Taxes
Enrolled IRS Agents vs Unenrolled Practitioners: What Is the Difference?
The difference between an Enrolled Agent (EA) and an Unenrolled Practitioners is about $150.00 per hour with strict limitations on the part of the Unenrolled practitioners.
Attorneys, CPAs and Enrolled Agents can 'Practice Before the IRS'. This means they are qualified to represent a particular taxpayer. They can sign claims for refunds, receive refund checks, sign consents to extend the statutory period for assessment or collection of tax, sign closing agreements regarding a tax liability and sign waivers of restriction on assessment or collection of a tax deficiency.
An Unenrolled Practitioner may represent the taxpayer only concerning the tax liability for the year or period covered by the return that he or she prepared. An Unenrolled Practitioner is not permitted to represent taxpayers before the appeals, Collection, or any other function of the IRS.
So many consumers wonder, what is the roll of an Unenrolled Tax Practitioner when it comes to tax problems? Especially since the Unenrolled Tax Accountant is usually about $100 per hour less then the EA and $150 to $200 less then the CPA and Attorney (give or take a few dollars)
The functions of each of these groups of people is clearly defined in what Forms they are allowed to use with IRS. It is fair to say that if the IRS Notice says "audit" then a CPA, Tax Attorney or Enrolled Agent is the best solution. The Power of Attorney Form 2848 is necessary in order to communicate with IRS on the client's behalf.
However, if IRS sends you a Notice saying you have NOT filed your taxes for certain tax years, then your choice of tax professionals can include an Unenrolled Tax Accountant or Practitioner. The Tax Accountant can use a Form 8821 - This Form authorizes the IRS to discuss and provide specific confidential tax return information to your Tax person to resolve your tax issues.
The bottom line and an easy way to figure out who can do what; is to remember that a Power of Attorney (Form 2848) allows your Tax professional to "speak" for you, meaning they can Practice before the IRS.
On the other hand, a Form 8821, (used by Unenrolled Tax professionals) is an authorization form and allows IRS to provide information to your tax professional that can eliminate problems and resolve your tax issue in a timely manner, however, they cannot "speak" for you. An Unenrolled Tax professional can relay information back to the taxpayer and can give out necessary information to make things right with IRS.
ALL authorized Tax practitioners are covered under the Confidentiality Privilege. The confidentiality protection for certain communications between a taxpayer and an attorney (privileged communications) applies to similar communications between a taxpayer.
Cassandra Ingraham is a Basic Tax Instructor in the San Francisco Bay Area and provides Online Tax Resolution services for basic tax problems at http://www.taxeswilltravel.com |
Cassandra Ingraham
Tags: irs, enrolled agent, tax practitioners, tax problemsSimilar articles
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