Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Why Enrolled Agents?

When you have a tax issue, nine times out of ten, you are going to call upon the help of professionals. And honestly, nine times out of ten, you should be calling upon professionals for help because you are going to be at a disadvantage when stepping onto the battlefield with the IRS. When going head-to-head with the Internal Revenue Service, it will not benefit you to choose a simple tax preparation firm (ex. H&R Block) or even a tax attorney. The reason I say this is because neither are familiar with negotiating with the IRS. What you will want on your side is an Enrolled Agent (EA). An EA is a federally-authorized tax practitioner who has technical expertise in the field of taxation and who is empowered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the Internal Revenue Service for audits, collections, and appeals. I have included a more detailed explanation of an EA below.


“An Enrolled Agent (EA) is a tax professional who has passed an IRS test covering all aspects of taxation, plus passed an IRS background check. Enrolled Agents have passed a two-day, 8-hour examination. The examination (called the Special Enrollment Examination) covers all aspects of federal tax law, including the taxation of individuals, corporations, partnerships, and various regulations governing IRS collections and audit procedures. Like CPAs and tax attorneys, EAs can handle any type of tax matter and represent their client's interests before the IRS. Unlike CPAs and tax attorneys, Enrolled Agents are tested directly by the IRS, and Enrolled Agents focus exclusively on tax accounting. The "EA" designation may be revoked by the IRS' Office of Professional Responsibility for malpractice.

Enrolled Agents advise, represent, and prepare tax returns for individuals, partnerships, corporations, estates, trusts, and any entities with tax-reporting requirements. Enrolled Agents expertise in the continually changing field of taxation enables them to effectively represent taxpayers audited by the IRS.”
-Effectur

Basically, the gist of what I am saying is that I wouldn’t suggest bringing a knife to a gunfight. If you seek out the right weaponry when trying to take on the IRS, you will have a much better chance winning the fight.
If you have a tax problem, call the “big guns

Cheers!
Taxus

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