Christy Pinheiro - The Enrolled Agent Tax Consulting Practice Guide: Learn How to Develop, Market, and Operate a Profitable Tax and IRS Representation Practice

Advance Praise for: The Enrolled Agent Tax Consulting Practice Guide

[This book] will benefit any practitioner in the small business accounting, tax or bookkeeping profession. The book is an easy read and you'll likely find yourself referring to it for tips as you grow your practice. Her sound advice could be incorporated with success into most consulting businesses.

Jim Berry, co-founder of BookKeepingHelp.Com

The interviews are very insightful. They provide both marketing and niche development advice and they help you to consider your own business model to see if you are positioning yourself correctly. Recommended.

Kyle Logan, Tax Professional

This book is long overdue for Enrolled Agents (EA) The book touches on how to further develop our practices, market ourselves, and gain additional income throughout the year. In the end, this book teaches us how to gain more profitability and I recommend it to anyone who already is an EA or planning to become one in the future.

Ricky J. Pritchard, The Tax Whiz (Humble, TX USA)

I have 25 years of experience running my own successful CPA firm. I bought this book not to help me start a new business, but rather to see if I could pick up any tips for improving my business. I found that the advice in the book is right on target and consistent with what I have learned over the years (often the hard way). It was well worth the time and I picked up a number of tips that will stay with me.

P. Luskey (Columbia, MD)

This book is dedicated to all of the financial professionals who contributed their expert opinions to make this book such a success.

Thank You:

Owen Arnoff, EA

Chet Burgess, EA

Darrell Carp, EA

Kristin Delfau, EA

Bill Fulcher, EA MBA

David Hatt, EA MS

Dineen Huft

Gabrielle Fontaine, PB

Gary W. Lundgren, EA

Full Disclosure

All of the Enrolled Agents mentioned in this book are real individuals. None of the EAs received any compensation for being interviewed for the book. The author has no financial interest in and receives no compensation from the businesses or organizations mentioned in this book. In the case studies and other examples, the clients names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals.

Other Books by PassKey Publications

How to Start a Successful Home-Based Freelance Bookkeeping and Tax Preparation Business

PassKey EA Exam Review: Individuals, Businesses and Representation

IRS Enrolled Agent Exam Study Guide

ISBN 13: 978-09822660-4-5

www.PassKeyPublications.com

All Rights Reserved 2010-2016

PassKey Publications. First Printing: 2010. Second Printing 2016.

The editorial arrangement, analysis, and professional commentary are subject to this copyright notice. No portion of this book may be copied, retransmitted, reposted, duplicated, or otherwise used without the express written approval of the author, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review. United States laws and regulations are public domain and not subject to copyright. Any unauthorized copying, reproduction, translation, or distribution of any part of this material without permission by the author is prohibited and against the law.

Disclaimer and Terms of Use: No information contained in this book should be considered as financial, tax, or legal advice. Your reliance upon information and content obtained by you at or through this publication is solely at your own risk. PassKey Publications or the authors assume no liability or responsibility for damage or injury to you, other persons, or property arising from any use of any product, information, idea, or instruction contained in the content or services provided to you through this book. Reliance upon information contained in this material is solely at the reader s own risk. The authors have no financial interest in and receive no compensation from manufacturers of products or websites mentioned in this book.

By Kristin Delfau, EA MA

Author of: Turbo-Mom s Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time

One of the more entertaining moments I had when becoming an Enrolled Agent happened in the Prometric testing room: I was waiting to be called in with a dozen other people, most of them CPA candidates. The test administrator came out and said, IRS test? while looking at me and promptly everyone, especially the CPAs, scooted their chairs away from mine.

Becoming an Enrolled Agent is truly special it is not a course of study in college or something that you just do. Rather, it is a designation sought out by tax practitioners who truly care about their clients and their own professionalism in order to gain knowledge and credibility in an increasingly complex and rapidly changing field.

Becoming an EA is only half the battle then what do you do with yourself and your designation? The Enrolled Agent Tax Consulting Practice Guide is an excellent, step-by-step approach to building your own practice. Unlike many other guides written about starting your own (insert generic adjective here) business, Christy s book focuses on the specific needs of the tax preparation community. With solid and detailed advice on everything from how to configure your office space to how to market your practice, she makes it easy to understand the components of a successful practice. Her personal experiences both good and bad are excellent learning tools to accompany her recommendations.

I especially enjoyed her chapter on choosing your clients wisely, which in the long term is much more profitable and much less stressful. It goes against the traditional approach to building a business, which is take everyone who walks in the door and when you are profitable enough, weed out the bad ones later. Eventually, the bad clients cost you so much time and billable hours that you do not have the energy to find more good clients. She emphasizes a great point: to help your clients and stay in business, you need to get paid and on time!

Christy also delves into other areas of generating revenue for your practice. From S-Corp work to representation at audit, she takes a hands-on approach from how to set your fees to what to expect in the process. She is also one of the few authors to emphasize Errors & Omissions Insurance, which is essential in any tax practice, even if you are doing only twenty-five returns per year. The cost of coverage is reasonable and worth it in case you ever have to use it.

For Enrolled Agents, particularly sole practitioners, one of the toughest facets of the business can be marketing. We don t like to think of ourselves as in sales and thus, often figure if we hang out a shingle, the clients will find us. Unfortunately, there is too much competition out there for that approach to work!

Instead, The Enrolled Agent Tax Consulting Practice Guide provides six helpful chapters on how to market your practice effectively and without going bankrupt doing so. I liked that Christy addressed the importance of niche marketing we cannot possibly be experts in every facet of tax law, and that s okay. It s also reasonable to refer clients to others who specialize in fields of tax law that are not your forte. You will build credibility within the profession and perhaps receive some referrals in return!

I am thrilled that Christy wrote this book to help both new and seasoned EAs build and grow their practices. Though it is relatively easy to locate continuing education and tax update classes online and around the country, it is rare to find a practical and well-written book on tax practice management. Christy Pinheiro has now written the book that I searched for years ago when starting my own firm so use it to your advantage and go build your tax practice!