About Us
Since 1991 we've prepared returns for people across the Minneapolis–St. Paul Twin Cities — individual returns, and especially returns for people who work for themselves.
Who we specialize in
What we handle
Investments and rentals
We report investment income, and income or loss from rental property, correctly.
The full range of credits
Earned Income, Child Tax, Childcare, Education, Adoption, Residential Energy, and Retirement Savings credits.
State returns
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and North Dakota; other states take a little longer. We prepare state returns with your federal return — the one exception is a Minnesota Property Tax or Rent Refund on its own.
We stand behind our work
We're here all year to answer questions and to help with the IRS or the state. If you get a correction or audit notice, call us right away — most are resolved easily.
If you're audited, ask for Mark Deziel as soon as possible. He'll go with you, and he has never charged extra to attend an audit.
Our employees take intensive tax training each year. All are registered with the IRS and hold PTINs (Preparer Tax Identification Numbers).
We assume you want every legitimate deduction and the biggest refund, from an experienced, reliable preparer. At Deziel's, you can be confident your return is accurate and done correctly.
Our history
- Nearly 70 years ago
John Weinard starts preparing returns in the back of a South Minneapolis drug store. With experience and a very loyal clientele, he opens an office on 4th Street. When I-35W takes that building, he moves to 1922 Clinton Avenue South.
- Out of college
In his first year out of college, Mark Deziel trains as a preparer at Mr. Tax. Doing a co-worker's return at the laundromat next door, he hears John is looking for help — and works for John for the next 13 years.
- 1991
Mark opens Deziel's Tax Service, renting space in a law office at 2620 Nicollet Avenue South.
- 1998
John Weinard joins Mark at the Nicollet office.
- Calhoun Square
After the Nicollet building is sold, we open for three years in Calhoun Square, moving furniture and equipment into storage and working from home in the off-season — a pattern that served us well and held down costs.
- 2002
We move to Rosedale Center, keeping the same pattern for seventeen successful years.
- 2018
We move to Maplewood Mall for five years.
- 2024
Mike Deziel joins the firm.
- Today
Our permanent home: 70 County Rd C West, Suite 702, Little Canada, MN 55117.
Remembering John Weinard
John Weinard was born in August of 1916 and grew up with his family on Nicollet Island. John's father made a living selling and installing wallpaper. John often recalled how his dad would go into the caves under the Island to fix the plumbing in their family house, and how his father knew just where to go to find the right valves to shut off the water.
When John was twelve years old, he was carried off by the current of the Mississippi River and nearly drowned. Though traumatic, it did not stop him from competing in college swimming or from his favorite summer pastime: fishing.
John often recalled that his time in the CCCs (Civilian Conservation Corps) was among the best years of his life. He loved the hard work, discipline, and energy. He learned to love nature and the camaraderie of the young men his own age — and he was able to save money toward his education at the University of Minnesota. During WWII, and even for a bit afterward, John worked as a civilian at a U.S. airfield in Greenland.
He married Margaret, and they raised four children: John Jr., Susan, Bruce, and Sandy. They lived in Philadelphia for a time, then in Chicago, and finally resettled in the Minneapolis area. John built a successful career in bookkeeping and financial matters, working for Grayco and culminating as, more or less, the CFO of Horton Manufacturing Co. As a side business, John began doing tax returns professionally.
By taking a deep and genuine concern for each of his clients, John built a solidly loyal following of people from all walks of life — stock brokers, policemen, factory workers, teachers, nurses, truck drivers, barbers, janitors, construction workers, pensioners, day laborers, you name it… even a lion trainer came to rely on John to do his return. As the south Minneapolis neighborhood diversified, and as we moved out to Calhoun Square and then to Rosedale, John prepared returns for people from all over the globe — Egyptians, Oromos, Laotians, Guatemalans, Indians, Mexicans, and Tibetans would ask for John, or ask how he was doing.
On December 19, 2010, John Weinard passed away. He had been in hospice for a month prior, and all of his children were able to see him on his final day. Everyone will admit that 94 years is a good run; still, we miss him deeply, and we will for a long, long time. I will always remember how John treated each person as a person — and what that meant to each of us.
— Mark Deziel