Your chartered accountant cannot speak to the IRS for you

Figures relate to tax year 2025-26 (UK) · 2025 (US)

A letter arrives from the IRS. You forward it to the accountant who has handled your British affairs competently for years, and they tell you they cannot deal with it.

That is not modesty. A British chartered accountant has no standing before the American tax authority, however good they are, because the right to represent somebody there comes from a specific set of credentials.

Two of those matter in practice. An enrolled agent is licensed federally by the IRS itself, and a CPA is licensed by an individual American state. Knowing which you are dealing with, and which you need, saves a great deal of trouble.

Key takeaways

• An enrolled agent is licensed federally and specialises in tax.
• A CPA is licensed by a state and covers accounting more broadly.
• Both hold unlimited rights to represent you before the IRS.
• A UK chartered accountant has no standing there at all.
• Anyone preparing a US return for payment needs a PTIN.
• Representation rights and preparation rights are different things.
• You can verify any credential through a public IRS directory.

What is an enrolled agent?

A tax specialist licensed by the federal government, not by a state. According to IRS guidance, an enrolled agent is the only kind of adviser whose right to practise comes from the IRS itself.

You earn it one of two ways. Either you pass a three part exam on personal tax, business tax and representation, or you qualify through past work at the IRS. Both routes are hard.

The licence is national. An enrolled agent in London has exactly the same standing as one in Chicago, which is precisely why the credential suits cross-border work.

What does a CPA bring instead?

A wider accounting licence, granted by a single state board. The exam covers audit, accounts and business topics as well as tax. So the training is broader, but less focused on tax.

A CPA can act for you at the IRS without limit, just as an enrolled agent can. The split is in the training and the licence, not in what they may do.

State licensing occasionally matters for other work, such as signing audited accounts. For a personal tax return it rarely does.

A worked example

The figures below are illustrative. They describe a pattern rather than a specific person.

Anna is American, lives in Bristol and uses a respected local firm for her Self Assessment. She receives a notice proposing changes to her 2023 American return.

Her British accountant cannot sign a power of attorney for the IRS, cannot call the practitioner line and cannot negotiate the adjustment. None of that reflects on their competence.

She engages an enrolled agent, who files the authorisation form and deals with the notice directly. The British accountant continues handling her UK return alongside.

The two work in parallel rather than one replacing the other. That split is normal for an American living here.

The credentials compared

The table sets out who can do what. Only the first three rows carry unlimited rights.

What does representation actually mean?

The right to act for you, not just to fill in a form. It covers talking to the IRS for you, answering notices, settling a dispute and turning up at an audit.

It requires a signed authorisation, which the practitioner files. Without it the IRS will not discuss your affairs with anybody, however senior they are.

Preparation rights are narrower and quite separate. Somebody can lawfully prepare your return and still be unable to pick up the phone about it.

Why do UK qualifications carry no weight?

Because America counts only its own credentials here. ICAEW, ACCA and CIOT are serious bodies with hard exams. None of them appears anywhere in the rules on who may act before the IRS.

That is not a judgement on quality. It reflects that each country regulates who may act in front of its own tax authority.

The reverse is equally true. An enrolled agent has no standing with HMRC and cannot file your Self Assessment as your agent.

What is a PTIN?

A preparer tax identification number. Anyone who prepares an American federal return for pay must hold one. It goes on the return itself, in the box for the paid preparer, and it is easy to check.

Holding one is a registration requirement rather than a qualification. Somebody with a PTIN and nothing else has passed no examination and holds no licence.

Check the return you are signing. A missing preparer signature where somebody was paid is a warning sign in itself.

Does the distinction matter for a simple return?

Less than people think, right up until something goes wrong. A plain return with a salary and a foreign tax credit can be done well by anyone who knows the rules. The credential starts to matter later.

The credential matters when a notice arrives, a filing is late or an examination opens. At that point the question becomes who can actually speak for you.

Our guide to IRS letters after a streamlined filing covers what those notices look like.

What should you actually look for?

Cross-border experience first, credential second. An enrolled agent who has never met a British pension, an ISA or a PFIC will struggle with your return whatever the licence happens to say.

Ask how many British clients the firm handles and what they do about treaty positions. The answers separate genuine specialists from generalists quickly.

Our guide to choosing a US UK tax accountant covers the questions worth asking.

How do you verify somebody?

Through a public list the IRS keeps of credentialed preparers. You can search it by place and by credential. It covers enrolled agents, CPAs and attorneys who have signed up to be listed.

The directory is a starting point rather than an endorsement. It confirms the credential exists, not that the person is any good at cross-border work.

Ask directly for the credential and verify it yourself. A genuine practitioner expects the question.

What rules govern their conduct?

A set of practice standards binds everyone who represents taxpayers. They cover care, conflicts of interest, fees and client records. Breaking them can cost a practitioner the right to practise at all.

Those standards also oblige a practitioner to tell you about an error they discover in a past return. They cannot quietly ignore it.

An unenrolled preparer sits largely outside that framework, which is the practical risk in using one.

Can one firm handle both countries?

Some can, and it is usually the simplest set up. A firm holding both an enrolled agent and a British accountant can file on each side and make the two returns match.

The alternative is two firms who talk to each other, which works but needs managing. Figures that should match have a habit of drifting apart.

Ask who reconciles the two returns before you engage anybody.

Does it affect what you pay?

Usually yes. People with credentials charge more than those without, and that is a fair trade. You are paying for tested knowledge and for someone who can act if a problem arises later.

For a cross-border return the gap narrows, because the specialist knowledge counts for more than the letters. In 2025 a straightforward expat return commonly runs from around £400, while a catch-up filing covering six years of account reports can reach £3,000 or more.

Our guide to the cost of streamlined filing gives a sense of catch-up pricing.

What happens if your preparer disappears?

You still own the return. Signing it makes the content yours, and pointing at a preparer rarely works as a defence when penalties are in play. The duty stays with you whatever happens to them.

Reasonable reliance on professional advice can support a reasonable cause argument in some situations. It depends heavily on what you told them and what they told you.

Keep the engagement letter and the advice in writing. Both become evidence if the question ever arises.

Are there warning signs?

Several, and they come up again and again. Walk away from anyone who hides a PTIN, sets the fee from the size of your refund, or asks you to sign a blank return.

Promises of a specific outcome before seeing your papers are another. Nobody can tell you what a return produces without the numbers.

For 2025 the penalty for a substantial understatement is generally 20 per cent of the underpayment, which is what a careless return can cost you.

Does an attorney offer anything extra?

One thing, and it matters in a narrow set of cases. Talks with a lawyer can carry legal privilege, which means they stay private even if the IRS asks. An accountant has no such shield.

That counts where the facts are bad. If past filings may have been deliberate rather than careless, the first call should be to a lawyer.

For an ordinary catch up filing it adds cost without adding much.

Can an adviser be struck off?

Yes. The IRS runs its own discipline process and can suspend or bar somebody from practice. The outcomes are published, so a bar against an enrolled agent is a matter of public record.

A barred preparer may still file returns in some cases, but cannot act for you. That gap catches people out.

Check the credential is current, not just that it once existed.

Do you need somebody in your time zone?

It helps more than people expect. A practitioner working British hours can call you in the evening and deal with the IRS in the American morning, which keeps a notice moving.

A firm five hours behind will always answer a day late. Over a long exchange of letters that adds up.

Ask how they handle the gap before you sign anything.

What about a tax return done by software?

Most packages handle a simple expat return, and many handle it well. The trouble starts with the parts that call for judgement rather than data entry, which is where returns go wrong.

Treaty positions, pension treatment and pooled funds all need a decision rather than a box tick. Software will take whatever you tell it and file it.

Our guide to Form 8833 treaty positions shows the kind of call involved.

Who signs the return?

You do, and so does the paid preparer. Their name, their PTIN and their firm all appear in a box near your signature, which is how the IRS knows who did the work.

A blank preparer box on a return you paid for is a red flag. It means nobody has put their name to it.

Check that box before you sign your own name.

What should the engagement letter cover?

The scope, the fee basis, who deals with notices and what happens if a past year turns out wrong. Those four points head off almost every argument we see later on.

Be clear whether the fee covers only the return or also a reply to a letter months later. Many firms treat those as separate jobs.

Get it in writing before any work starts.

How to check an adviser

1. Ask which credential they hold and who issued it.
2. Confirm they hold a current PTIN for preparing your return.
3. Search the public IRS directory for the credential.
4. Ask how many British resident clients they handle.
5. Ask specifically how they treat pensions and pooled funds.
6. Establish who will handle a notice if one arrives.
7. Check whether anybody reconciles the UK and US returns.
8. Get the engagement terms and the fee basis in writing.

Mistakes and penalties we see when choosing an adviser

The first is assuming a British accountant can deal with the IRS. They cannot, and discovering that mid-notice wastes weeks.

The second is treating the credential as the whole question. An enrolled agent with no cross-border experience will miss treaty positions that matter.

The third is using a preparer with no credential at all for a return involving foreign assets. The reporting is where the penalties live.

The fourth is signing a return without checking the preparer section is completed. A blank box means nobody has taken responsibility.

How US UK Tax Accountants helps

We hold the credentials that allow us to act before the IRS, and we work on British returns alongside them, so the two sides agree rather than drifting apart. Where a notice arrives we deal with it directly rather than handing it back to you.

We also reconcile against your British filings rather than treating them as somebody else's problem. Our US federal return service covers the American side.

If you have had a letter your current accountant cannot answer, get in touch. That is usually the moment the credential starts to matter.

Last reviewed 13 October 2026. This article is general information and not personal tax advice. Every situation turns on its own facts, so take advice on yours before acting.