[HighMileageDude]

Well i have a relative who goes to HR block to get tax returns done. He hears im a cpa so he starts asking me questions assuming I know everything there is to know about doing individual tax returns. He mentions at HR Block he uses someone with just a high school education who makes $10/hour during the tax season doing returns and during the rest of the year has some other job (bar tending maybe? Not sure)

Anyway, I try to be a humble college graduate who happens to be a CPA who admits he doesn’t have any experience doing individual tax returns, and this distant relative seems confused by that, as though he can’t understand why I even bothered to go to get a college degree.

I guess what I take from all this is that it’s like common people jhear CPA and expect you know everything there is to know about individual taxation, and if you don’t know some basics (never really done a return before – never had to) & assume you’re incompetent and went to college for nothing..haha

[lucretia123]

MCLKT – your point about different types of doctors is something I frequently say to people when they assume that I am busy during ‘tax season' and all ‘Accountants' are the same. I let folks know that there are differnt types of Accountants, just like there are different types of doctors. I would not want a podiatrist (foot doctor) to perform brain surgery on me, the same way I would not want a Tax Specialist to conduct my Financial Statement Audit.

BEC - Passed AUD - Passed REG - Passed FAR - Passed
It feel surreal to be done with the exams! I think it is still sinking in.

[Justinnnn]

I disagree OP – I believe that “CPA” should imply to the “common people” that you have more than “basic” income tax knowledge, even if that is not your specialization. In fact, those of us who have been licensed have been in part for our income tax knowledge. From the AICPA's exam CSO:

“Regulation (REG)

The Regulation section tests knowledge and understanding of ethics, professional and legal responsibilities, business law, and federal taxation. “

Federal Taxation

These topics test knowledge and understanding of concepts and laws relating to federal taxation (income, gift, and estate)

….

In addition to demonstrating knowledge and understanding of these topics, candidates are required to demonstrate the skills required to apply that knowledge in providing tax preparation and advisory services and performing other responsibilities as certified public accountants… “

REG 80 2/7/11
FAR 91 10/8/11
AUD 97 11/22/11
BEC 96 2/4/12

CPA 3/15/13

[HighMileageDude]

I'm not disagreeing that we should have more than a basic understanding of income taxes. What i find at times bothersome though is when you run into people who hear that you just finished college and got your CPA and that now you are somehow a total expert on all scenarios in individual taxation – as though your Bachelors (and possibly Masters) coupled with a recently earned CPA credential mean that you've had 15+ tax classes and nothing else and are ready to set up a tax firm immediately down the street and just do people's taxes all day, because after all, most of the public thinks that's all a CPA is for.

Heck, people's thinking is – if you don't set up a tax firm down the street and/or don't know your stuff in individual tax, then why did you even go to college when HR Block folks make an hourly wage, have in some cases had more tax classes than a newly minted CPA (definition of “tax classes” may be hazy at best). The cpa exam is open book, & A CPA just does taxes right? 😉

[jelly]

The irony is that many CPAs don't bother with individual taxes, other than the cases that H&R block can't handle, i.e. international/foreign income sources with citizenship issues, and most corporate taxes.

Couldn't pass again!

[J]

@jelly – That's amusing, especially because some of the very cases that you mentioned (foreign income sources with citizenship issues) are those that are frequently done by Big 4 tax and they frequently screw them up. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you view it) I had several returns that came across my desk in my last position like this that had to be amended… US citizens living abroad, foreign income sources, and littered with mistakes that were resulting in significant discrepancies between the liabilities that were calculated and the amounts actually owed (to the benefit of the IRS, not the taxpayer).

[Author]

Replies