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An Enrolled Agent is a Federally authorized Tax Professional who is able to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service for audits, collections, and appeals.

 

Although they are not required to do so, all State and Local Income taxing agencies allow Enrolled Agents to represent taxpayers before them as well.

 

There are two ways to become an Enrolled Agent. The first is to work for the IRS for five years in a position that regularly involves interpreting the tax code. The second is to pass the rigorous Special Enrollment Examination. After completing either of these steps the candidate must pass a rigorous background examination and allow all of his or her own previously filed returns to be audited.  I passed the Special Enrollment Examination in 1996 the first time I took it.

 

The Title Enrolled Agent was created by the Congress of the United States in 1884. There was felt to be a need to limit who could represent taxpayers before the US Treasury Department because unscrupulous advisors were helping people submit false claims of loss developing out of the Civil War.