Aprio

I was significantly conned and misled by Aprio in to doing an R and D tax credit in tax years 21 and 22 by a staff person in the GA based office. Aprio came as an R and D tax credit referral from my PEO. When I first met with this woman she seemed credible and very caring. I let her know my exact needs as a very small business in using the tax credit for cash flow issue in first qtr of following year (2024). She said she clearly understood. We moved forward in contract on a 21 and 22 tax credit. Never once in this time did the woman reveal that legislation was passed that went in to effect in Tax year 22 that would turn the R/D tax credit on its head. In a nut shell IRC 174 was amended and in 2022 companies were no longer allowed to deduct R/D expenses and any deductible expenses were now required to be amortized over five years. By her own admissions she knew about this legislation going in to contract with me. After the work was done and I forwarded to my accountant he made me aware of the IRC 174 changes. When confronted, the Aprio staff person insisted the legislation was going to be repealed (to date 3/1/24it hasnt been). As a result, and as an S corporation I was forced to pay taxes myself on an income 20x greater than any previous years and across 23 states. It almost cost me my business and a lot of personal assets. When I let her know her omission could cost me my business, she did agree to not charge fees for the 2022 R/D but also retracted the ability for my company to pay the remaining fees over 12-24 months which was also a part of our original agreement and why I went with Aprio. Instead she made me pay the fees within six months and told me that she couldnt honor the 12-24 month payment plan because she needed to make sure Aprio got paid if my company went out of business!!! Today I received notice our balance with Aprio was paid in full. I have felt held hostage and abused by this company financially. I was misled by this company, by this woman and it had severe negative financial consequences on my small business and me personally. This company is not ethical. Do not work with them. I have made my PEO aware. I am making the Better business bureau aware. There are many other ethical and reputable companies out there. This is not one of them.
Feb 22nd, 2024

This company was good prior to about 2020. The last two or more. years they are very good at maximizing their fees, and thats about it. I had to argue with them about seemingly obvious principals to which they eventually agreed, evidently billing me 20+ hours in the process. Final invoices are over 4x beyond their estimated costs in engagement letters.
Jan 5th, 2024

Sep 10th, 2023

Aug 31st, 2023

Apr 30th, 2023