She is wrong, right??

[jIM_Ohio]

Oh good grief, that never occurred to me ... Who the heck then is the most qualified person to prepare a tax return?

Enrolled agent, EA is the letter designation.

Just because a person does not have an EA should NOT disqualify them from answering your questions though. EA means the person can represent you if you get audited.

For example, if the person (or firm) representing you has one EA on staff, you are OK with that person/firm doing your taxes. If you go to HR block, most of the preparers there are NOT EAs, but every office has an EA or two or three or ten available if questions come up.

Most large accounting firms which prepare tax returns would probably have a similar structure.

[wnlbutterfly]

Jim in Ohio: That is true of SS with wages but not self-employment.

"You must pay SE tax and file Schedule SE if your NET earnings from self-employment (excluding church employee income ) were $400 or more." IRS.gov

[Beppington]

rat-out-a-tax-cheat-collect-a-reward: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

[snshijuptr]

I know that as a High School senior I prepared taxes which were then checked by a couple of CPAs. They ultimately signed them as the "preparer". So just because a CPA charges you $60 an hour doesn't mean it wasn't typed up by a student. Preparing most taxes is a simply process of copying from a paper to a computer Wizard.

[BadSaver]

Agreed. On the flip side, being a CPA means you are an accountant. It doesn't mean that you know anything about taxes!

Generally accounting degrees include tax classes. The CPA exam portion called Regulation pertains to taxes.

The CPA designation allows one to perform attestation and tax services. Anyone (no law regulating) can do accounting...