CollectiveReviews of collective.com

Have been a member for about 2 and a half year (a bit less). Janet my MRM is the best and I always get great and timely responses to questions I have. collective is the best investment I've made for my freelancing business and has been pivotal to feeling in control of my business finances.

Liking the platform a lot so far. Getting started is simple - I filled out the form and scheduled a 30 min call with their team. Got walked through the platform I met with Carly and she was very nice. Onboarding took a couple weeks for me I have an LLC and had all the files for it including EIN plus my prior year returns, this may be burdensome for people who don't have those on hand. The team helped me set up payroll and the s corp which was something I needed and was putting off. I've had a few months of bookkeeping and quarterly tax done with the team. Besides a couple errors and me asking them to recategorize some transactions it has been easy and a welcome change to my excel I was using. Would recommend giving it a shot.

Neat platform for freelancers ready for an scorp. Great support so far from the team. I canceled my QB, legalzoom, and collective is handling my tax moving forward plus payroll and compliance. I never write reviews and they've helped me a ton with my business.

I was operating as a sole prop for quite some time and knew I wasn't optimizing this. collective has helped get everything set up quickly. The team was great answering questions during the entity setup and giving some context on why information from me was needed and what each document means for the scorp. I've only had a few months of books done, but its been smooth and nice to have things in one place. I've loved not having to worry about tracking receipts and doing this work - worth the investment so far keep it up.

I had the pleasure of connecting with Brandon. He was so kind, helpful, and made a great effort to support me. Unfortunately given the structure of my business we were unable to work together; however I wish we could have as I felt the level of support and genuine desire to see me succeed was wonderful. My hope is that we will be able to work together in the future.

Collective.com sold me a dream: seamless onboarding, expert tax support, and a dedicated team that would handle the back office so I could focus on running my business. The onboarding was smooth, and their reps seemed responsive, at first. That was the last time anything worked as promised. From there, it became a slow-motion trainwreck. It started with basic transaction misclassifications, recurring ones, at that. Even after flagging them directly, the same errors happened month after month. You can’t fix them yourself; everything requires submitting a ticket and waiting days for someone to do what should take 10 seconds. That “dedicated service” they promised? It turned into copy-paste replies, delayed responses, and a flat refusal to hop on a call, even though that was a core selling point during onboarding. Then came tax season. I told them in March that I’d be dissolving my entity and needed to file early. I gave them three months' notice, outlined exactly what to expect, and followed up monthly asking for a draft. They reassured me they were on it. By late June, nothing had been done. Not even a draft. And then they casually told me: "We don’t do midyear filings." To make matters worse, when I disputed charges for the months they were supposed to be preparing my taxes (but clearly weren’t), they responded to the credit card dispute within hours, faster than they’ve ever responded to any support request. That says everything. They're fast when it comes to protecting their money. When it comes to providing the service you paid for? Good luck. So now I’m out $1,500 for non-service, plus another $1,000 to pay a real accountant to clean up their mess, and who knows how many hours of stress trying to figure it all out. Collective.com is the worst kind of tech-enabled service: easy to sign up for, doesn’t actually work, and nearly impossible to exit. Do yourself a favor and hire a real accountant. Don’t fall for the shiny UI and lofty promises. This is not a business solution, it’s a liability.

I signed up with Collective in April 2024, and it was by far the worst decision I’ve made for my business. Despite repeated follow-ups and providing all necessary documentation, they have still not started my business tax filings. This delay has put me at serious financial risk, potentially costing my business thousands of dollars in penalties. Their bookkeeping was just as bad — they miscategorized business expenses even after I clearly communicated corrections multiple times. The communication system is a nightmare: disjointed, unhelpful, and completely inefficient. I spoke with multiple team members since March, including Zyra A., who assured me things were in progress — but nothing moved forward. Adding insult to injury, they continue to charge me monthly fees while failing to deliver even the most basic services. I deeply regret trusting Collective with my finances. I’m requesting a full refund for this year, and I urge other business owners to think twice before signing up. This service has caused me enormous stress and financial harm — it’s the worst bookkeeping experience I’ve ever had.

I signed up for Collective with high hopes, expecting a streamlined, supportive service to manage my S corp and payroll as a self-employed professional. Instead, I experienced confusion, poor communication, and a service that never delivered on its promises. During the sales call, I asked directly whether payroll was included in the subscription and if adding employees would increase the cost. I was told it was included—no mention of third-party fees or markups. I later discovered I was being charged $15/month per contractor through Gusto, and that Collective adds a margin on top of Gusto’s standard pricing. This was never clearly disclosed. The onboarding process was also mismanaged. Despite informing them I’d be abroad and unavailable, I kept receiving emails with deadlines and follow-ups that ignored my availability. It felt like their process took precedence over actual client needs. Even worse, nothing was accomplished during my two months with Collective. No progress on bookkeeping, no tangible setup work—yet I was still charged $797 with payroll. They’ve offered a refund for one month, but I haven’t received it to date. I have wasted time and money. The promise of a “done-for-you” system quickly fell apart. I was expected to manually upload monthly documents and handle key tasks myself. It felt like I was doing the work for their convenience—not mine. My account has since been closed, but I walk away disappointed and misled. I’m writing this not out of resentment, but to caution other self-employed professionals. If you’re looking for real support, transparency, and a service that delivers what it sells—look elsewhere. —Guillaume