Discussion:ASTPS - Anyone a Member

If so, what do you think of the association?

Is it worth it?

Are the seminars worth it?

Thanks

On a short trip I made about a month ago to pick up my computer out of the shop, I must have heard 3 radio commercials from 3 different national tax outfits doing this. Do this many Americans have tax problems to rise to this level?

You get that many calls, and you are likely to start taking cases that should be turned down, or taking peoples money with no hope of success. Something similar happened in the debt counseling field.

Then, the first thing you know, the IRS will start asking Congress to restrict all these progams, or do what they can do through rulemaking. Of course, the legitimate practitioners and people with legitimate problems will get hurt the most.

The main problem this area of practice faces is from those that have a solution in search of a problem. They sell a product and not professional services designed to solve IRS problems. The recent decision against JKH illustrates this as well as anything can. Only a small fraction of people with IRS problems are OIC candidates, but if your commission is based on OIC's, it is OIC's you will promote. Hopefully, the IRS's current hard line on Offers will weed the shoe salesmen out of the business.

As far as how much representation is needed: you would indeed be surprised at how many people have tax problems. We get several calls per week, half of which show up for their appointments and half again as many do I take on as clients. I can tell you that it is year-round work, but it is VERY emotionally draining. And you never are hired until the last minute, so you had better be ready and able to JUMP otherwise you have to turn down the engagement.

There's some lawyer group TV ad running now in Atlanta, and I know it's all bull. I'd guess most of them on there are full of it. Then, you look at our Yellow Pages under lawyers/tax rep, and you find a couple of guys that have been doing this for years, and are very experienced. Hope the public is wise enough to see the difference, but they'll usually go with the TV every time.

I should also add that there are many professionals that are capable of doing OIC's and Innocent Spouse, all sorts of things. Kevin, you being one of them of course, and many others on here. I just have a strong feeling that many are getting into this with absolutely no grounding or experience in tax law: especially the lawyers jumping into it. You can't size up one of these cases if you don't have some experience, and I'm certainly not claiming to have it.

We were watching Steven Spielberg's 'Catch Me If You Can' on dvd last night. I was struck by the fact that father Christopher Walken was constantly having problems with IRS.

§ 10.30 Solicitation.

(a) Advertising and solicitation restrictions.

Enrolled agents, in describing their professional designation, may not utilize the term of art "certified" or imply an employer/employee relationship with the Internal Revenue Service.

I don't plan to market for this type of business. But every once in a while I do run into someone who needs representation. It doesn't hurt to know how to effectively represent.

For me, it's more a question of time and money. Can this association really put on a seminar that's worthwhile or am I just wasting my time on stuff I already know.