Haigler CPA Group: Services, Fees and How It Works

What is Haigler CPA Group?

Haigler CPA Group, LLC is a Charleston tax and accounting practice. Its own description: a firm "founded in 2023, working with small businesses, real estate investors and individuals." The office is on Wappoo Drive on James Island, which the firm describes as a few minutes from downtown Charleston across the Wappoo Cut.

It is a small practice, and it says so. The company page tells visitors that "the people on this page are the people you deal with": the CPA who does the tax work and an administrative assistant who handles intake and scheduling. The firm's FAQ answers "Are you a big firm?" with "No, and that is the point of it."

The work centers on small business tax. The firm says that focus "is deliberate rather than incidental" and follows from its founder's background in corporate tax, real estate partnerships and high-net-worth individual work. In practice the site describes three main groups of clients:

• Owner-operated businesses: LLCs, S corporations, partnerships and corporations, especially pass-through entities where the business return and the owner's personal return have to agree.
• Real estate investors: long-term rental owners, short-term rental hosts and people planning a 1031 exchange.
• Individuals with more involved returns: self-employment income, equity compensation, a move between states, foreign accounts, a sale or an inheritance.

The site is unusually direct about limits. Its pages repeatedly state what the firm will not do (legal advice, payroll processing, audit and review work) and say that if a return is "genuinely simple, we will say so rather than sell you a service."

Who owns and runs Haigler CPA Group?

Matthew Haigler, CPA is the CPA named throughout the site. According to his bio page:

• He is a Certified Public Accountant, licensed in South Carolina since 2022 under license number 10843.
• He is a member of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA).
• He earned a Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAcc) from Clemson University in 2021.
• Before focusing on small business tax work, he was a tax accountant at a large national accounting firm (named on his bio page), where he prepared large, consolidated group federal, state and local corporate tax returns.
• His experience, the firm says, is in corporate tax, real estate partnerships and high-net-worth individuals, and he "has worked extensively on tax optimization and compliance for stock and asset acquisition deals."
• He grew up in Mount Pleasant.

The bio explains why the firm thinks that background matters to a small business: consolidated returns teach multi-state exposure and making the numbers tie, and acquisition work teaches how the asset-versus-stock choice sets the tax on a sale. The firm's stated takeaways are that multi-state questions "get taken seriously rather than deferred," entity structure "gets revisited," and a sale is "planned before the structure is agreed."

Sophie Johnson is the administrative assistant. The company page says she holds a bachelor's degree in English and psychology from Williams College, came to the firm from work in education and property management, and is the person who follows up to arrange a consultation when you send the contact form. The firm's published email address is hers.

Is Haigler CPA Group legit?

This is a fair question for any firm founded recently. Here is what the firm publishes that a reader can check or weigh:

• A license number. The site publishes South Carolina CPA license 10843 on its home page, bio page and FAQ. South Carolina CPA licenses can be looked up on the state Board of Accountancy (LLR) license lookup, which the firm's own FAQ suggests doing when choosing any CPA.
• A named person doing the work. The firm says returns are "prepared by a licensed South Carolina CPA... not handed down to a seasonal preparer and signed at the top," and that the work is "done by the firm rather than passed to a subcontractor you never meet."
• A real office address. 2012 Wappoo Drive, Charleston, SC 29412, with on-site parking. The firm states it has no second office and that Mount Pleasant and Summerville are served from Charleston.
• Signed returns. The FAQ says the firm signs the returns it prepares and that the preparer identification appears on them.
• Written scope and fee. The company page promises "the scope and the fee in writing before work starts. No hidden fees."
• No outcome promises. The firm says "No one can guarantee an outcome with a tax authority, and you should be wary of anyone who does."
• Published legal pages. The site has a privacy policy, terms of use (governed by South Carolina law) and an accessibility statement.

The site does not publish client reviews, testimonials, case studies or client counts. If those matter to you, ask the firm for references at the first conversation.

What services does it offer?

The firm lists seven practice areas. All seven are delivered from the James Island office.

The sections below go through each one using the detail on its service page.

Business tax

The business tax page lists four areas of work:

• Tax planning and strategy year-round, including entity structuring advice (LLC, S corporation and others) and tax deferral techniques.
• Corporate tax planning and compliance: corporate return preparation, multi-state filings, and tax credits and incentives for businesses.
• Pass-through entity returns: S corporations, partnerships and LLCs, with K-1s for shareholders, partners and members prepared alongside the entity return "so the owners' personal returns line up."
• Multi-state and international taxation: nexus determination, multi-state compliance, and international reporting such as FATCA and GILTI.

The firm says the page is for you if you own an operating business that files its own return, have employees or pay contractors, have started selling, hiring or holding property in a second state, or have not looked at your structure since the business was formed. It also helps with estimated tax payments during the year, which it treats as planning work.

Not included: forming the entity (the firm says organizing documents are legal work for an attorney), running payroll (it reconciles payroll and files around it once your provider has run it), and bookkeeping, which is a separate service.

Personal tax, including multi-state and expat returns

Personal tax covers individual returns (Form 1040 and 1040NR), federal and state filings and e-filing, plus year-end planning and projections. The firm highlights three kinds of individual work:

• Multi-state returns. A move between states usually means a part-year return in each, and the firm notes that states "are active about residency."
• U.S. citizens abroad. The site has a separate international tax section with five guides: living abroad, moving back to the U.S., unfiled years and the streamlined procedures, FBAR versus Form 8938, and the foreign tax credit versus the foreign earned income exclusion. It explains that U.S. citizens file on worldwide income wherever they live, and that foreign account reporting carries its own penalties.
• Higher-income and complex returns: investment income, real estate, business interests, executive compensation and stock options.

The firm's answer to "My return is not complicated. Do I need a CPA?" is "Often not, and we will say so." It says a CPA earns the fee where there are moving parts such as business income, rentals, equity compensation, several states, a foreign account or a large one-off event.

Not included: investment management and financial planning, insurance advice, trust and estate returns ("this firm does not take them on"), and legal advice.

Rental real estate and short-term rentals

Real estate is one of the firm's two main client groups, and it has both a service page and an industry page for investors. The service covers:

• Planning and compliance: rental deductions, depreciation, passive loss limits and exceptions, and the tax side of short-term rentals on platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO.
• Return preparation: Schedule E, federal and state filings.
• 1031 exchanges: planning, identifying replacement property and meeting IRS deadlines. The firm restates the IRS timeline: replacement property identified within 45 days of the sale and the exchange completed within 180 days.
• Ownership structure: whether to hold property personally, in an LLC, a partnership or another structure. The firm calls this "a structuring conversation, not a default answer."

The page includes a long explanation of what it calls the short-term rental (STR) loophole: if a rental's average guest stay is seven days or less and the owner materially participates, the activity is not treated as passive, so losses may be usable against other income without real estate professional status. The firm stresses the record-keeping: hours logged during the year, and the risk that a cleaner or property manager who works more hours than the owner can disqualify the treatment. Whether any of this applies to you depends on your facts.

The location pages add a local layer. Charleston, Folly Beach, Isle of Palms, Sullivan's Island and unincorporated Charleston County each set their own permit rules and accommodations levies, and the Mount Pleasant page says the Town caps short-term rental permits and has run a waitlist. The firm's advice there is not to buy on projected short-term rental income until the Town has confirmed a permit in writing.

Not included: property management and leasing, cost segregation studies (the firm says it coordinates with the specialist firms that do them), and acting as the qualified intermediary on an exchange.

IRS notices, audits and back taxes

The tax controversy page says that as a CPA firm it can represent clients and deal directly with tax authorities. Its FAQ adds that a CPA has unlimited representation rights before the IRS for clients, covering examinations, collection matters and appeals. The listed services are:

• IRS audit representation: handling communication with the IRS, reviewing records and resolving adjustments.
• Penalty abatement: first-time abatement and reasonable-cause requests.
• Appeals: filing appeals and representation before the IRS Appeals Office.
• Tax debt options: installment agreements, offers in compromise, currently-not-collectible status, and lien and levy release requests.
• Unfiled returns: preparing and filing prior-year returns.
• State and local disputes: South Carolina Department of Revenue audits and appeals, sales and use tax and payroll tax matters.

The firm's first advice for anyone holding a letter: read the notice number, note the response deadline and do not ignore it. It is careful about outcomes: penalties can "sometimes" be removed, and "No one can promise an outcome."

Not included: criminal tax matters (an attorney should lead, the firm says, and it works alongside them) and representation in U.S. Tax Court, which requires separate admission. The international tax pages also say that where a failure to file might be seen as deliberate, or the IRS has already made contact about those years, the first conversation should be with a tax attorney.

Buying or selling a business

The M&A tax page draws most directly on the founder's acquisition background. It covers:

• Transaction advisory: tax due diligence, risk assessment, negotiation support, financial statement analysis and historical and projected earnings analysis.
• Deal tax planning: asset sale versus stock sale analysis, purchase price allocation across asset classes, Section 338(h)(10) and 336(e) election analysis where available, and installment sale, earnout and escrow timing.
• Exit and succession planning: planning a sale or a hand-over to family or employees.

The page explains why the structure matters: sellers usually prefer a stock sale and buyers usually prefer an asset purchase, and in an asset deal both sides must report a consistent price allocation on IRS Form 8594. The firm's key message is timing: bring a tax advisor in "before the letter of intent, not after."

Not included: drafting the purchase agreement, finding a buyer or acting as a broker, and formal valuation opinions for third parties.

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is offered to small businesses across Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Summerville and the surrounding Lowcountry. The monthly work, as the firm describes it:

• Transaction entry and coding: bank and card transactions coded consistently to the chart of accounts, with owner draws and contributions kept separate.
• Reconciliations: bank, card, loan and line-of-credit balances tied to statements, with differences "chased down rather than plugged."
• Month-end close and reports: profit and loss and balance sheet, a cash flow statement on request, and period-over-period comparisons, with closed periods locked against later edits.
• QuickBooks Online: file setup, chart of accounts, bank feeds and rules, opening balances, and support for your team.

Books that are behind are treated as "a normal starting point." Catch-up and reconciliation come first. The firm says it works in QuickBooks; if you use something else, it asks you to say what and it will tell you whether it can work in it. It also works with clients who keep their own bookkeeper, reviewing what comes over and preparing the return from it.

Not included: payroll processing, accounts payable and receivable runs, and controller or CFO-level work.

Tax planning and the year-end calendar

The planning page separates two services: preparation "reports what already happened," while planning "changes what happens." Planning covers entity choice and owner compensation, timing of income and deductions, quarterly estimates, retirement plan contributions, property and depreciation decisions, 1031 exchanges, and exits and successions.

The firm runs planning on a calendar: spring to set the year's structure and estimates, a mid-year check in summer, projections and timing decisions in autumn, and final moves before 31 December. For the 2026 tax year, its year-end checklist lists:

1. Year-end planning, before 31 December 2026.
2. Retirement plan decisions before 31 December 2026 (it notes a solo 401(k) has to be decided by year end, while a SEP can still be set up afterwards, up to the extended due date).
3. Catching up the books before year end.
4. The Q4 estimated payment for 2026, due 15 January 2027.
5. W-2 and 1099-NEC forms, due 1 February 2027 because 31 January 2027 is a Sunday.
6. Documents and a free consultation for filing season 2027.

The firm says planning is most effective when the same firm also prepares the return, but the scope of any engagement is agreed at the start. It also says planning is not always worth it for a straightforward situation, "and we will tell you if the answer is no."

Which industries does it work with?

The firm lists ten industries, each with its own page about the tax mechanics specific to that trade:

The industries page also makes a candid point: "Most tax work is not industry-specific." It says what really varies by industry is inventory, sales and use tax, payroll weight, multi-state exposure, equipment and sector reporting. If your business is not on the list, the firm says "that is not a no" and asks you to describe what you do.

What Haigler CPA Group does not do

The firm publishes a clear list of exclusions, which is useful when deciding whether to call:

• Legal advice. "We will read a document and tell you how it is taxed; we will not tell you whether to sign it." Entity formation documents and purchase agreements belong with an attorney.
• Audits and reviews (attest work). If a lender, bonding company, public agency or bar rule needs an audited or reviewed financial statement, the firm says that goes to a firm that performs attest work.
• Payroll processing. It advises on setting payroll up and reconciles it, but does not run payroll.
• Trust and estate returns.
• Investment management, financial planning and insurance. The firm says these are separate professions and it works alongside whoever you use.
• Criminal tax matters and Tax Court representation, where it works with counsel.
• HIPAA or clinical compliance for medical and dental practices.

Where is it, and what areas does it serve?

Office: 2012 Wappoo Drive, Charleston, SC 29412, on James Island. The contact page says there is parking on site. It is "by appointment rather than drop-in": the practice is small enough that arriving unannounced usually means the person you need is with someone else.

Hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., by appointment. Meetings are in person or by video, and the firm says "a good share of them happen that way."

Service areas: Charleston, Mount Pleasant and Summerville. The firm is explicit that Charleston is the only office: Mount Pleasant (about twenty minutes over the Ravenel Bridge, per the site) and Summerville (roughly forty minutes) are served from James Island. Each has its own page covering local rules, such as Mount Pleasant's short-term rental permits and its business license rule for owners leasing three or more long-term units, and Summerville's split across Dorchester, Berkeley and Charleston counties, which affects millage, business licenses and the 4% legal residence application.

Beyond the Lowcountry: the site has pages for all 46 South Carolina counties and says the rest of the state is served remotely. It also says federal returns and multi-state filings are routine, and "the service area is not a wall."

Documents: sent through a secure client portal (the privacy policy names it as Canopy, a third-party system), not email.

How much does Haigler CPA Group cost?

Haigler CPA Group does not publish fees or a price list. What it does publish about pricing:

• The first consultation is free. The firm calls it a scoping conversation, "not a sales call."
• Fee in writing first. "You get the scope and the fee in writing before work starts. No hidden fees, and no invoice you were not expecting."
• An engagement letter sets out what work is being done, for which periods, what you provide and what falls outside it. "Nothing starts until it is agreed."
• You can start small. Engagements can begin with one return or one clean-up project rather than moving everything at once.

From the firm's pages, the things that will shape a quote include: how many entities and returns are involved, how many states, whether the books are reconciled or need catch-up (the firm says a clean-up depends on "how many months, how many accounts and how much of the source material still exists"), whether there are rentals, foreign accounts, an IRS notice or a transaction, and whether you want ongoing monthly bookkeeping or planning.

Payment methods, deposits and whether fees are fixed or hourly are not stated on the site. Ask at the consultation, or call (843) 214-0631.

How working with the firm works, step by step

1. Send the form or call. The contact form asks for your details, a service of interest and a description of the situation and any deadline. The firm asks you not to attach or paste tax documents. Every field is required. For anything with a deadline, such as an IRS notice or a closing, it suggests calling.
2. Sophie follows up. She arranges a meeting at the Charleston office or by video. There is no online self-booking; the firm says that is deliberate.
3. Free scoping consultation. You describe the situation and get a straight answer about fit and what the work involves. "Nothing is signed in the room." If the firm is not the right one, it says it will say so then and point you somewhere more suitable.
4. Scope and fee in writing. What the work covers, what it does not, what the firm needs from you and when.
5. Documents through the portal. Portal access is set up once an engagement is agreed. If you need to send something before that, the firm says to ask on the call and it will arrange a secure route.
6. Work and year-round questions. The firm says filing dates, extensions and estimate due dates are tracked for you, and that you will hear about anything needed from you "with time to act."

What to bring. Nothing is required for the first conversation. To make it more useful, the firm suggests your most recent filed return, any IRS or state notice in full, the type of entity, which states are involved and what changed this year. Its fuller documents checklist covers income documents, deductions, business formation papers, financial statements, bank and loan records, payroll and contractor records.

Switching accountants. The firm calls this a routine handover and says what you need from your current preparer is the prior returns, the depreciation schedules and the books, noting depreciation detail is "the item most often lost in a move." It also reviews returns prepared by another firm.

Timing. The firm advises getting in touch "earlier than feels necessary": work arriving in the last two weeks before a filing date generally goes on extension.

How it compares with other options

A general comparison by type of provider, using only what Haigler CPA Group publishes about itself:

Who it suits, and who should look elsewhere

Questions to ask before you hire a CPA

1. How will the fee be set for my situation: a fixed fee per return, a monthly fee, or hourly? When is it billed and how can I pay?
2. What exactly will the engagement letter cover, and what would be extra?
3. Are you taking new clients this season, and what is the realistic timeline for my return?
4. Who will prepare and sign my return, and who do I contact with questions during the year?
5. If I get an IRS notice later, is representation included or a separate engagement?
6. For bookkeeping: can you work in my current software, and how long will a catch-up take?
7. For a rental or short-term rental: what records do you need from me during the year?
8. Can you share references from clients with a situation like mine?

How to get started

1. Read the services overview to find the closest match to your situation.
2. Look at the documents checklist so the first call goes further.
3. Send the contact form or call (843) 214-0631, Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
4. Book the free consultation when Sophie follows up, in person on James Island or by video.
5. Get the scope and fee in writing, then send documents through the client portal.

Visit Haigler CPA Group

Terms you'll see on the site

• CPA: Certified Public Accountant, licensed by a state board. In South Carolina that is the Board of Accountancy within LLR.
• AICPA: the American Institute of CPAs, the national professional association for CPAs.
• Pass-through entity: an S corporation, partnership or LLC whose income is taxed on the owners' personal returns rather than at the business level.
• K-1: the form a pass-through entity gives each owner showing their share of income, deductions and credits.
• Nexus: enough connection to a state that the business has to file or collect tax there.
• Schedule E: the part of a personal return where rental income and expenses are reported.
• Passive activity rules: rules that generally stop rental losses offsetting wages or business income unless an exception applies.
• Material participation: IRS tests (for example, 500 or more hours a year) for whether an owner is involved enough for an activity to be non-passive.
• 1031 exchange: a swap of investment property that defers gain, with 45-day identification and 180-day completion deadlines.
• Cost segregation: a study separating a building's cost into parts that can be depreciated faster.
• FBAR / Form 8938: two separate reports of foreign accounts and assets, one to FinCEN and one to the IRS.
• Penalty abatement: asking the IRS to remove a penalty, for example under first-time abatement or reasonable cause.
• Offer in compromise: an IRS program to settle a tax debt for less than the full amount, subject to eligibility.
• Form 8594: the form buyer and seller file to report how an asset purchase price was allocated.
• Attest engagement: an audit or review of financial statements under professional standards, which this firm does not perform.
• 4% legal residence ratio: South Carolina's lower assessment ratio for an owner-occupied primary home, which must be applied for.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

All pages checked on 19 October 2026.

1. Home page: haiglercpagroup.com
2. About the firm: haiglercpagroup.com/company/
3. Meet Matthew: haiglercpagroup.com/meet-matthew/
4. Services overview: haiglercpagroup.com/services/
5. Service pages: Business Tax, Personal Tax, Mergers & Acquisitions Tax, Tax Controversy, Rental Real Estate, Bookkeeping Services, Tax Planning & Advisory
6. Industries: overview, Small Business, Real Estate Investors, Construction, Dental & Medical Practices, Law Firms
7. Areas we serve: overview, Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Summerville
8. International tax guides: haiglercpagroup.com/international-tax/
9. Schedule a consultation: haiglercpagroup.com/consultation/
10. Contact: haiglercpagroup.com/contact/
11. Frequently asked questions: haiglercpagroup.com/faq/
12. Year-end and tax season checklist: haiglercpagroup.com/year-end/
13. Documents to bring: haiglercpagroup.com/resources/documents-to-bring-to-cpa/
14. Privacy policy: haiglercpagroup.com/legal/privacy-policy/
15. Terms of use: haiglercpagroup.com/legal/terms-of-use/