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clips2007
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Joined: 03 Nov 2007
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Posts: 184

Posted: 21 Feb 2010 at 17:18 \| IP Logged

Clients are extremely fee conscious nowadays. Why would they pay a JD 400/hr when a CPA could do the same job for half or even less than half the price? The only advantage the Tax attorney has over the CPA is when tax disputes become a question of fraud, but only few cases turn out that way. The IRS must pay lawyers also; they want to save money also so they’ll keep disputes a matter of civil violations. So a CPA can work on those cases.

kj_nyc
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Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Location: United States
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Posts: 1145

Posted: 21 Feb 2010 at 20:59 \| IP Logged

Barry! Nice to hear from you, and thanks for your insightful comments as usual.

Do you do the trial-level tax controversy for work? Or at least more of the planning and consulting type of work because of your background as a lawyer? I'm hoping to have more opportunity to do that type of work if I can pass the exam to get admitted to practice in tax court (and I also enjoy learning the law-related stuff - I really wish I weren't so interested in law since I can't afford to go to law school, but I just can't seem to help it). I think I enjoy the tax research and controversy work because of the similarities to legal research. There is a significant difference between consulting versus compliance work. The compliance work is more about filling out forms and making sure all the numbers are right, lots of ticking and tying work that I personally find to be mind-numbing at times, but that seems to comprise the bulk of work at smaller (non-Big 4) CPA firms.

On another note, do you have any tips on bar exam study that you wouldn't mind sharing? I've been amassing and working through various bar review materials for tax court exam subjects that are covered on the bar exam.

__________________
KJ, CPA licensed in New York
AUD - May 2009 - 99
FAR - July 2009 - 99
REG - Aug 2009 - 99
BEC - Oct 2009 - 93
License applied for Nov 2009, received Jan 2010

Barry223
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Joined: 09 Feb 2009
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Posted: 25 Feb 2010 at 20:06 \| IP Logged

Hi KJ_nyc -
Sorry to take so long to respond to your post. I've been a bit snowed
under at work, so again, my apologies.

Anyway, to answer your questions, I do not do any trial work. Since I work
for a CPA firm, I think I would be violating fee-splitting laws if I tried. Not
sure how that would work for someone with Tax Court certification since
technically that doesn't make you a lawyer. Still, if you're interested in tax
controversy I think that could be a good credential to have, especially
since compared to some areas of law (e.g. securities), tax really isn't that
profitable so there could definitely be growth in this area if the bigger law
firms start to phase out this kind of work (except for really huge stuff like
the Glaxo transfer-pricing settlement.)

I do a fair amount of research and planning, but at least in my
experience, it's hard to draw a bright line between the compliance and
consulting. In firms where I've worked, the chain of command, so to
speak, isn't quite as rigid as it might be in say, the Big 4, so a lot of my
bosses have given me more of this kind of work than is typically given to
staff/seniors since I've shown an interest in it and managed to do
passably well at it.

As for the bar exam, and how it might relate to the Tax Court exam
(about which I have to admit I don't know very much), I would have to say
that one of the biggest differences compared to say, the CPA exam, is
trying to unbundle all the issues in an essay. Usually on the CPA exam,
even the sims, it's usually not hard to identify what the issue is. You
might not know the answer, but that's another story. The bar examiners
(and law professors) love to play hide-the-ball with issues so that's one
thing you may have to deal with, though again I'm not sure. Not sure I
can think of anything else right off the top of my head, but hope this
answer helps a little.

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BEC - Passed
FAR - Passed (2nd attempt)
AUD - Passed

careermindedmom
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Joined: 10 Feb 2010
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Posts: 115

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 at 16:16 \| IP Logged

My brother is an attorney and I think I faired far better than he did with my
MAcc. I have a 20% of the student loans he has and my earning potential is
comparable.

So although I wanted to be an attorney to follow in his footsteps, I'm glad I
picked this route and can always opt to be a Tax Accountant. His interests
weren't business though, so law was the best route for him - but he is in a
tremendous amount of financial strain even though he went to law school
with NO student loans, but came out with a mountain of debt.

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AUD - 84 PASSED!
REG - 78 PASSED!
BEC - 77 PASSED!
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kj_nyc
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Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Location: United States
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Posts: 1145

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 at 08:53 \| IP Logged

Thanks again, Barry. That does help. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my life. And no problem. I know what you mean about being snowed under at work. Aren't we all at this time of year who work in tax? Haha.

__________________
KJ, CPA licensed in New York
AUD - May 2009 - 99
FAR - July 2009 - 99
REG - Aug 2009 - 99
BEC - Oct 2009 - 93
License applied for Nov 2009, received Jan 2010

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