My mother was a Secret Keeper. My father was a private man. They both survived The Great Depression and World War II. I thought it was their generation that kept them tight lipped. I was never taught how to gossip.
The very first movie I remember seeing in the theater with my Mother was “Bambi”. In that movie Thumper’s mother told him, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Being a secret keeper means I hold the information you share with me with greatest confidence. I am not your confessional priest who will absolve you of your sins. I am your Enrolled Agent who can represent you at all levels of the Internal Revenue Service worldwide. Not just nationwide, but anywhere in the world the IRS has an office.
I became an Enrolled Agent, an EA, after working five years for the IRS. I was a Tax Audit Supervisor. That specialized training is what I rely on to help me in defending you and your tax return in a tax audit.
When I prepare your tax return I look at the information you give me with the eyes of the IRS. I sign your tax return as your preparer based on all information of which I have knowledge. You sign you tax return under penalty of perjury. That statement is called a “jurat.” It states that you have examined the return and the schedules and attachments, and to the best of your knowledge and belief, they are true, correct and complete.
I am thorough when I prepare your return. I want you to pay your lowest legal tax. But I don’t want either of us to invite trouble from the IRS. And as your preparer, I am obligated to answer any IRS question about the preparation of your return. That is different that representing you in an audit.
When I represent you in a tax audit I have confidentiality with you, but I do not have the client privilege that an attorney does. If I did NOT prepare your return, and represent you in a tax audit, I have an advantage. I will answer their questions the best I can. But I will not volunteer anything unless I think it will help your case.
If you are a new client to me, and I feel there are some audit issues that may reveal the return being examined is not totally accurate, if I think you might be flirting with tax fraud, I will refer you first to a tax attorney. Neither of us were involved in preparing your return, so we don’t have knowledge to answer IRS questions about the process of preparing your return. And if the attorney chooses to engage me to do the work of representing you in the audit, the attorney may choose to extend the client privilege to me for this audit.
Does that mean you are making a mistake by choosing me to prepare your return? Heck no! You have the best on your side. My aim is to help you file a complete and accurate return and at the same time avoid an IRS audit. Just like in Las Vegas, what happens at my desk stays at my desk. I am a secret keeper.
Always to your lowest legal tax,
Nellie T Williams, EA