Tax Attorney VS Enrolled Agent VS CPA – What’s the Difference? Cost & Fees

Looking to get your taxes and finances in order before the IRS comes knocking on your door? If so then rest assured that you are most definitely not alone. As we are now in tax season, taxpayers all across the country are starting to panic, dig out their receipts, and attempting to get their accounts in order as soon as possible. A select few however, are cool, calm, and collected. This is because those select few have made the wise decision to hire a professional tax expert (EA, CPA, attorney) to take care of their finances and accounts for them. When selecting a tax professional however, it’s important that you understand the choices available to you, and that you know the differences. Many people often confuse CPAs with tax attorneys and enrolled agents. While the three do share some similarities, in reality they are very different. To help show you what we mean, we’ll now look at the key differences between all three.

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The difference between  Enrolled Agent VS Tax Attorney VS CPA

If you are facing a tax problem, controversy and need representation, then you need to retain and hire a tax representation firm. Why? Because it’s a specialty and requires special skill set and know-how. Only EAs enrolled agents, tax lawyers and CPAs can represent you before tax agencies.

Tax representation fees and cost varies by firm, an average fee cost is $200-$600 per hour, tax law specialists charge $700-$1,500 per hour. Our firm charges value flat fee in most cases, and always quoted based on the facts of your tax matter.

We are a tax representation firm and offer tax relief services to individual and business taxpayers facing tax problems such as delinquent unfiled tax returns, unpaid back tax debt, employment 941 payroll tax matters, IRS, FTB, EDD, CDTFA, BOE tax audit, appeal matters, wage / bank levies, garnishments, liens and tax planning. We are honored by our recent client, EM, former tax lawyer himself, he did his research and chose to hire our firm to represent him before the IRS and resolve his large 7 figure tax debt that involved SFRs, unfiled tax returns, back tax debt and other issues.

The difference between a CPA, attorney and EA

Tax attorney – To get the ball rolling, we’ll start out by looking at tax attorneys. Licensed by their respective state. A tax attorney is a lawyer that happens to specialize in all things tax law-related. These fully-licensed lawyers can therefore file a number of lawsuits on behalf of the clients that they have been hired to represent. So, as an example, if an individual wishes to file a lawsuit against the IRS (Yes, you can really do that in certain situations) a tax attorney could be hired. On top of that, another example of the services a tax attorney provides is if an individual is facing criminal charges relating to their taxes, I.E tax fraud or evasion and been contacted by CID, criminal investigation division. Now, depending on the attorney in question, some even prepare and file tax returns on behalf of their clients. This is not mandatory however, so if you are looking for those particular services, it’s important that you inquire in advance.

The difference between  CPA VS Tax Attorney VS Enrolled Agent

CPA – A CPA is a Certified Public Accountant. Licensed by their respective state. CPAs hold degrees in accounting, along with at least two full years of work experience, along with having passed their CPA exam. If you are looking to handle review, financial-audit of your financial statements in a timely and efficient manner, a CPA is well worth hiring as that’s what they are licensed for, to certify financial statements. CPAs are best hired to deal with highly complex financial statements as for much of the year they often focus on various aspects of accounting, as opposed to taxation. If you’re looking to get your accounts, audited financial statements in order, CPAs are very effective. If however, you’re looking to focus purely on taxes, you may struggle at some points in the year.

Enrolled Agents – Finally we have enrolled agents.  Federally licensed with no state restriction to practice, can represent taxpayers in all 50 states. These are individuals that have passed the IRS necessary exams and have earned the required qualifications needed to represent individuals, businesses dealing with the IRS and tax disputes. Enrolled agents are actually the only individuals out there that are considered tax professionals that earned their practice privilege directly from the US Treasury, along with the IRS. When it comes to tax audits, wage / bank levies, garnishments, liens, employment 941 payroll, back tax settlements, delinquent unfiled tax returns, IRS appeals, and collections, enrolled agents are very useful. What’s more, enrolled agents are specifically licensed by the US treasury itself to assist and represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of IRS, EDD, FTB, CDTFA, BOE tax agencies.

Get a free case evaluation today by calling us at 877-788-2937.

Enrolled Agent – EA, CPA – Certified Public Accountant – Tax Lawyer / Attorney

Many taxpayers wonder what the average cost and fee is for various tax services.

For individual / personal tax preparation cost fee, most firms start at $200 and an average tax return cost is $400-900. For business tax preparation fee, most firms charge $600-$2,000 per return on average. Tax representation fee cost varies based on the facts of the case, but an average is $2,000-$4,000 for back tax resolution, larger cases and more complicated matters does cost more but the peace of mind and relief is priceless. Tax audits cost fee average of $4,000-$8,000, and higher for complicated audit and or appeal cases.

Don’t compromise on your representation, call us today at 877-788-2937.

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