems. His name is Jared. I can only hope that he did fix my problems. That remains to be seen.

My husband and I have been a client of Rick for over 10 years. My husband for about 20 years.
Please do not use this company unless you are 1) well versed in tax filing laws and 2) are a W2 employee.
Due to my husband and I’s nativity we have ended up being audited for 3 straight years. Based on the IRS calculations we owe over $ 40K which includes penalties.
We were advised by Rick «not to worry» and that he would take care of everything and we would only end up paying a few thousand dollars, if that. That was over 2 years ago. Since that time we have submitted 2 offer compromises, one with their assistance and one without due to complete neglect from him and his office. As of date, we are still being billed for over 40K and no relief in sight.
Also, we were given a $ 7500.00 tax credit in 08 for our home we purchased. We were not informed of the implications of using this credit. By using this credit we have to pay back the IRS $ 500 per year for 15 years. I fail to see how this «credit» was beneficial to us in the first place. Had it been explained to us we would probably not have used the credit.
Rick is completely unavailable when push comes to shove and you need his help to get out of the hole he put you in.
Consumers BEWARE!!!

Watch out.
I was a happy client — but something has definitely changed at this office.
Be prepared to have to nag, correct, question and chase to get your documents done and filed correctly. This year was a mess and sure enough I just received a letter from the IRS that things were done wrong.
I genuinely like Rick — but now it makes sense that his recent short and non specific answers are because his license is on probation.
If you are on this ship — jump off it’s sinking.

I am a long time client of Rick Birnbaum and his firm. This tax year (2014) was the first year in which I am fully «retired». I had a 35 year career with the Federal government as an Administrative Law Judge. This filing was different than anything in my past association with the Birnbaum firm and there were a few unexpected wrinkles. Rick was great, and when there was a «last minute» issue that I felt needed immediate attention here was his response:
«I’m on it»
And sure enough, within 24 hours the issue became a non-​issue.
I have nothing but good things to say about this firm, from the front desk employees to the inner sanctum of the CPA’s!
Judge Sherwin F. Biesman

I wish I could post a review with zero stars. Accounting and math are simple. Rick and Neil are two of the worst accountants in California. He did not keep track of any of our documents. If you’re on the fence about hiring an accountant, let this review save you the headache that we’ve experienced. CHOOSE SOMEONE ELSE.

Well, here is my suggestion for you; if you go to this guy for your taxes, be prepared to be alone.
You won’t have any support at all, he will never follow up with you, he will tell you that it’s all good even though is really not.
I ask him once why he never replay to my email and he’s answer was as follow:
I was on honeymoon.
I ask him when my taxes issue will be done, he says in 4 days, has been almost 1 here and he haven’t even tried.
Man advise is half safe, try at your own risk.

This man has lied to us for 2 ½ years telling us our audit (caused by him) was under control. He told us he had our case transferred to another office and that he was working with the IRS… he did nothing… all the while he neglected to tell us his license had been suspended for 5 years and that he was fined $ 20,000. Impossible to get a a hold of and a liar. STAY AWAY FROM THIS GUY… HE HAS PROBLEMS!

Birnbaum lost his license to practice and is out business. The worst of the worst. Completely untrustworthy. I would never recommend him or his firm. License suspended for five years and fined $ 20,000 by The State of California Board of Accountancy, Never followed up, impossible to contact and when I needed him to represent me with The IRS he didn’t do anything for two years yet he claimed everything was under control. Any positive reviews written on Unilocal were most likely entered by Birnbaum under an alias name. Run away from him as fast as you can! His staff is totally unreliable. He is under investigation again. Call The State Board of Accountancy to confirm.

Rick is a total con man. I looked at his prior reviews and another dissatisfied customer called him «slick Rick». Good description
Beware! His license is currently suspended, he is under disciplinary and probation action! His suspension in part us due to lying to authorities and customers, not keeping copies if IRS communications, numerous errors on tax returns and intentional deception. He has to have another CPA in his office sign any returns he is involved in…
This guy cost us over $ 200k in errors penalties and fines and directly caused us to Lose our 4 yr investment (over $ 375k) in a business due to his lying and failure to respond to state and federal authorities; he even lied to the state and Feds !
He has a picture of Jay Leno in his office and claims Jay is a customer, bull! Jay would be in jail if Eick was his CPA
Run from this guy!

Worst tax experience I’ve ever had.
Avoid at all costs.
He will say things are being taken care of and do nothing,
but take your money!
Mike H.

I would give zero if possible… I dont waste time on assholes!!!

I was referred to Rick Birnbaum by a friend, who has been a happy client for several years. This year was the first time I use his services to file both my personal and company tax return, and so far I’m very happy with him. Not only I haven’t encountered any problems with the service, Rick is fixing my last year’s business tax return, with which he had nothing to do. I had to refile because my previous tax accountant misfiled my company’s tax return. Although this was not Rick Birnbaum’s mistake, he offered to fix it FREE OF CHARGE.
In addition, every time I visited Rick Birnbaum’s office or communicated with him, I’ve always felt that he is on my side, working with me to make sure that any arising issues are dealt with immediately.
What I am unable to understand is the bad reviews here, but I can tell you that if you’re not organized or if you’re unable to get your documents in order and in a timely manner, then you will encounter problems with any tax accountant you might chose. If you require extra help with any complicated matter, then you’d need to start very early before tax season is in full swing or you won’t get your accountant’s full attention. Also, your tax accountant is not a mind reader. He can’t magically figure out what expenses you’ve had during the tax year or what assets you might have bought/​sold without you providing this information ahead of time.

License Status: PROBATION «the licensee has been disciplined and may have part of the disciplinary order» — A direct quote from the CA Board of Accountancy regarding Rick’s license, which says it all.
I’ve had the same issues as those below. Rick made a whooper of a mistake, and costed me over $ 1,000 in fines/​penalties. The real kickers were how hard he was to get a hold of during the audit which his errors caused, forcing me to send a certified letter stating that I was about to take action against him if he didn’t return my call and get this matter settled. That worked.
Also, I had an incredible exchange I had with his partner… after discovering another error of Rick’s, I got a hold of his partner. I began to tell him of Rick’s error, he stopped me and said «We’ll deal with this when you come in for this years taxes.» I informed him that I would not be coming in again, and he said… exact quote «Well, then it’s not our problem is it.» I immediately contacted an extended friend with the California Board of Accountancy and filed a complaint, learning that I was by far not the first.
It’s truly stunning that these guys can still practice.