Issues with Natalie Kolodij Tax & Consulting?
Rental Property Investor · Edmonds, WA · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 5 votes
Issues with Natalie Kolodij Tax & Consulting?
Most Popular Reply
Tax Strategist| National Tax Educator| Accepting New Clients · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
3yHi Doug,
I sent over an email to setup a phone call bceause I can't discuss specifics publicly but I'll address what I can -
I left for my trip on October 15th - it wasn't a trip booked mid tax-season that caused delays.
I'm not a CPA- I've never said I was. I have the five year education requirements, experience requirements ect, but the EA license made more sense. I don't only have a a PTIN- I'm an IRS Enrolled Agent which is a tax specific exam and credential that allows you to be federally licensed, vs by a specific state. The only thing a CPA license allows you to do that an EA doesn't is Audit financial statements for publicly traded companies. Several of the amazing tax pros here on BP are all EA's not CPAs (Steven Hamilton, Michael Plaks)
State filing requirements vary and are based on an income threshhold for the state- if you have 0 or negative income then there may not be a filing requirement.
On the service level side - people are far more likely to share a bad expereince than a good.
At the end of the day I'm a small business owner, and the past couple years in tax have been absolutely insanity. We've had more tax changes, law updates, filing delays, IRS 8 months beind on opening mail and answering 9% of calls received, PPP loans, Stimulus checks, ect- We've had more tax bills released in the last 2 years that required us to learn them on the fly DURING tax season (Becuase they were changes applying to the literal returns we were preparing) than we'd had in the past 10 years combined. It hasn't been a normal tax enviroment- and the smallest firms got hit the hardest.
That was combined with a ton of preparers retiring from tax, and very few entering. So there has also been a huge staffing shortage in the field as well.
So in short- I'm not a scam. I'm just a small business owner who got her *** handed to her the past year. I thought I'd scaled back enough to handle everything but with continued changes it was a moving target.
I will absolutely admit the service was sub-par, and I can tell you right now I've already made a ton of changes to never go through that again. No one goes into business with a plan to provide less than amazing service, but it can happen and all you can do is try to correct it moving forwad.
Mistakes will happen- we're still humans. I've found major mistakes made by other big name Tax pros on BP, and I'm sure I've made them. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.
If there were mistakse found I'm so sorry it happened and I'll do what I can to make it right in whatever way makes sense.
18 Replies
- Investor · Scottsdale Austin Tuktoyaktuk · Member since 2021 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes3y
Quote from @Doug Kienzle:
Has anyone else had major issues with Natalie Kolodij Tax & Consulting?
For 2021 she didn't file all the necessary business taxes for my rentals in multiple states and six (6) days before my personal taxes were due she sent me an email stating she would not be able to complete my return by the deadline. The kicker is that the reason she couldn't complete my taxes is because she booked a trip to go out of the country and didn't want to forgo the trip. The taxes she did send to me for review were riddled with errors, which if filed were going to cause me to have a substantial tax bill.
She has posted a lot of BP but I can't find anyone praising her work.
@Natalie Kolodij: can speak for herself but that's quite an opening line.
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes3y
Quote from @Doug Kienzle:
Has anyone else had major issues with Natalie Kolodij Tax & Consulting?
For 2021 she didn't file all the necessary business taxes for my rentals in multiple states and six (6) days before my personal taxes were due she sent me an email stating she would not be able to complete my return by the deadline. The kicker is that the reason she couldn't complete my taxes is because she booked a trip to go out of the country and didn't want to forgo the trip. The taxes she did send to me for review were riddled with errors, which if filed were going to cause me to have a substantial tax bill.
She has posted a lot of BP but I can't find anyone praising her work.
I have changed the title of this thread for disclosure without prompt. It is OK to ask questions about businesses - even those owned by moderators - but not post an inflammatory title, especially towards a member who has been a part of this community for many years. I have linked Natalie into this conversation so she can feel free to respond as she sees fit.
My question to you would be: if you are experienced enough to know that returns prepared by others are riddled with errors, why wouldn't you just file your own returns?
As for anyone praising her work, I have interacted with her on and off for 7 or 8 years here and while I have never used her services for tax preparation she has always been helpful to me if I had a tax question which always turned out to be on point. So now you've found someone praising her work :)
Skyline Properties - Rental Property Investor · Edmonds, WA · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 5 votes3y
I am all for building people up and supporting small businesses (I have had multiple) but if you claim to be a tax strategist and are paid for that service, it should be that persons fiduciary responsibility to fulfill that service.
To answer your question, I had two other CPAs look over what Natalie prepared before I signed them for filing. The issues the CPAs found and raised, a CPA should never make. Which then I come to find out she isn't a CPA, she is a tax professional with an IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN), authorizing her to sign federal tax returns.
That leads me back to the strategy aspect, if she really did look over my taxes and was a strategist, the interest income I receive for selling one of my businesses shouldn't have all of the sudden change to ordinary income this year which subjected me to self employment tax. Her lack of attention would have costed me over $10,000 in taxes. What little tax I do know, I know that if you have rental income on a property, you need to file a return, she advised me that the return wasn't necessary.
Please refer to the posts by and as they had similar issues with no resolve.
I am glad you had a positive experience but a lot of my interactions with @Natalie Kolodij do not pass the sniff test.
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes3y
Quote from @Doug Kienzle:
I am all for building people up and supporting small businesses (I have had multiple) but if you claim to be a tax strategist and are paid for that service, it should be that persons fiduciary responsibility to fulfill that service.
To answer your question, I had two other CPAs look over what Natalie prepared before I signed them for filing. The issues the CPAs found and raised, a CPA should never make. Which then I come to find out she isn't a CPA, she is a tax professional with an IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN), authorizing her to sign federal tax returns.
That leads me back to the strategy aspect, if she really did look over my taxes and was a strategist, the interest income I receive for selling one of my businesses shouldn't have all of the sudden change to ordinary income this year which subjected me to self employment tax. Her lack of attention would have costed me over $10,000 in taxes. What little tax I do know, I know that if you have rental income on a property, you need to file a return, she advised me that the return wasn't necessary.
Please refer to the posts by and as they had similar issues with no resolve.
I am glad you had a positive experience but a lot of my interactions with @Natalie Kolodij do not pass the sniff test.
Hi Doug, that's fine and that's why I linked her into this conversation if she wishes to respond in any way. I cannot speak to your situation but I also don't understand the point of your post. You are certainly welcome to post your experience using anyone's services - from BP or elsewhere - but what is your reason for asking if anyone else has had a poor experience? Are you attempting to gather other possible disgruntled customers for some type of class-action lawsuit? Why not simply post "This is my experience using this person's services" and leave it at that?
Skyline Properties - Rental Property Investor · Edmonds, WA · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 5 votes3y
The question was asked for the reason most all of us are here, to learn. I have been in the service industry for many years and one complaint, one bad review usually came from a person having a bad day. If the same complaint comes from multiple people or one review has multiple people agreeing this was their experience, this usually means something is fundamentally wrong.
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes3y
Quote from @Doug Kienzle:
The question was asked for the reason most all of us are here, to learn. I have been in the service industry for many years and one complaint, one bad review usually came from a person having a bad day. If the same complaint comes from multiple people or one review has multiple people agreeing this was their experience, this usually means something is fundamentally wrong.
OK, but I saw that you added your experience to an 11 month old post that you linked earlier, with one other guy. That sounds like a bad day to me. And I'm not sure what you plan to learn. She's been on the site for 8 years or so, I've been around the same amount of time and these are the only complaints I've ever heard. Certainly sometimes things go from good to bad, but it would be pretty hard to be around here for 8 years deliberately snowing anyone, which was what your original post stated. You're unhappy with the service, which is fine, and I assume that means you wouldn't use her service again, which is also fine. Anyone else saying "yes, I didn't like her service either" doesn't appear to help or harm you one way or the other as best as I can tell.
In any case, good luck to you. Perhaps she will come by and reply to this thread, which is her prerogative, and it will all be resolved in some fashion.
Skyline Properties - Rental Property Investor · Willard, OH · Member since 2017 · 43 posts · 56 votes3y
Quote from @Doug Kienzle:
Has anyone else had major issues with Natalie Kolodij Tax & Consulting?
For 2021 she didn't file all the necessary business taxes for my rentals in multiple states and six (6) days before my personal taxes were due she sent me an email stating she would not be able to complete my return by the deadline. The kicker is that the reason she couldn't complete my taxes is because she booked a trip to go out of the country and didn't want to forgo the trip. The taxes she did send to me for review were riddled with errors, which if filed were going to cause me to have a substantial tax bill.
She has posted a lot of BP but I can't find anyone praising her work.
I’m a CPA that has built and sold two pretty successful tax practices. I’m regularly on pretty “big name” podcasts answering tax questions, have appeared on National TV answering tax questions, have an Amazon best seller accounting book and was featured in one of Brandon Turners books.
I point all this out, because even though I have a pretty strong tax background, when I have questions about real estate related tax issues, Natalie is the one I go to. She is far and away the most qualified real estate tax professional I know. And I know quite a few. And in case this seems like someone trying to help a friend, I came to know Natalie because I was seeking out her knowledge in this area, I wasn’t friends with her first and then decided she was good at this stuff.
So without knowing the specifics of these complaints, here’s a few general obeservations:
- The last two tax seasons were insanely difficult for tax preparers. The IRS has created a nightmare in the tax prep world. So all preparers should be given a bit more grace than usual.
- Your claims that two CPAs told you she made big mistakes is a little meaningless. First because we have no idea who these CPAs are and if they are actually accurate, but most importantly because they are judging a DRAFT return. Draft returns often have errors. Especially draft returns completed right near the deadline. This is the period where errors are generally caught and corrected.
- I can’t begin to tell you how ridiculous it is that you are complaining she wouldn’t cancel an out of country vacation for you.
- Yet what was even more ridiculous is you attempting to call her out for “not even being a CPA” and just getting a PTIN to be able to sign tax returns. First of all, all tax preparers have to acquire PTINs to sign returns, what are you even thinking you are calling out here? Second of all, a CPA designation has absolutely nothing, zero, to do with competence in tax work. And again, I say that as a CPA myself. It’s a nice designation that gives people a baseline confidence in your abilities, but completely meaningless in actual tax work. Natalie is an enrolled agent, an IRS designation specifically for tax preparers. To the best of my knowledge she’s never tried to trick people into thinking she was a CPA, nor should she, since again it’s not anything worth tricking people over.
You may very well have had a bad experience with Natalie. All tax preparers (and every professional in any field) have it happen. But you trying to publicly shame her while bringing up ridiculous things like “she went on a planned vacation” and “she’s not even a CPA” is frankly pathetic. You sound like the type of client all of us in the tax field are immensely relieved when they decide to go elsewhere. - Tax Strategist| National Tax Educator| Accepting New Clients · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes3y
Hi Doug,
I sent over an email to setup a phone call bceause I can't discuss specifics publicly but I'll address what I can -
I left for my trip on October 15th - it wasn't a trip booked mid tax-season that caused delays.
I'm not a CPA- I've never said I was. I have the five year education requirements, experience requirements ect, but the EA license made more sense. I don't only have a a PTIN- I'm an IRS Enrolled Agent which is a tax specific exam and credential that allows you to be federally licensed, vs by a specific state. The only thing a CPA license allows you to do that an EA doesn't is Audit financial statements for publicly traded companies. Several of the amazing tax pros here on BP are all EA's not CPAs (Steven Hamilton, Michael Plaks)
State filing requirements vary and are based on an income threshhold for the state- if you have 0 or negative income then there may not be a filing requirement.
On the service level side - people are far more likely to share a bad expereince than a good.
At the end of the day I'm a small business owner, and the past couple years in tax have been absolutely insanity. We've had more tax changes, law updates, filing delays, IRS 8 months beind on opening mail and answering 9% of calls received, PPP loans, Stimulus checks, ect- We've had more tax bills released in the last 2 years that required us to learn them on the fly DURING tax season (Becuase they were changes applying to the literal returns we were preparing) than we'd had in the past 10 years combined. It hasn't been a normal tax enviroment- and the smallest firms got hit the hardest.
That was combined with a ton of preparers retiring from tax, and very few entering. So there has also been a huge staffing shortage in the field as well.
So in short- I'm not a scam. I'm just a small business owner who got her *** handed to her the past year. I thought I'd scaled back enough to handle everything but with continued changes it was a moving target.
I will absolutely admit the service was sub-par, and I can tell you right now I've already made a ton of changes to never go through that again. No one goes into business with a plan to provide less than amazing service, but it can happen and all you can do is try to correct it moving forwad.
Mistakes will happen- we're still humans. I've found major mistakes made by other big name Tax pros on BP, and I'm sure I've made them. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.
If there were mistakse found I'm so sorry it happened and I'll do what I can to make it right in whatever way makes sense.
@Natalie Kolodij what a professional, humble and transparent response. I love the accountability that you displayed and would be interested in your services if you ever found yourself able to take on new clients in the future.
- 3yHenry ClarkPro MemberDeveloper · Member since 2020 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
I’m a CPA, at the time worked for the largest CPA firm in the world at their second largest office in the world. I hate taxes. Don’t know that much about taxes. I do like dealing with tax planning.
I think I was one of the best Controllers or CFOs. Always found errors when I came behind others. With that said I’m sure every person that followed me found errors or difference in judgement.
I was audited at one company and it wasn’t a very good audit which falls on me. Was hired 4 months before year end. Asked to install a full ERP software system in a company that had one personal computer. Train every person in the company on their procedures and how to use the system. Fix the company’s cash flow system. Prepare for a potential sale and acquisition. Upgrade and train my team. Had a super clean audit report the next year. All of us get slammed at some point.
Major take away. Forget the above. Your in a public and documented forum. Recommend you don’t professionally critique or even ask about a professional. Talk with your attorney to understand further.
- 3yLinda WeygantPro MemberInvestor and CPA · Arvada, CO · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
I see that Natalie already weighed in with several points/responses, but I feel passionately enough about this topic to also add my 2 cents.
I'm a CPA. That means that I have a specific amount/type of schooling and I passed a CPA exam.
The CPA credential does not automatically make me (or anybody else) a tax expert. It's my 23 years of tax experience that does that. What it does do is enable me to choose one of several different routes as a career choice - tax, audit, accounting, consulting, tax law. It's a very versatile credential.
The EA (Enrolled Agent) credential is more narrow, but is an equally weighted set of initials in the tax preparation career field. An Enrolled Agent is somebody who has also passed a rigorous exam but is very narrowly focused just on tax. This credential enables somebody to prepare taxes and is perfect for somebody - like @Natalie Kolodij - who has chosen to focus solely on tax and tax strategy and isn't interested in audit, consulting, accounting, etc. As a real estate tax strategist, Natalie would need to have significant background in accounting (which I happen to know she does), but audit and consulting would be throw away topics for her.
Now, onto this specific complaint....Natalie touched on this, but I'll go a little deeper....
The tax profession has absolutely been a *****how of epic proportion for the last 4 years.
Starting with the 2018 TCJA, followed by a government/IRS shutdown that lasted for 35 days and running through:
* constant and continual tax law changes/reversals that impact the **CURRENT** tax year. Never in my 24 year career have I seen a congress that has flip flopped so hard on what will impact that season. They changed law IN THE MIDDLE OF TAX SEASON 6-8 times for 2019, 2020 and 2021 tax seasons.
* COVID shut down of the IRS. The IRS is STILL about 8 months behind on opening/addressing correspondence. They also answer only about 9% of their phone calls during 2021.
* approximately 1 in 12 tax professionals has exited the field over the last five years. Fewer and fewer college grads are entering the profession and they are not replacing the ones that have left. This means there are fewer and fewer tax professionals out there to handle tax clients that are becoming more and more sophisticated (QOZ, Crypto, etc). Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of really crappy people out there that will do your taxes. But the ones that diligently take continuing education, really care about the customer experience and are ready, willing and able to handle complex real estate taxation scenarios are few and far between.
* inability to hire good help - it's a thing right now, across many many industries. I'm in several professional groups and this was a common issue across the entire country for the entire tax season and will remain a challenge for years to come.Given all of this, the issue is not being SURPRISED PIKACHU FACE that a professional doesn't catch an error, the issue is that they have as few errors as they do.
The defining factor is not whether or not your tax pro makes an error, the issue is HOW your tax pro handles the error. I myself was just going over a 2020 return that I prepared last year, discovered an error and just proactively prepared an amendment for the client for free. When I make an error that costs a client money in penalties/interest, I always offer a reimbursement. I know most other professionals - including Natalie - always step up to this and are quick to work to make things right.
Now, to specifically address your issues with Natalie:
1. Every state has a different rule for whether or not you're required to file. Some states base it on REVENUE (rents collected, for example). Others base it on PROFITS (what you have left after expenses). It's entirely possible that while you may have rentals in other states, a state return was not required due to the state having a PROFITS based filing requirement rather than a REVENUE based filing requirement.
2. The issue with the interest reported/taxed incorrectly. Yep - possibly an error. I can think of two specific cases off the top of my head where the nature of interest might change, so not sure if that's what happened or if this is truly an error.
3. Not canceling her vacation to finish your tax return. I have no words. I mean, I actually do have several words, but the BP Forums just turn them all to asterisks. I'll let your imagination determine what they might be. - 3ySimon W.Business MemberReal Estate Consultant · Lehigh Valley PA & New York City · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 676 votes
Quote from @Henry Clark:
I’m a CPA, at the time worked for the largest CPA firm in the world at their second largest office in the world. I hate taxes. Don’t know that much about taxes. I do like dealing with tax planning.
I think I was one of the best Controllers or CFOs. Always found errors when I came behind others. With that said I’m sure every person that followed me found errors or difference in judgement.
I was audited at one company and it wasn’t a very good audit which falls on me. Was hired 4 months before year end. Asked to install a full ERP software system in a company that had one personal computer. Train every person in the company on their procedures and how to use the system. Fix the company’s cash flow system. Prepare for a potential sale and acquisition. Upgrade and train my team. Had a super clean audit report the next year. All of us get slammed at some point.
Major take away. Forget the above. Your in a public and documented forum. Recommend you don’t professionally critique or even ask about a professional. Talk with your attorney to understand further.
I completely agree. I am not a CPA and I chose not to be one for personal reasons. There were many times I was training and teaching people with CPAs how to do accounting.
I literally just took on a client that had an outside bookkeeper and another CPA (from BP) who massively messed up my client's taxes and now being on a full-audit. I know who these two are, but I am not going to publicly bad mouth them and my client hasn't bad mouth them. Just move on and don't use their services.
- Member since 2022 · 1 post · 3 votes3y
I have to agree with the other posters here. I am an Enrolled Agent (like Natalie) and I purposefully went that direction because my passion is tax management and savings/reduction. The CPA route, while sometimes can be tax-focused, I find a bit more generalist. As EA's, we are required to take a significant amount of annual continuing education that is 100% tax-focused while a CPA's does not have to be tax-focused. In fact, I do returns for about a dozen CPA's because they want the tax-focused approach. It's a great partnership.
As a nationally-recognized speaker on tax topics, I present to thousands of tax professionals, Enrolled Agents, and CPA's annually. Anytime I present on real estate or rentals, my go to for content validation is always @Natalie Kolodij. Seriously, her strategies and content have helped me realign both my focus as well as helped my clients. Anybody who attended her panel at BPCON2022 would have seen both her knowledge and passion.
Nobody is perfect. Especially these last 2 tax seasons, we have had tens of thousands of lines of additional tax code implemented. Some retroactive and some requiring urgent, last-minute changes or planning. I give anybody who has remained in this industry major kudos. If I ever retired, I would reach out to Natalie to do my taxes.
- Member since 2018 · 1 post · 1 vote3y
We have the same problem. I am extremely dissapointed that Natalie can seem to find time for workshops and new client consultations and can create websites and classes, however she can't seem to finish the Tax returns from 2021 or respond to us. We also paid for quarterly tax calls and aren't able to schedule (no appointments available). All we get are occasional responses of excuses (frankly, idc- yes, it's been a tough time, we've all been hit hard. This is your BUSINESS...step it up and get the work done!) and another claim that it will be done soon. Unacceptable. My advice to Natalie is cut back on what you accept and commit to going forward. If you cannot without a doubt get the work done, don't keep accepting more clients.
- Tax Strategist| National Tax Educator| Accepting New Clients · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes3y
Hi Laurie,
I can understand your frustration- this year was frustrating across the board.
I'm not personally doing any of that work (Website updates, class setup , ect) - I have calls blocked out for the next few weeks and I outsourced all of those updates to put changes in place for next year- so that it will be better
I appreciate the advice and that's exactly what I'm trying to do.
- Deland, FL · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes3yAGREE 100%
Quote from @JD Martin:
Quote from @Doug Kienzle:
Has anyone else had major issues with Natalie Kolodij Tax & Consulting?
For 2021 she didn't file all the necessary business taxes for my rentals in multiple states and six (6) days before my personal taxes were due she sent me an email stating she would not be able to complete my return by the deadline. The kicker is that the reason she couldn't complete my taxes is because she booked a trip to go out of the country and didn't want to forgo the trip. The taxes she did send to me for review were riddled with errors, which if filed were going to cause me to have a substantial tax bill.
She has posted a lot of BP but I can't find anyone praising her work.
I have changed the title of this thread for disclosure without prompt. It is OK to ask questions about businesses - even those owned by moderators - but not post an inflammatory title, especially towards a member who has been a part of this community for many years. I have linked Natalie into this conversation so she can feel free to respond as she sees fit.
My question to you would be: if you are experienced enough to know that returns prepared by others are riddled with errors, why wouldn't you just file your own returns?
As for anyone praising her work, I have interacted with her on and off for 7 or 8 years here and while I have never used her services for tax preparation she has always been helpful to me if I had a tax question which always turned out to be on point. So now you've found someone praising her work :)
if you can tell a painter did a bad job when it is finished why didn’t you just do it yourself
I feel reluctant to post on here, but I feel I should as a service to others, especially since some people are rushing to defend her.
Natalie seems like a nice person. And she refunded me my money, so there was no fraud or "scam." But I was initially told my taxes would be filed at the end of April 2022. Then May. Then July and then August. Then when I asked for a refund when these deadlines kept getting missed, she "guaranteed" she would be done in time (October 15). Then a few days before the October deadline, I got an email (which apparently many people got) saying she was sorry but would not be done in time. Again, she gave me a refund. Now Nick Aiola is doing my taxes for 2022. He seems very professional.
- Member since 2023 · 1 post · 0 votes2y
I’m a physician and a new real estate investor. I think we can all assume their was not the best intentions in the original disgruntled post. When you feel that a provider or company has not performed to your level- have a direct private discussion. If you are genuinely looking for feedback on staying with a tax professional or leaving- then ask open ended questions in a public forum..
Ex: Anyone have any thoughts on this accounting firm… I listened to her podcast….
There are no perfect people or companies. But it’s up to us to handle issues with grace.
On a separate note, I am in need of a CPA or EA who can help me with some tax planning as I try to branch out a little deeper into the world of real estate investing. I’m coming out of some personal awful life events and looking to get a solid foundation for myself and my 2 kids. If anyone can take on a really nice easy going new client who needs some guidance, please message me.
❤️
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