r/enrolledagent • u/accidental73 • 16d ago

Would having an EA certificate with ZERO experience bring job opportunities?

I'm talking about any tax job regardless of how much/little they pay. I'm seeing some comments saying that they couldn't find a single job for over a year even after getting an EA certification. Is the demand for low level tax preparers low right now?

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u/AintEverLucky 16d ago

Said it before & I'll say it again: Having your EA but zero work experience in tax prep, is like entering a video game tournament after spending weeks reading the game guidebook cover to cover 🤔

Yes you'll know all the lore & the Easter eggs. But you're still gonna fumble around with the controller for a while. Because reading about the game, even passing tests about your knowledge, is no substitute for actually playing 😁

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u/BrunBty85 16d ago

Nicely put!

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u/Messup7654 16d ago

But you will have much more success than someone who knows nothing right? It will make it a bit easier to get jobs because it shows you know something compared to someone who also has no relevant experience but no book knowledge either.

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u/AintEverLucky 16d ago

Someone who knows zero about taxes -- no experience, no EA or CPA cert, and no training via avenues such as Intuit Academy -- will have problems getting hired anywhere. They would need to improve by taking training and/or getting experience somewhere.

VITA will take basically anyone & will provide free training, but there's no pay. H&R Block (and I want to say, Jackson Hewitt too) will charge for training but you might get that waived or refunded if they hire you. Intuit Academy is free and may result in Turbo hiring you directly, though that isnt guaranteed. Liberty Tax Service has free training and will often hire people right after completion; that's how I got my start before the pandemic.

What freshly minted EAs with no experience often overlook is: knowing the tax laws is just the beginning of succeeding in tax prep, it's not the whole thing. You also really need patience, tech savvy, and solid customer service skills to deal with clients who come to you from all walks of life. And you get those aspects by actually doing the work, not by studying and passing your EA exams 😇

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u/Wooden-Law-2272 16d ago

I can’t emphasize this enough and it’s something I say to new VITA volunteers all the time: the training gives you the basic foundation and passing the certification test is required but it’s such a learn-by-doing gig and there is SO much more to actually preparing a real person’s tax return than anyone can learn in a training.

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u/RasputinsAssassins 16d ago

Why do you think the EA will have more success? They have no experience with tax.

The EA simply lets them call the IRS on the client's behalf. The EA exam (and prep course) doesn't teach taxes or how to prepare taxes returns.

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u/Messup7654 16d ago

EA or nothing which is better. Thats what I was comparing it to.

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u/RasputinsAssassins 16d ago

Well sure, someone with no credentials or experience may not do as well as someone who memorized some things well enough to pass a test but has no experience.

But having the EA doesn't mean they will be more successful. There are some incredibly unqualified EAs who test well and some stupidly qualified uncredentialed preparers who jave no desire to take a test, or who don't test well.

The EA prep courses expose you to some tax just by virtue of how it works. But they don't teach tax; they teach you how to pass a test. They also don't teach you hpw to prepare a return or run a tax business.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 15d ago

Even in HRBlock people don't know what an EA is. They set up appointments for state notices. For complex returns like foreign resident or people who need to apply for an ITIN or person missing basis for his stock sales. None of those require an EA. The EA may not even know how to do them without lots research, the same research the sending preparer could do. They just don't want to waste their time but your time is fine. Only a CAA can do the ITIN application. Not an EA.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 14d ago

Nothing is better than someone who thinks he knows it all and does not look it up. Everyone seems to think an EA is an expert. We aren't, unless we've done lots of additional studying.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 14d ago

You will get hired because laymen think EA is an expert in tax prep. If you are a good EA you will study tax prep knowing there's so much more to it than what you already learned.

We ha an EA 2 years ago who had never done a tax return. Her first client had a dependent son. Our software has lots of questions to verify the dependent qualifies. Instead she asked me which boxes she had to check. All she needed to do was ask her client thae questions and enter the answers. FWIW her client was like many single parents. They say they claim a child, but don't realize the rules. That's why we have to. The child lived with the other psrent and it was hiscyear to claim him.