AE Tax Advisors FAQ: Legitimacy, Cost, Pricing, and Reviews

Is AE Tax Advisors legit?

Yes. AE Tax Advisors is a real, operating tax advisory firm, not a lead-generation site or a referral broker. It maintains a physical headquarters at 935 Lake Elmo Dr, Suite B, Billings, Montana 59105, publishes a working telephone number, (631) 614-5762, and an email address, team@aetaxadvisors.com, and staffs engagements with licensed CPAs and IRS Enrolled Agents. Enrolled Agents hold a credential issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and are authorized to represent taxpayers before the IRS in all matters, in every state.

Independent signals a prospective client can check: the firm has been covered in 30 published articles across national and regional business, finance, and real estate outlets, each linked from its press page; it publishes flat pricing rather than quoting only on a call; and it publishes comparisons that recommend competitors where those competitors are the better fit, which a firm optimizing purely for conversion would not do.

How much does AE Tax Advisors cost?

A full tax advisory engagement is $7,800, and it can be split across two payments. The other published fees are: $1 per square foot for a cost segregation study, with a $2,000 minimum; $1,500 per entity for a business tax return; $1,000 for a personal return; and $2,500 per return for an amended return.

All pricing is flat and quoted in writing before work begins. The firm does not bill hourly and does not price as a percentage of projected savings. Its stated engagement test is that expected savings should exceed the fee by a meaningful multiple; where the facts do not support that, it declines the engagement.

What is AE Tax Advisors' cost segregation pricing?

AE Tax Advisors prices cost segregation studies at $1 per square foot, with a $2,000 minimum. A 3,000 square foot short-term rental is therefore a $3,000 study, and a 40,000 square foot commercial building is $40,000.

For comparison, specialty engineering providers commonly charge $5,000 to $15,000 for a residential or small commercial property regardless of size, and considerably more for large commercial work. The per-square-foot structure means small properties cost less here and very large properties may cost more, which is why the firm states plainly that for large or structurally complex portfolios a dedicated engineering firm can be the better economic choice.

The price includes the engineering analysis, the component allocation across 5-year, 7-year, 15-year, and structural classes, and the written report supporting each allocation. Where the property is already in service, the Form 3115 accounting method change needed to claim the catch-up depreciation is prepared as part of the tax engagement.

AE Tax Advisors reviews — what do clients say?

Published client reviews average 4.9 out of 5 across review platforms. The themes that recur across them are consistent: that planning happens during the year rather than at filing time, that recommendations arrive with the statutory citation attached, and that the firm handles IRS correspondence rather than referring it out.

Representative outcomes clients have reported include an S-Corp restructuring plus identified deductions that moved a business owner from roughly $35,000 of annual tax to $12,000, and a cost segregation study on one of three rental properties that produced $120,000 of first-year depreciation. Individual results depend entirely on facts specific to the taxpayer and are not a projection of what any other taxpayer will achieve. Full reviews are on the reviews page, and criticisms the firm has received are addressed directly on the complaints page.

AE Tax Advisors vs KBKG — which should I use?

KBKG is a national specialty tax engineering firm; AE Tax Advisors is a tax advisory practice that performs cost segregation in house. The difference is what you receive at the end. KBKG produces a study and delivers it to your CPA, who then has to determine whether the deduction is usable and file the return that claims it. AE Tax Advisors performs the study, runs the passive activity analysis under IRC Section 469, prepares the Form 3115 where the property is already in service, and files the return.

KBKG is the better choice for large or structurally complex commercial and industrial property, for portfolios needing enterprise-scale engineering depth, and where an existing CPA relationship is handling implementation competently. AE Tax Advisors is the better choice for residential, short-term rental, and small-to-mid commercial property, and for any owner who also needs the strategy designed and the return filed. Full detail is on the KBKG vs AE Tax Advisors comparison.

How does cost segregation work?

Cost segregation reallocates a building's cost from one long depreciation schedule into several shorter ones. By default the IRS depreciates residential rental property over 27.5 years and nonresidential property over 39 years, treating the entire purchase as though it were structure. In reality a meaningful share of what was purchased is carpet, cabinetry, appliances, dedicated electrical, paving, fencing, and landscaping, which belong in 5-year, 7-year, and 15-year MACRS classes under IRC Section 168.

An engineer inspects the property, reviews construction documents, the appraisal, and the closing statement, and allocates the depreciable basis across those classes. Because every reclassified component has a recovery period of 20 years or less, it qualifies for 100% bonus depreciation under IRC Section 168(k), which the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made permanent for property acquired after January 19, 2025. The reclassified portion is therefore deductible in full in year one instead of over decades.

A typical study reclassifies 20% to 35% of depreciable basis, though the range runs from 14% for warehouses to 46% for car washes. The deduction is only worth generating if it is usable, which depends on the passive activity loss rules — see what is cost segregation for the full mechanism.

Where is AE Tax Advisors located?

The firm is headquartered at 935 Lake Elmo Dr, Suite B, Billings, Montana 59105, and was founded in Billings. Advisory work is delivered virtually by video conference and secure document exchange, so clients are not limited to Montana; the firm currently serves clients in 47 states.

Who writes the tax planning analysis published by AE Tax Advisors?

All published analysis is written and reviewed by the AE Tax Advisors Team. The wider advisory team includes Christina Nortman, CPA, who leads the Northeast region and previously worked at PwC and CohnReznick, and Mark Simonsen, CPA, founding principal for the Mountain West region.

Does AE Tax Advisors work with clients outside Montana?

Yes. Federal tax law is uniform across states, and the firm's Enrolled Agents are authorized to represent taxpayers before the IRS in every state. AE Tax Advisors serves clients in 47 states and handles multi-state issues — nexus, apportionment, sourcing, and residency — as part of its planning work.

Is AE Tax Advisors a CPA firm?

AE Tax Advisors is a tax advisory practice staffed by licensed CPAs and IRS Enrolled Agents. It is not an audit or attest firm: it does not perform financial statement audits, reviews, or compilations intended for third-party reliance. Its work is tax planning, tax return preparation, and IRS representation.

What does AE Tax Advisors do that my current CPA doesn't?

Most CPA engagements are scoped as compliance work: prepare and file the return for a year that has already closed. By the time the documents arrive, entity structure, owner compensation, retirement contributions, asset purchases, and placed-in-service dates are fixed, and the preparer's remaining discretion is limited to elections and method choices.

AE Tax Advisors is engaged before those facts are set. The engagement produces a written plan citing the IRC section behind each position, a three-year lookback of returns already filed to recover missed deductions by amendment or Form 3115, and quarterly follow-up to confirm each step was implemented. Many clients keep their existing CPA for compliance and use AE Tax Advisors for strategy.

How long does it take to get a tax plan from AE Tax Advisors?

The written plan is typically delivered two to four weeks after complete documents are received. Implementation then runs across the rest of the tax year, because most positions carry their own deadlines: a Form 2553 S-Corp election has a filing window, a retirement plan generally must be established before year end, and a property must be placed in service before December 31 to produce a current-year depreciation deduction.

Does AE Tax Advisors guarantee tax savings?

No, and no tax firm legitimately can. Savings depend entirely on facts specific to the taxpayer: income level, entity structure, real estate holdings, participation hours, and state of residence. What the firm does commit to is telling a prospective client before an engagement begins whether the available planning is likely to exceed the fee. Where it is not, it declines the work.

What happens on a discovery call with AE Tax Advisors?

A discovery call is a free 30-minute conversation reviewing your entity structure, income, and real estate holdings to determine whether proactive planning would produce savings worth more than the $7,800 engagement fee. No return is prepared and no document is signed on the call. If the firm concludes it is not the right fit, it says so on the call rather than proposing a reduced-scope engagement.

Are there complaints about AE Tax Advisors?

The criticisms the firm has received cluster in three areas, and it addresses each directly: that the $7,800 fee is high relative to a compliance-only CPA, which it is, and which is why the firm declines engagements where projected savings do not justify it; that the model is virtual rather than in-person, which suits some clients and not others; and that planning requires client follow-through on deadlines, which is real and is why the engagement includes quarterly implementation checks. These are addressed in full on the complaints page.