What Is an Enrolled Agent? EA vs CPA and Other Tax Questions

An Enrolled Agent is a federally licensed tax practitioner. The IRS grants the license after a three-part examination on individual taxation, business taxation and representation, plus a background check. Enrolled Agents have unlimited rights to represent taxpayers before the IRS on audits, collections and appeals, in every state, and must complete continuing education every year to keep the license.

An Enrolled Agent is licensed by the IRS and specializes in tax and IRS representation. A CPA is licensed by a state board of accountancy and may specialize in audit, financial statements, consulting or tax. Both can prepare returns and represent clients before the IRS. The practical difference is focus: an EA's license is entirely about tax. James Cox III is an Enrolled Agent, not a CPA.

For back taxes, unfiled returns, audits, payment plans and Offers in Compromise, an Enrolled Agent handles the matter fully. A tax attorney is needed when there is a criminal tax investigation, a case headed to Tax Court, or legal work such as drafting partnership agreements. James will refer you to an attorney when that is the right call.

Personal returns and C corporation returns are due April 15: April 15, 2026 for 2025 returns and April 15, 2027 for 2026 returns. Partnership and S corporation returns are due March 15. Quarterly estimated payments for individuals are due April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15. Extensions move the filing date six months but do not extend the time to pay. Federal deadlines apply the same in Raleigh as everywhere else; North Carolina generally follows the federal dates.

Anyone who expects to owe $1,000 or more in federal tax after withholding and credits, which typically means self-employed people, business owners taking distributions, landlords and retirees with investment income. For 2026 the payments are due April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027. Paying quarterly avoids the underpayment penalty and the April shock. James calculates the amounts as part of tax planning.

Open it, note the date and the response deadline, and do not ignore it. Most letters are a request for information or a proposed change, not an accusation. Send it to James; as an Enrolled Agent he can contact the IRS on your behalf and respond before the deadline, whether the right answer is a reply with records, an IRS payment plan or, in the rarer case, an IRS offer in compromise.

Preparation reports the year that already happened, accurately and on time. Planning shapes the year ahead: estimated payments, retirement contributions, entity choice, when to buy equipment. We do both, and business clients on monthly bookkeeping get planning built in.

If you want to know whether the business is making money, deduct everything you are entitled to, and avoid rebuilding a year of records in March, yes. Clean monthly books are also what makes a business return accurate and defensible.

Yes. Most clients are in Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Clayton, Durham and Chapel Hill, and many work with us entirely online. The office on Wake Forest Rd is available for in-person meetings by appointment.

You describe what you need, James asks the questions that tell him what the work involves, and he gives you a fee and a plan before anything starts. Bring last year's return and, for business owners, whatever financial records you have, even if they are incomplete.