Conflict Of Interest

[peggysioux]

If I am an enrolled agent and have my own business, but also work part-time as an employee year-round for another company handling their books, would it be a conflict of interest if I handled their return as well.

[taxcraft]

Tax Prep

I am not aware of EA rules but I believe you can also prepare their tax return. One thing I am sure of, you cannot audit your own work.

[BHoffman]

If I am an enrolled agent and have my own business, but also work part-time as an employee year-round for another company handling their books, would it be a conflict of interest if I handled their return as well.

Hi peggysioux - I don't think it's a conflict of interest at all for you to prepare their tax return. The "known or should have known" burden is on sure on you , though

[Koss]

Dual Role

I don't think you have a conflict of interest as the term is understood in the context of Cir 230.

In theory, you could have a different type of conflict of interest, but it's probably nothing you need to worry about.

If the company that you work for as an employee is really big, and if the cost of services associated with the tax return prep is really large, then, within the world of corporate regulation, you could have a conflict that you have to disclose to management, or that might have to be reviewed by HR or something. (Of course, management would already know that you were performing services in two different capacities.)

Again, it's probably not applicable to your situation. But on a theoretical level, it raises very subtle questions about whether the company should be seeking bids for the work, and whether the decision to have you do the return was inappropriately influenced by the fact that you are also an employee.

I'm not trying to scare you or discourage from you taking the client. But this is the sort of thing they'll hear from their lawyer, if they ask about it. It's Alice-in-Wonderland, Sarbanes-Oxley type stuff.

You said you work for the company part-time.

Here's an interesting factoid:

If a full-time employee prepares a tax return for a company in the course of their duties, then they are not considered a tax preparer for purposes of most of the preparer penalties.

BMK