Amy R. Cook, CPA - Austin, Texas

Matt P.

I contacted Amy for help with my personal taxes in mid-March. After an initial meeting, I paid my down payment and was told everything would be done within 10 business days. Sounded nice and easy, but unfortunately that would not be the case.

From then on she completely ghosted me. After numerous emails and phone calls asking for an update and eventually a refund, she finally responded on June 12th. 3 days before the tax deadline so I ended up scrambling to file them myself. Perfect. I suppose I should be happy I got a response at all.

Not sure what happened because she never bothered to give an explanation, but I would avoid until she gets her act together.

Jen A.

Look, I don't like writing this review. I'm a small business owner and quality assurance is a massive part of my business. Sometimes that's hard when it's basically just you. However, after discovering I couldn't apply for the PPP loan, I knew I had to say something.

When I hired Amy, I told her how unhappy I was with my old CPA. I felt like there were some things that could be improved. She assured me, repeatedly, that she would not only be more affordable, she would do it right. In Feb 2020, I paid a deposit for the taxes to be done. Of course, Covid hit but she never once communicated about updated expectations concerning taxes. I emailed a couple times but heard nothing. Finally, I had to send a strongly worded email to get a response. Every time I sent a strongly worded email, she would finally respond—rather quickly too. I shouldn't have to reach that point. She said that she was helping other businesses with their taxes (I'm not sure how I'm different) but that's fine. It's the communication that is the serious issue, not that she has other clients.

Finally in June I had to threaten her to do my taxes or return my deposit. What do you know! They were done in a little over a week. Fine. Thanks. Then the bill came. It was *hundreds* more than my last CPA. Yes, I told her how much that CPA charged me and here she was, charging a LOT more. Again, I sent a strongly worded email expressing my disappointment. In the end, I negotiated the exact amount my old CPA charged me. Talk about disappointing!

But it gets worse. Covid taught me that I personally had zero clue about finances. It's why I hire professionals. Except that Amy never really educated me on what I really needed. Yes, my prior CPA wasn't clear either, but Amy assured me she would set me up for success. She did *not*. I learned when I tried to apply for a home back in November that she had missed some paperwork. Fine. We know it was screwed up. Moving on.

Except now I can't even apply for a PPP loan. Despite knowing my company was classified in a particular way, she didn't tell me I *needed* to fix how I paid myself. My company is literally classified as a corporation but she never told me I *had* to pay myself a certain way. In fact, she gave me very unsound advice on how to pay myself, telling me I just have to pay myself the bare minimum to make the IRS happy. Except you can't buy a house that way and certainly cannot get government grants during an economic emergency. Now I'm screwed. My new CPA is utterly shocked. I have paid my new CPA a couple grand just to fix my books. My books aren't Amy's fault but she definitely didn't help.

Again, I really don't like writing this. I just cannot in good conscience recommend Amy. If it had just been late tax returns, that's one thing. But it's going to take a couple years to recover from this paperwork trail.

Kim C.

Amy Cook has been my CPA since 2018. Based on my experience, I would have to give Amy Cook a 5 star rating. Amy cook is an honest, strategic, intelligent, and humorous CPA. She will review all of your tax scenario and provide great suggestion and recommendations. She is a great person to have on your team of professionals. Highly recommended!

Joey

AVOID AVOID AVOID! This would be zero stars if I could. I did not pay close enough attention to these reviews and I really wish I had. The exact same thing happened to me. She took my money for a deposit, had all my tax documents for over 2 months and just sat on it, did absolutely nothing. Every time I ask for an update there is always an excuse, then the day before taxes were due, after sending several emails and voicemails, suddenly she wants to schedule time to talk on Easter Sunday to see about getting this done. I had her refund the deposit and just scrambled to do it myself. Don’t trust her, don’t waste your time or add this to your stress, find someone else!

Nikolas T.

Amy gets ZERO stars. She consulted with me in March and promised to get my return done by the deadline. 4/14 she reaches out and lets me know that she cant complete the return. Rather than fix the issue, she voluntarily quits leaving me to file an extension and get everything done by 4/18.

Haeli T.

Similar to others experience, Amy promised to complete a tax return. Instead she provided excuses and then quit only days before it was due.

Chase K.

I've used Amy Cook for years and refer clients to her regularly. She's extremely knowledgeable and professional. I particularly recommend her for complex cases and business owners.

Ebon J.

Amy was amazing!!!