DeCaprio CPA & Associates, P.C. - Branford, Connecticut

Jonathan Casanova

We used DeCaprio CPA & Associates for our business & personal taxes for 2021 & 2022. We had numerous issues with our preparer providing contradicting tax advice - specifically, when we were told that we couldn't amend errors in our previous sales & use returns and then months later we were told we in fact could. In expressing our frustrations, we often we received snide, unprofessional responses from our preparer.

I never received my 2020 return, which was handled by a different tax professional. On 1/6/23 in a tax planning meeting, I mentioned that I needed to call the state to resolve my 2020 return. DeCaprio CPA & Associates offered to call the state to track down this return for me because they had a direct line for tax professionals and could get it done quicker. They never communicated that there would be an additional fee to do so, and they had an opportunity to communicate that there was a fee and how much that fee was via 2 meetings, 1 phone call, and numerous emails from 1/6/23 to 4/11/23. In the time in between, they even had me sign a POA, and still didn't communicate any fees.

On 5/16/23, we received a bill for $185 for this return. This fee amounts to 32.5% of the total $570 return. It took 3 months for our preparer to:
- call the state and find out that they didn't have my 2020 return
- import the data from my 2020 return, because they had told me it was already prepared
- submit the return to the state

Had they communicated the fee from the start, I would have proceeded in handling this on my own, and would have contacted my previous preparer to get this resolved.

In expressing our frustrations, the preparer refused to acknowledge their lack of communication, and insisted that if I should be upset with anyone, it should be my previous preparer (which is a separate issue).

I would like my $185 back, but more than anything I want people to be aware of the lack of professionalism, communication, & organization from this firm.

EDIT:
Adding a star as the firm did credit our account $185 toward our outstanding balances, but it was not a simple process. This was only resolved because of a BBB claim and the fact that we had communicated that we'd been advised to go to the DCP. In getting in contact with a partner at the firm, they insisted that our experience was "false claims" and suggested that my dissatisfaction with their service was my own fault because I had communicated my concerns to my preparer and not directly to a partner. Seems likes a lack of customer service training and concerning business acumen.

Kate Macri

We used DeCaprio CPA & Associates for our 2021 and 2022 tax returns. We have 2 personal returns as well as a business return.

Almost every time we spoke to our tax professional we were left with more questions than answers. We were misled multiple times on questions that we had with regards to our business, such as getting help with setting up our Sales Taxes properly. We ended up overpaying our Sales Taxes for an entire year due to being provided with incorrect information. Then, we asked if we could amend our Sales Taxes to receive the overpayment back, and we were told multiple times that we could not. Finally, we were told that we COULD amend the returns and that the state MIGHT give us our overpayments back. When I questioned why we were given different information previously, we were told that wasn't the case, despite having the email proof where this was stated.

Every time we sent an email to ask for clarification, we were met with unprofessional responses, and only answering part of our questions. It truly seemed like our emails weren't even being read. We started numbering our questions to make sure it was very clear what we were asking, and we would still get one-word answers back or answers that did not even make sense to what we were asking.

After expressing our concerns with our services multiple times, there was never an apology or a discussion on how our working relationship could improve, there was just rude and unprofessional commentary back to us, never admitting fault or the inability to answer our simple questions.

The final straw was when my partner had asked for advice on getting his 2020 refund - we worked with a different tax professional for 2020 and we did not know what happened to the refund. Our preparer at DeCaprio CPA & Associates offered to help with finding out what happened to the refund, stating that she had a tax professional line and would likely be able to get ahold of someone at the state easier. After multiple conversations, phone calls, and emails - it was stated that it was being handled. At no time was there any mention of an additional fee for this assistance - we assumed that if there was going to be an additional fee, it would be communicated. Two months later (a month after we received the refund) we receive a bill in the mail for $185. We inquired why we were being charged when this was never disclosed - we would have handled the issue ourselves or gone back to our previous tax preparer if we knew there was going to be an additional fee. When we asked about this, we were met with more unprofessionalism and my favorite line "I do not know why you would think we would file a return for free when we did not make the error in not filing it." We assumed this would be for free due to never receiving communication otherwise, and that it would be included in the $3000 we were paying to get our taxes done, considering we were offered help - we did not seek it out or ask that they handle it for us.

We have ended our relationship with this firm and want to warn others of the unprofessionalism and lack of communication that you get when working with this company.

Raquel Velez