Representation Before The IRS

When the IRS writes to you, the question that matters is not what the letter says. It is who answers it. IRS representation means a person licensed to practice before the IRS deals with the agency in your place: reads the notice, gathers what it asks for, writes the response, and takes the calls. We do that from our Coral Springs, FL office, in English or in Spanish.

Accounting Max Services is a firm of IRS Enrolled Agents (EA) and CPAs. If we prepared the return, the person who signed it is the person who defends it.

Who is allowed to speak to the IRS for you

Not everyone who prepares returns can represent you. The IRS splits preparers in two and says so plainly: "Enrolled agents, certified public accountants, and attorneys have unlimited representation rights before the IRS" and may "represent their clients on any matters including audits, payment/collection issues, and appeals" (IRS, Understanding Tax Return Preparer Credentials and Qualifications).

Everyone else has less, and often nothing at all. The IRS is careful with the wording: "some preparers without one of the above credentials have limited practice rights", and "beginning with returns filed after December 31, 2015, only Annual Filing Season Program participants have limited practice rights." A preparer who is neither credentialed nor in that program cannot represent you at all. And even those limited rights are narrower than most people expect:

• A preparer with limited practice rights "may only represent clients whose returns they prepared and signed, but only before revenue agents, customer service representatives, and similar IRS employees, including the Taxpayer Advocate Service."
• The same preparer "cannot represent clients whose returns they did not prepare and they cannot represent clients regarding appeals or collection issues even if they did prepare the return in question."
• A preparer who holds only a PTIN and is not an Annual Filing Season Program participant has "no authority to represent clients before the IRS" — except for returns prepared and filed December 31, 2015, and prior.

An Enrolled Agent is licensed by the IRS itself, having "earned the privilege of representing taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service" by passing the three-part IRS examination or through experience as a former IRS employee (IRS, Enrolled Agent Information). The same practice rights as a CPA or an attorney: no restriction on the taxpayer, the matter, or the IRS office.

Form 2848, and the right that comes with it

Representation is not informal. It runs on a document: "Use Form 2848 to authorize an individual to represent you before the IRS" (About Form 2848, Rev. January 2021). Once it is on file, the IRS deals with us directly on the years and the matters you listed. You stop being the one explaining a number over the phone.

The right is yours, not a favor. The IRS Taxpayer Bill of Rights states that "taxpayers have the right to retain an authorized representative of their choice to represent them in their dealings with the IRS" and, more useful in the moment, that "in most situations, the IRS must suspend an interview if you request to consult with a representative, such as an attorney, CPA or enrolled agent." If a conversation has already started and you are in it alone, you can stop it.

A letter already arrived. What now?

Read the date first. The IRS instruction on its own notices is short: "Review it carefully and keep it for your records. If we ask you to respond, act by the due date" and "to guarantee your appeal rights, reply by the due date." A missed date is what turns a question into an assessment.

Then know what you are holding. A CP2000 is not a bill; the IRS says so on the notice itself — "this notice isn't a bill and your response may be required." It comes out of a return review by mail: income or payment information from a third party does not match what your return said, and the IRS writes to "propose a change in tax" (Publication 5181, Rev. December 2022). Proposed is not the same as harmless. If you do not respond and no agreement is reached, a Statutory Notice of Deficiency follows by certified mail, you have 90 days to petition the U.S. Tax Court, and if you do not, "the tax will be assessed." An examination is a different process, and it always arrives the same way: "should your account be selected for audit, we will notify you by mail. We won't initiate an audit by telephone." Anyone who phones you out of nowhere is not the IRS. If your letter does open an examination, that is audit assistance, handled by the same people.

Could you answer it yourself?

You can, and sometimes you should. A notice that is plainly correct and asks for a modest payment does not need a representative. The real decision is whether the letter is correct, and that is the part that is hard to judge from inside your own return.

Going alone gets expensive in three familiar ways: you disagree and answer more than was asked; the scope widens, because "generally, the IRS can include returns filed within the last three years in an audit" and, where substantial errors turn up, the IRS "usually" does not "go back more than the last six years"; or a deadline passes while you hunt for one receipt.

What it costs, and how long it takes

We do not quote representation over the phone, because an honest number depends on what the letter is. A single-issue CP2000 with clean records is not the same work as three years under examination with the books missing. On the first call, at no charge, we read your notice and tell you which of the two you are looking at. Your deadline to reply is printed on the notice and it is fixed; what the IRS does after that is not something any firm can promise a date for.

IRS representation in Coral Springs, FL with an EA and a CPA

Founded in 2009, the firm brings over 17 years of combined professional experience and holds both credentials in one office, working in English and Spanish. The strongest position in a notice is a boring one: the figures on the return trace back to records that existed before the letter did. That is why representation and monthly bookkeeping keep coming up in the same conversation, and why clients who file their personal tax return with us have a shorter road when something comes back.

Bring the letter to our Coral Springs office

Bring the notice — every page, including the ones that look blank — and the return for the year it names. Photograph it and email it if you would rather not drive. We are at 1700 N University Dr STE 210, Coral Springs, and the first consultation is free. If the deadline on your letter falls inside 30 days, say so when you call.