I read your post but for some reason it wouldn’t let me comment.

You might want to check that out.

http://thetaxcpa.blogspot.com/2009/06/when-tax-preparers-attack.html

“I would bet my life on a return prepared by an EA first, an unenrolled preparer 2nd, and a CPA third. I have rarely, if ever, come across a tax return prepared by a lawyer.”

Frankly, I don’t believe you actually believe this. Or maybe you’ve deluded yourself that it’s true simply because you lack the credentials others possess.

By the way, have you ever heard of the terms “tax CPA” and “tax lawyer?”

My God, man, 37 years in the practice and you aren’t aware that a great number of CPAs and lawyers specialize in taxation?

Robert, for all anyone knows you have royally screwed up every tax return you ever prepared.

You may have missed valuable deductions that would have saved the taxpayer money or you may have failed to devise proper year tax planning strategies that might have saved your clients additional taxes.

We only have your word for it that you are a maestro of tax preparation.

I’m afraid that’s not enough.

The fact that you’ve done it for 37 years doesn’t mean you’ve done it right.

Finally, I agree with you that the letters CPA do not prove that a person is a tax expert.

But they certainly prove it more than do the letters _ _ _.

I would bet my life on a return prepared by an EA first, an unenrolled preparer 2nd, and a CPA third. I have rarely, if ever, come across a tax return prepared by a lawyer.

I feel I must repeat one of my points – a CPA is NOT a licensed tax preparer, as an EA is. A CPA is a licensed accountant – who is authorized by law and regulation to certify an audit of financial statements and nothing else.

When I worked at the big eight CPA firm many, many, many years ago several of the CPAs in my department (Small Business) came to me, a college drop-out who was self-taught in the subject, for tax advice and information. I was the department’s resident tax expert! And in reviewing prior year returns prepared by CPAs in the firm I found several drastic errors.

If there was a “Licensed Tax Practitioner” designation, as we have both discussed in length and support, then I would certainly bet my life on such a licensed tax preparer over an un-licensed tax preparer.

A lawyer by virtue of his JD degree is not necessarily a tax expert. A tax lawyer is a tax expert by virtue of his education and experience.

I have prepared tax returns for a few lawyers in the past who had no more tax knowledge than an engineer or an architect. They had expertise in their specific field of practice – in one case a labor lawyer.

I will go to my grave stating with certainty that the initials CPA do not in themselves connotate a tax expert. Many CPAs are tax experts because they have chosen to specialize in taxes. And many CPAs who choose to specialize in taxes do so in corporate taxes and are not 1040 experts.

You are a tax expert not by virtue of having passed the CPA and the bar exams. You are a tax expert because you chose to specialize in that area of law and accounting and have educated yourself accordingly.

I would not go to a urologist to have a brain tumor removed simply because the urologist had the initials “MD” after his name (no jokes now).

As I have said before, and as I recently found has been said my several other tax professionals in a message board, in 37 years I have found more errors on tax returns prepared by CPAs than by any other category of tax preparer – including Henry and Richard and self-prepared returns!

TWTP