Resources for New Practitioner

Hi everyone,

I am approaching 2 years into my tax accounting career. I am hoping to gather a few bits of information from some more experienced practitioners here:

- What, if any, is a good "barometer for competence" that one would apply for someone at my level? (i.e., is there a particular set of principles/concepts/work that one would anticipate a 2-year tax accountant to know, etc.)
- What are some good resources for either staying up-to-date on current tax law, or some good resources/habits for doing tax research? I find that I oftentimes get lost in the weeds trying to find the answer to a particular issue or question and end up wasting a lot of time just reading various regs & articles that don't point to the solution I'm looking for.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

I think the key for competence is to just be aware of your own limits. You can only learn so many things well, so choose those based on your clients, your interests and your region. For example, I don't do farm returns. It's not that they're so difficult, but there are plenty of farming-specific tax issues and I'd rather direct my time toward other areas.

I use Parker Tax Publishing for tax research and they put out a lengthy newsletter every two weeks on the latest developments in tax. For website, I like thetaxadvisor.com and journalofaccountancy.com.

My other tip for research: If you don't know the right terminology, finding research can be hard. I often start with a basic web search just to see what terminology comes up, or perhaps some references to cases or regs. Then I go back to my proper research tools for reliable and authoritative information.

I found that a good "barometer for competence" in my career was when I was able to explain tax/accounting concepts to others instead of just following management's instructions without necessarily fully understanding. I think once you are able to explain a concept to a client/associate it is an indication that you understand. It's also a confidence boost when it "clicks" like that. I would say that it didn't click that way for me until about 3-4 years into my career (even though I was good at following instructions and the basics before then).

I like TaxSpeakers free newsletter that comes out weekly. It's often helpful to point out what is new or areas that can easily be overlooked.

Master Tax Guide (paperback), then BNA portfolios (online), then google

At 1 year, you should be able to prepare 1040s
At 2 years, you should be able to prepare 1120, 1120-S, 1065, 1040-NR.
At 3 years, gift and estate returns.
At 4 years, begin tackling more complicated corporate return issues.
At 5 years, international issues

It kind of depends on your clients. You might not get a lot of international clients but you do get a lot of state issues.

The IRS uses Checkpoint Learning, in addition to their in-house learning. A year subscription is about $350, it’s ok online training.

After you have conquered the above, then below

You can review the LB&I tax modules (headache) or ATG (audit technique guides, much easier to understand) at IRS website
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-bu ... uides-atgs
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/corporat ... tice-units

You can also read part 4 of the IRM to see how the IRS audits.
https://www.irs.gov/irm/part4

Mainly you learn the first 3 years, get seasoned years 4-9, become jaded at 10 year mark

My best advice: quit the profession. Or apply to be a criminal investigator with the IRS. Baring that, get married, have kids, get a hobby, move near parents, exercise every day. The burn out is real otherwise.

Research is pretty easy.

Step 1.
Flip open MasterTax Guide. Go to index, find key word, flip to section. Repeat until you find right section. The Master Tax Guide will tell you the IRC code number and basic tax law. Most of the time, you can stop there.
There’s also the Master Depreciation Guide.

If you are poor, buy a used guide several years old for $5. Usually the office won’t provide the Master Tax Depreciation Guide, so I buy an old one. Then, when I know correct page/section, I will google Master Tax Depreciation and go to right section online. Can’t copy it, can read it.

For example, the partner says: Prepare a cost segregation study! You have never heard of it. You google what it is, flip to the back of the Master Tax Depreciation Guide, and find the lives of all the assets. Done! Plus, there was a time in years 2-5 where it felt like I had to constantly look up asset lives.

Step 2. If the Master Tax Guide isn’t enough, get the IRC code from Master Tax Guide, google the topic with IRC code included. Mainly it will return Tax Advisor articles, Journal of Accountancy articles, and powerpoints prepared by school/cpa firms/cpe learning facilities. What these give you are case law citations.

Step 3
If google doesn’t cut it, if you are super rich, you will have access to BNA portfolio online. Google BNA portfolio + topic. It will return a BNA portfolio number. Go read it. This will be an in-depth explanation of the topic, citing plr, case law, etc

If you are less rich, maybe you have access to CCH

Step 4
This is when there is no case law. Cite the IRC and Reg. very carefully
There are other tax guides, like Postlewaite, Bittker.

Sometimes I had very specific questions about S-Corps. I like S Corp Taxation by Robert Jamison

That’s how I research.
Start basic with Master Tax Guide, get IRC.
Get case law through google and BNA.

Maybe volunteer for VITA starting year 3-5.
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-ta ... -taxpayers

…Join your state CPA organization. Network. VITA isn’t just to help, it is to meet other CPAs, your local IRS agents.

…and you should KNOW depreciation by year 3. Change in Accounting Methods by year 4.

EA by year 2 if you didn’t go to college.
CPA by year 3 if you did go to college

Later, around year 7-9, consider either: CFO of company, becoming CFP

And of you are old and struggling to find job, consider IRS, no age discrimination

This forum is a great resource. Just *reading* it at least every several days will increase your competence.

Get on Jim Counts' "TaxTalkNews" blast.
https://groups.io/g/TaxTalkNews/topics

There are 2 other good forums:
https://taxproxchange.groups.io/g/main/topics
https://groups.io/g/TT-TaxTalk

"TaxTalk" is restricted to, maybe CPAs...