JBA CPA, LLC & Proactive Tax and Advisory, LLC

Jim at JBA CPA LLC in Washington, DC is extremely reliable and great to work with. He is always on time, very knowledgeable, and an expert in accounting, bookkeeping, and tax filing. Jim is a valuable resource for any tax or financial needs, offering comprehensive tax and advisory services that help your business thrive while staying in full compliance with regulations. His guidance is also excellent for financial management and compliance. I have really enjoyed working with Jim Alley and highly recommend him to anyone looking for a trusted CPA.

Mr. Alley has been my accountant for several years, and his expertise is exceptional. His thoroughness and meticulous attention to detail are unparalleled. Despite my careful accounting practices, Jim consistently identifies opportunities to enhance my business. I highly recommend his services.

I was thoroughly underwhelmed. After being with a very bright, super-quick, superstar CPA for over 10 years in NYC, we moved to DC and were looking for a replacement. The good reviews led us to Jim Alley, but I must say they did not equal our experience. He MISSED our first teleconference appointment (great first impression), just literally did not show up. When I called him, it was clear he was out and he had forgotten, he said he’d reschedule. I've never had a business miss a call, especially without it being an emergency, and I've never seen such nonchalance for a paying customer. Unfortunately, the trend continued, with Jim taking days to respond to email, forgetting to send a Zoom link for our next appointment, sending an email to all customers the week before April 15 to say he has a family obligation and he might need to ask for tax prep extensions, etc. Good businesses have contingency plans. Also, lovely message to send paying customers - "hey, you're not my first priority". Had I known this was his philosophy, I wouldn't have picked him. No one contests the importance of family, but professionals (ourselves included) don't hide behind their personal commitments if they can't fulfill professional ones. Also decided to have an out-of-office during the holidays very late in the game (e.g. after we had already emailed him with questions) - if you know you're going to be unavailable, signal that promptly. Messages were often written with mistakes and lack of clarity, obviously put together in a very hurried manner or written on a phone, and required extra clarification, meetings were not efficient, he often forgot to answer questions we had sent, and quotes cited sometimes didn't make sense (e.g. he said it would take a few hours and cost $500 - $700 to research the tax obligations for green card holders for a specific country - I declined, and did that myself in a matter of minutes, and our previous CPA was able to answer such questions without any additional research). We had to mail checks with our tax payments ourselves, which we have NEVER had to do - our previous accountant would have the payments directly drawn from our bank account. Another nice touch of "here's the instructions, go pay your taxes". Thanks, but I'm paying you so that I don't have to do anything. By early July, we were still not done with taxes, and we had to message him repeatedly to check if we still needed to sign anything or if all necessary paperwork had been filed. The returns were finalized in mid-July (albeit with updates he kept making to them), and in December, we were still emailing him about our state tax refund, as we had not yet received it. We do not intend to use him again and will seek better options in the area (there are plenty). If a small operation run by someone who clearly has other priorities, takes his time and is not a very efficient communicator are not things that bother you, then go ahead, but just know what you're getting.

Jim is a lifesaver. He's helped me clean up my books, organize myself around what's going on with my finances, and can answer all the random questions I throw his way. What's more, he's a joy to talk with. Jim is one of those rare experts who is able to take complex, technical topics and translate them into language I understand so I feel empowered about my business and the decisions I'm making. Working with Jim has enabled me to achieve a financial cushion, stability, support - and relief. I could not recommend working with him more.

Jim is responsive to my phone calls, he offers solutions, he explains what he is looking for that may help and he announces to me upcoming changes that may affect me or my returns. Jim is current on accounting technology, he has helped me find and fix errors in quickbooks online remotely and his use of a digital server to share files makes documentation, records verification and just feeling really good about where my business stands. When I first met Jim he offered to stop by my office and we met to just chat. I'm a very small business and I have been treated as if I'm a corporate client. Excellent, excellent, excellent service!