Prevent · Find a Pro

Find a Pro

Two doors, both honest. The first is the IRS's own: two official directories of the people the IRS recognizes. The second is ours: vetted pros building their practice on Niptei Tax, with their prices published before you ever engage.

Education only — not personal tax advice. Personal questions route to a credentialed pro.

Door 1 — the IRS's own directories

When the IRS wants you to find help, these are the two doors it built. They are not the same list, and knowing which one you are standing in is the whole lesson: one lists credentialed people, the other lists businesses authorized to e-file.

The people

Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications

The IRS's searchable directory of paid preparers who hold a PTIN and a credential or qualification: Enrolled Agents, CPAs, attorneys, Annual Filing Season Program participants, and enrolled actuaries and retirement plan agents. Search it by ZIP and distance, or by last name.

Use this when… you want to check that a real person holds the credential they claim — before you hand them your financial life.

Search the IRS Preparer Directory ↗
How the directory works — IRS FAQ ↗

The businesses

Authorized IRS e-file Provider Locator

A separate, ZIP-code searchable IRS database of the businesses holding an active EFIN (Electronic Filing Identification Number) — the firms and offices authorized to transmit returns electronically. A person can be credentialed without ever appearing here, and a business can appear here staffed by preparers of many tiers.

Use this when… a firm will e-file your return and you want the IRS's confirmation that the business is an authorized provider.

Open the IRS e-file Provider Locator ↗

What the credentials actually mean

Enrolled Agent (EA)

Licensed by the IRS itself after passing a three-part exam on individual and business tax. Unlimited representation rights — an EA can stand in for you before the IRS on any matter, for any year.

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Licensed by a state board after education, the CPA exam, and experience requirements. Unlimited representation rights before the IRS, plus accounting and audit work beyond taxes.

Attorney

Licensed by a state bar. Unlimited representation rights before the IRS and the only tier that can represent you in court beyond Tax Court admission rules — the tier for disputes, collections fights, and tax law questions.

PTIN holder — AFSP Record of Completion

A preparer who voluntarily completes annual continuing education and earns the IRS Annual Filing Season Program Record of Completion. LIMITED representation rights: only for returns they prepared and signed, and only before exam-level IRS staff — not Appeals or collections.

Enrolled Actuary

Enrolled under ERISA to practice before the IRS on pension and retirement-plan matters. A specialist tier — listed in the IRS directory, rarely the right door for an individual return.

Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent (ERPA)

Authorized to represent taxpayers before the IRS on employee-plan matters. A specialist tier, like the enrolled actuary.

PTIN holder (no credential tier above)

Holds the Preparer Tax Identification Number every paid preparer must have to sign a return — but no EA/CPA/attorney credential and no AFSP record. No representation rights before the IRS beyond the return itself. Legal to hire; know exactly what you are hiring.

Representation rights, plainly: attorneys, CPAs, and Enrolled Agents hold unlimited rights under Circular 230. An AFSP Record of Completion carries limited rights — returns that preparer prepared and signed only, and not before Appeals. A PTIN alone carries none. The tier is not a quality score — but it decides who can stand next to you if the IRS writes back.

Verify-a-Pro checklist

Six checks, five minutes, before anyone touches your return. Tick them off as you go.

Find them in the IRS Preparer Directory (Door 1, above) — name, city, and credential should match what they told you. No listing, no signature: walk away.If they will e-file for you, confirm their business in the Authorized IRS e-file Provider Locator — e-filing takes an EFIN, and the locator is where EFIN holders live.For a CPA or an attorney, check the state license board too — the IRS directory shows the credential; the board shows whether it is in good standing.They sign your return with their name and PTIN. A preparer who will not sign — a “ghost” preparer — leaves YOU holding every number on the return.The fee is fixed and quoted before the work starts. Never a percentage of your refund, never “we'll take it out of the refund” through their own account.You get copies of everything filed in your name. Always. A pro who will not hand over copies is telling you something.

Door 2 — Pros on Niptei Tax

Pros who build their practice here get a storefront: their credential, their place, their languages, their own fixed prices — and a badge that means something, because they cannot set it themselves. A listing reads Verification pending until platform vetting checks the practitioner against the same IRS Preparer Directory in Door 1; then, and only then, it shows the verified badge with the date it was checked. Search the storefronts, then register with the pro you choose.

Search by city, county, ZIP, or nameCredential tierLanguageSpecialty

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Preparers: this shelf is yours to stand on

Everything on this page points clients at verified help — including, soon, yours. A Niptei Tax storefront puts your credential, your prices, and your registration intake in front of the clients already decoding letters and building packets here, under your own name and letterhead. See how Pros & Trust works → Open your Firm Office →