Explain what representation means in practice, who at your firm holds unlimited practice rights, which matters you take on and which you refer out, how authorization starts with Form 2848, and what the client does at each step. Describe the enrolled agent credential in wording Circular 230 accepts, and do not promise how any IRS matter will end. The page should leave a worried reader knowing whether to call and what to bring.
A person who has just opened an IRS notice often searches before calling anyone. Many tax preparation and enrolled agent practices answer that search with a line like "IRS problems? We can help," which tells the reader nothing about who will help, what the help involves, or whether the firm handles their kind of problem.
This is a content-planning question for enrolled agents and tax practice owners in the financial, accounting and tax field. It is not tax advice, and nothing here describes how the IRS will handle a particular case.
Start with who can represent, in the IRS's own terms
The IRS's page on preparer credentials states that "Enrolled agents, certified public accountants, and attorneys have unlimited representation rights before the IRS" and may represent clients "on any matters including audits, payment/collection issues, and appeals." Annual Filing Season Program participants have limited rights: they "may only represent clients whose returns they prepared and signed," and only before certain IRS employees. Preparers with only a PTIN "have no authority to represent clients before the IRS," apart from returns they prepared and filed on or before December 31, 2015.
That distinction belongs on your page at the level of the people doing the work. Preparing a return is not representing a client. If a practice has enrolled agents alongside preparers without a credential, the page should say which people handle representation, so a reader does not assume everyone at the firm can stand in front of the IRS for them. Use each person's name and credential, not just "our team."
The IRS's enrolled agent page adds useful framing. It describes an enrolled agent as "a person who has earned the privilege of representing taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service" and says enrolled agents are "unrestricted as to which taxpayers they can represent, what types of tax matters they can handle, and which IRS offices they can represent clients before." Quoting the IRS is often clearer than paraphrasing it, and it keeps the firm from overstating the credential.
Describe the credential the way Circular 230 allows
Circular 230 (31 CFR Part 10) governs practice before the IRS, and section 10.30 covers how practitioners describe themselves. Enrolled agents, along with enrolled retirement plan agents and registered tax return preparers, "may not utilize the term 'certified' or imply an employer/employee relationship with the Internal Revenue Service." The same section gives acceptable descriptions, including "enrolled to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service," "enrolled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service," and "admitted to practice before the Internal Revenue Service." It also bars "a misleading or deceptive statement or claim."
| Phrase to avoid | Better approach | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Certified enrolled agent | Enrolled agent, enrolled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service | Section 10.30 bars "certified" for enrolled agents |
| Former IRS insider who knows their playbook | State the prior IRS role and dates accurately, with no suggestion of a current connection | Section 10.30 bars implying an employer/employee relationship with the IRS |
| We make IRS problems disappear | Describe the steps the firm takes and what the client will need to do | An outcome promise can mislead |
| Our team represents you in any IRS matter | Name the enrolled agents (and any CPAs or attorneys) who handle representation | Not every preparer has representation rights |
The page on credentials a prospective client can check covers designations and public lookups more broadly. Here the point is the representation claim itself. Carry the same wording into directory listings, email signatures, and social profiles, so a careful description on the website is not undercut somewhere else.
Explain how representation starts
Most readers do not know that representation begins with paperwork. The IRS says, "Use Form 2848 to authorize an individual to represent you before the IRS," and notes that "The individual you authorize must be a person eligible to practice before the IRS." A short section explaining that the client signs this authorization, and what the firm does once it is in place, removes a lot of uncertainty.
It also helps to separate two kinds of help a reader may be looking for: someone to prepare a return that is late, and someone to act for them in an examination or collection matter. Many readers do not know those are different services, and some will need both, so say which ones the practice offers and how they connect.
The rest of that section should come from your own process. What should a new client bring to the first conversation? Who reviews the notice? How does the firm communicate while a matter is open, and what does the client still have to do? A practical question to put to the team is, "When someone calls holding an IRS letter, what are the first three things we ask for?" Those three things often make the most useful lines on the page. For onboarding steps across firm types, see what happens after the first call.
Fictional example: an enrolled agent practice in New Mexico
A fictional two-person practice in New Mexico, one enrolled agent and one seasonal preparer, had a page headed "IRS Problem Resolution" with a bulleted list: audits, liens, levies, back taxes, penalties. It never said who would do the work, how it started, or what the firm did not handle.
The revised page opens with a two-sentence answer: the enrolled agent represents clients in examinations and collection matters after the client signs Form 2848, and the seasonal preparer does not handle representation. It walks through the practice's first-week steps and closes with the matters it refers to an attorney. The writer should not have to invent those referral lines; the enrolled agent supplied them from cases she has actually sent elsewhere, and she approved the final wording. The old bulleted list survives lower on the page, but each item now leads to a sentence explaining what the practice does for that kind of matter and what it needs from the client.
Fees, records, and what not to promise
Representation fees are hard to state in advance, but section 10.30 does allow practitioners to publish certain fee information, including "Fixed fees for specific routine services," "Hourly rates," "Range of fees for particular services," and "Fee charged for an initial consultation." The section also says a practitioner may charge no more than published rates "for at least 30 calendar days after the last date on which the schedule of fees was published," so have your reviewer read that part before any fee goes on the page.
Section 10.30 sets retention rules for some communications as well: "In the case of direct mail and e-commerce communications, the practitioner must retain a copy of the actual communication," and keep it "for a period of at least 36 months from the date of the last transmission or use." Ask whoever handles your compliance how that applies to your website and email. On outcomes, describe the process and leave the result unstated, because no page can know how a particular matter will end.
In Hudson South's process, the Authority Asset gathers the practice's approved knowledge and evidence, such as credentials, referral lines, and intake steps. Hudson Twenty-One records how the practice communicates across 21 dimensions so the page sounds like the enrolled agent. Market Intelligence researches what people ask after they receive an IRS letter, and AEO Creation turns those inputs into answer-first content.
Make your representation page answer the first call
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- Understanding tax return preparer credentials and qualifications. Internal Revenue Service. Read 2026-10-15.
- Enrolled agent information. Internal Revenue Service. Read 2026-10-15.
- 31 CFR 10.30, Solicitation. eCFR, National Archives. Read 2026-10-15.
- 31 CFR Part 10, Practice Before the Internal Revenue Service. eCFR, National Archives. Read 2026-10-15.
- About Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative. Internal Revenue Service. Read 2026-10-15.