03/24/2025
Why work with an Enrolled Agent?
Jeanine Buben, MT, EA is an accountant with a Master’s Degree in accounting and tax law, undergraduate degrees in finance, accounting and pre-law/paralegal studies. She holds an Enrolled Agent (EA) license granted by the US Department of the Treasury.
The Transformation of Your Financial Future Begins Today
Partnering with a financial professional like an Enrolled Agent is about more than just making sure that your taxes are done correctly. It's about making sure that you're taking the steps necessary today to guarantee a better, more prosperous financial tomorrow — whether you're talking about your personal finances or your business finances or a little bit of both at the same time. Expertise includes comprehensive knowledge of the United States Tax Code (USTC), ethics, and tax compliance areas of entity and personal income taxation, payroll taxation, estate & trust taxation, gift taxation, and other areas of taxation.
While it's true that using an Enrolled Agent can save a significant amount of time in terms of tax planning, their true benefits exist all around that goal. They're your trusted advisors, your valued representatives and your true partner in every sense of the term. Thanks to the Continuing Education requirements and different levels of testing outlined by the IRS, they're also tasked with the most important job of all: effectively representing you on your journey to a better, more fulfilling and more secure future in terms of your finances.
An Enrolled Agent is capable of advising, representing and providing tax planning for:
Individuals
Partnerships
Corporations
Estates
Trusts and More
Tax planning and taxpayer representation requires knowledge of tax laws and IRS procedures. Jeanine’s accounting and finance expertise and paralegal training adds to understanding the extent and ramifications of "legalize" elaborated on in the US Tax Code. Should you need to work with attorneys and financial planners to design or defend unusually complex tax positions, Jeanine can work with your team members, expressing your needs and concerns. But, regardless of the type of situation you find yourself in, Enrolled Agents operate with the type of emphasis on ethics that you just aren't going to be able to find anywhere else. In addition to being experienced, well-trained and dedicated to making the tax code fair and reasonably enforced for all, they act as your honest, intelligent and ethical representation before all governmental agencies.
If you get audited, your Enrolled Agent can be there to work with your tax department team, or to refer you to a dedicated team of representatives if you do not have your own corporate team. If you have questions, your Enrolled Agent will answer them. Please note, that tax planning fees do not cover the IRS representation services, nor state/local services, of representing you at your audits or other hearings and appointments with taxing authorities. You will be required to sign/date an additional engagement letter with a new retainer, and will be billed at representation hourly rates for the time it takes to research your issues, gather information requested by auditors, and defend your position(s).
Although most audits are the result of random selection, they take tax law expertise to manage, and it is not recommended that taxpayers attempt to represent themselves during governmental appearances. Negotiating payment plans, preparing offers in compromise (OIC), requesting additional time to file, getting liens and levies removed, and other taxpayer representation issues are best handled by EAs who are trained in dealing with tax authority protocols and tax officers. Should you need to appear in tax court, an EA can assist your tax attorney in preparing for these proceedings and/or communicate with your lawyer in getting the information and documents required for your hearing.
When you partner with an Enrolled Agent, you also have the benefit of knowing that your financial future is being built brick by brick with someone competent in all areas of taxation, representation and ethics. You're not just getting someone who “says” that they know about taxes or who has a passing interest.
You're talking about someone who went the extra mile to study the US Tax Code and to complete 15 ½ hours of tests, along with annual continued professional education classes, learning the intricacies of taxation like most of us learn to read. Enrolled Agents (EAs) have gone above and beyond in not just meeting the IRS required minimum for continuing education, but who have exceeded it at every opportunity. The peace-of-mind generated by this alone is something you can't put a price on.
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