Do you need us?  A word from our President.

I am often asked, "Do I need an enrolled agent?" Accountants are not cheap, and people want to make sure that they are not spending their hard-earned money needlessly.

If you read the IRS website, you will see much there to make you think that this is easy. I have actually seen the IRS state that their goal is to make their site so user-friendly that people don't need help. You can also call in to the IRS hotline and find people who will tell you what to do.

But this doesn't mean that you don't need someone to help you. I often deal with people who went ahead on their own and made mistakes --- sometimes relatively minor mistakes --- that have had major consequences. Not infrequently, these people had gone on the IRS website and called the IRS hotline, and had been told that everything was all right and that they would have no problem obtaining the result they were seeking.

Even at its “easiest” it can still be pretty complicated. If you want to take the risk and the time, you can do it yourself --- and hopefully you will be successful. But I recommend having an enrolled agent or CPA to help you obtain the benefits you are seeking.

I find that people hire us for three reasons:

1. Because of the complex nature of dealing with the IRS or because it is too time consuming.
2. They desire to have peace of mind --- to know that someone with experience is taking care of the process, and that it will be done right the first time.
3. Sometimes the client knows that he or she has an issue and is proactively looking to address it.