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IRS Enrolled Agent Status |
IRS Enrolled Agent Status is a new term for most people. However, the term itself, is not new. The term has been a part of the accounting world for many decades. Most individuals and business owners who want to pay for financial services that are provided by Certified Public Accountants would most likely never come into contact with the term. Enrolled Agent Status is applied to those individuals who participate in the Public Accounting field. This is a very important distinction.
There are three levels of charges and of perceived professionalism in the accounting world.
Certified Public Accountants
Tax Advisors with IRS Enrolled Agent Status
Public Accountants
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| Certified Public Accountant, CPA: |
| Without a doubt, the Certified Public Accountants demand the highest fees. In some cases they are not only worth their charges but are the only solution for certain companies.
Some contracts that are given by state, federal and large companies require that the company bidding on the contract secure the services of a Certified Public Accountant. Banks often require the services of Certified Public Accountants when issuing a large line of credit to a company.
The services of the Certified Public Accountant is a good choice, for the individual or small to medium sized business owner, when price is not of any great concern, and when it is required for the business to perform. However, as with any service provider, price does not guarantee quality. Then, on the other hand, if a small business owner accepts the financial services of a CPA, they must be willing to pay a healthy price for the service. If the CPA firm is offering services on more than one price level, which sometimes happens, it is most often not what one would think. The quality of financial services needed for any business owner, to know that they are being covered where they might be the most vulnerable, takes the same amount of time and effort on the part of the service provider, no matter the fee. So—if the fee is lowered, guess what happens to the quality?
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| Does this mean that a company owner cannot get a quality financial service without paying the highest rates in town? No, it doesn’t mean that, but it does mean that a large financial firm with considerable fixed costs in office rent and employees and that charges some businesses $140/hr. and others $40/hr. cannot logically give the same level of quality to all.
In these cases the business owner who accepts such service must also accept the fact that some person in the firm, other than the CPA’s will do most of his work and hopefully it will be properly supervised. The bottom-line is unfortunately the real world. The bottom-line of the firm cannot be met by these accounts and there is no way that they can take the time and expend the talent, to do what most of the business owners might like to think is taking place. Is this wrong? No, not if the business owner is not dreaming and is willing to accept the reality of the situation. The owner is a business man. Can he provide services or products below his cost? I think the answer is clear. Yet, I am also certain that there are a large number of business owners who rationalize that they are getting $140/hr. services for only $40/hr., or some other disparate charge.
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| Tax Advisors with IRS Enrolled Agent Status, PA-IRS Enrolled Agent |
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Tax Advisors with IRS Enrolled Agent Status are few in number in the professional field of financial services. The reason for this is simple. The educational and experience tasks required to pass the IRS administered tests to achieve this status is only achieved by a small percentage of total applicants.
The benefits serve the direct interests of the small to medium sized business owner. This can easily be seen when the business owners avail themselves of the increased representation offered by their Public Accountant service provider who has the IRS Enrolled Agent Status. This status allows the service provider to accept a Power of Attorney for all tax matters pertaining to the client. This allows the client to delegate all responses to IRS letters and challenges to his qualified service provider. To better understand the direct service and benefit to the business owner see: (Tax and Withholding Examples)
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| For most small to medium sized business owners, the best balance between cost and quality can be found in the PA-Enrolled Agent. The fixed cost of the PA-Enrolled Agent is consistently much less than that of the more expensive CPA. The quality of service is comparable for those PA-Enrolled Agents with extensive experience in all levels in representation. The PA-Enrolled Agent has the same opportunities to represent their clients before the IRS as does the CPA. In cases where this is either not so, or not advised, a tax attorney is most often brought in to provide the appropriate level of professionalism needed in the these cases.
Happy Tax Payers & Business Consulting Services enjoy the Enrolled Agent Status through our chief tax advisor, Marilyn Hatfield. CPA and Tax Attorney out-sourcing is readily available, when a given case requires the specialized professionalism, at these more expensive and sometimes required levels.
For a detailed account of how we at Happy Tax Payers & Business Consulting Services implement financial services across the complete range of professionalism from PA-Enrolled Agent, CPA and Tax Attorney, click on the following link: Complete Range of Professionalism
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| Public Accountant, PA |
| The Public Accountant is the most numerous within the professional field of financial services. These accountants have a wide range of education, talent and experience. They charge the least and usually are not equipped to represent their clients before the IRS. Many new business owners seek the services of a Public Accountant as a way to reduce start-up costs. |
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