Our Company Values
Tax returns require an inquisitive eye and an honest assessment. Mastin Accounting prides itself on telling clients what they need to hear instead of what they want to believe. Candid conversations are key to discovering tax savings as well as avoiding IRS penalties.
For those reasons, the focus of Mastin Accounting is:
- Preserving assets. We analyze your documents and help you determine whether your stocks, bonds, real estate, mutual funds, and annuities are working in your best interest.
- Maximizing benefits. We provide an honest assessment because, as accountants, we have a fiduciary obligation to work in your best interest and provide financial advice benefiting the client.
- Giving attention. We meet individually with clients when they drop off their tax documentation and again when they pick up their returns – a rarity among tax preparers.
Mastin Accounting specializes in tax preparation (including amended returns), tax restoration (such as IRS letters), and tax recovery (getting money back from the government and minimizing taxes).
These specializations include analyzing current assets and tax implications. This specialization also includes untangling issues involving international taxation, state and IRS audits, and Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).
Michael Mastin
Owner, Mastin Accounting
Michael Mastin founded his accounting firm based on the idea of meeting clients twice – once when they drop off their documents and again when they pick up their returns.
“They’re not just a piece of paper,” he said. “This way, you get to know the client as a person. It’s part of our Iowa charm.”
Michael graduated from Drake University in Des Moines with an accounting degree in 1969. He successfully defended six clients against IRS audits, saving them more than $1,000,000 in interest and penalties.
Mary Mastin
Owner, Mastin Accounting
Mary comes to Mastin Accounting after a lifetime in nursing.
“I did all the administrative stuff for our accounting business because of my background in nursing administration,” Mary said. “What the two professions have in common is discovering the individual of each person I see.”
Mary raised five children on her own in Central Iowa before marrying Michael in 1981, when they began developing their accounting business together. They moved to South Florida in 1983.
John Berry
Accountant, Mastin Accounting
John will soon retire from the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserve after 42 years of service.
“Becoming an accountant at 58 was not the challenge I had imagined at 55,” John said. “But I didn’t want all the hard work of my parents to fall on the floor, so I went back to school to learn accounting and bought a house in Oxford. I really appreciate the opportunity they’re giving me to learn the family business.”
In 2023, John graduated summa cum laude after earning his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Southern New Hampshire University.
In addition to accounting and the military, John covered crime, courts, and city councils during most of his 20 years in newspapers. His Florida newspaper experience includes the Independent Florida Alligator in Gainesville, the Florida Times-Union in its Tallahassee bureau as well as the News-Press in Fort Myers.
Sherry Veres
Office Manager/Tax Preparer, Mastin Accounting
Sherry’s first accounting experience in The Villages in 2013 involved manually entering data for the scan codes tagging 50,000 pieces of art and jewelry.
“The system crashed, and I had to do it all over again,” she said.
That unexpected and labor-intensive experience comes after two decades in tax preparation, state government auditing, and financial advising. Sherry still does taxes for family and friends.
“I’m all about clients paying the least amount of taxes,” the Detroit-area native said. “Uncle Sam gets enough of our money.”
Nick Sucic
Accountant, Mastin Accounting
Nick is a proud son of Ohio.
Born and raised in Barberton, Nick and his wife Judy raised three children in the Buckeye State before buying a home in The Villages in 2013.
“Absolutely a Buckeye! We’re members of the Ohio Buckeye Club in The Villages,” Nick said. “We would probably still be in Ohio if all our kids hadn’t relocated to other states.”
Nick, who joined the U.S. Marines in 1965, now belongs to several accounting and military organizations. He earned his Master of Science in Accounting, with a tax concentration, from Kent State in 2007. He subsequently served as the board president of the Kent State University National Alumni Association.
Nick and Judy have been married for 54 years.
Angie Banga
Seasonal Tax Preparer, Mastin Accounting
Angie is a retired CPA and attorney from Minnesota. She worked as a tax professional at Ernst & Young (now EY) for five years before becoming a stay-at-home parent.
Since retiring to The Villages, she has enjoyed many activities and spending time with her husband of 49 years.
Angie considers herself a social golfer. She enjoys eating out afterwards as much as playing the game itself. And she has three holes-in-one to her credit; regardless, she describes a hole-in-one as “pure luck and not a skill anyone who has seen me play could verify.”
Michele Marelli
Receptionist, Mastin Accounting
Michele’s favorite show is the 1980s sitcom, “The Golden Girls.”
“Growing up, I watched a lot of television,” Michele said. “I still watch everything. I get the most out of my cable bill.”
She also enjoys “Jeopardy,” a game show that reinforces her love for trivia.
Before moving to The Villages in 2020, Michele was a 16-year office manager for Pulse Stage Lighting, a rock-and-roll, stage-production company in her native New Jersey. Other career highlights include organizing events at The Stage Pony, an Asbury Park bar that gave rise to such rock legends as Bruce Springsteen.
Plan For Your Future
There is no one “best place” to put your retirement money because each individual and couple has unique requirements, different tolerances for risk, and need their money at different times. Likewise, there is no one place to keep your money that fits everyone for exactly the same reasons. Your unique circumstances must be taken into consideration if you seek to find the “most favorable place” for your retirement money. This is where we can be of service.