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Tax Preparer Websites & Credentials?

Submitted by Shazzers on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 06:57
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Hi, my fiancée owns a business and is in search of a reputable accountant for his taxes this year, is there a website available to locate tax preparers/accountants and research their credentials?


Speaking an an IRS licensed Enrolled Agent I can tell you there is no one site with which to research from a third party any practitioner's experience, specialties or qualifications.

That said, a good starting point would be the AICPA for CPA's and NAEA.ORG for Enrolled Agents. These two designations indicate that some third party (The State Board of Accountancy for CPA's and the IRS itself for EA's) has tested the practitioner and the practitioner passed. Neither site will give you much information about the practitioner's disciplinary history if any of the Continuing Education taken.

The first thing I would ask your fiancee is: just what do you want from this engagement? Do you want me to actually do your bookkeeping? Review your entries? Audit the books? Or just prepare the tax return? The second and third would be best done by a CPA buit it will be expensive. The 1st and 4th can be done by an EA and should be cheaper.

If the 4th, then the practitioner will only review entries that seem to be out of proportion to the others - for example a business that did $10,000 in sales and had a Cost of Goods of $15,000.

Next, your fiancee should talk with the practitioner. How familiar with his industry is the practitioner? Who will be doing the actual work? What is the normal time frame for completion?

The practitioner should also get a chance to ask your fiancee questions - like how involved do you want me in your business? Do you need periodic reviews? What tax issues are you facing? Sales tax, Payroll Taxes? What is the legal format of the business? Its history of profitability?

Please understand, I am not trying to "toot my horn" - I don't know where you are and I only take business clients in the Tucson AZ area, but a business owner chooses three very important advisors, and a lot of money and even the success or failure of the business rests on their advice and objectivity - those three are teh attorney, the accountant and the insurance agent. Choose carefully - and you will not be able to get the information you want without actually talking to the practitioner. The practitioner's web site may provide some of it, but web sites only give part of teh story - personalities count. I once had a client who told me she kept three sets of books - one for herself, one for me to prepare the taxes with and a third of all cash transactions. She became a former client immediately.


Submitted by Flyingifr on Wed, 02/04/2009 - 21:36

Flyingifr

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