Like Father, Like Son
My first tax season was in 2000 (the 1999 filing season). Three tax seasons later in September 2002 at 24 years old I became an enrolled agent. My father has been an enrolled agent for more than 40 years, so that is what started my intere... Brien G. Gregan, EA
If at First You Do Not Succeed…
I had been a California registered tax preparer (CRTP) for seven years and I had just passed the Registered Tax Return Preparer (RTRP) exam. Then the law was repealed and the RTRP designation became worthless. This spurred me... Niki J. Young, EA
Why I Became an Enrolled Agent
I started my career in the restaurant business. I worked my way through college to earn a business degree. During those years I worked in a hospital kitchen that also offered a culinary school. I took the culinary classes, we... Carlos C. Lopez, EA
Sharing a Common Purpose
I was the first in my family to go to college and I had no idea what to study. I was good at math and science. At one point, I dreamed of building roads and bridges in remote places and considered engineering. Fortunately... David Tolleth, EA
Providing a Positive Difference
About 12 years ago I landed what I thought was the perfect job for me at a company I had long admired. You might be wondering, “What was the job and for which company?” Here is on... Jonathan B. Call, EA
The Key to Success
Like so many colleagues, my enrolled agent (EA) journey began through a series of random forks in the road and some fortunate stumbles into opportunities. Career by happenstance, I suppose, but I also hear my father’s words of advice rattling aro... Jennifer MacMillan, EA
Earning Recognition
Right out of college, I was offered my first job in the insurance industry as a claims adjuster. About three years into my role, a position opened in the Accounting Department at the company. With the recommendation of my boss, I applied. Since I h... Nicole Green, EA, NTPI Fellow®
Being the “Bestest” Tax Nerd You Can Be
I became enamored with taxes at a very early age. I will forever be thankful to my math teacher in junior high school who introduced me to taxes. For two weeks, a long table was strewn with piles of tax forms. I can still remember the wonderful smell of m... Robin Gervais, EA
Flying the EA Flag
My enrolled agent (EA) journey is probably different from many others. My journey began in 1991, about 15 years into my 22-year United States Air Force career. My squadron commander asked me to take on an additional duty as the unit’s tax advisor. And by “additional ... Brian D. Prucey, EA
From Expat to Entrepreneur to EA
I did not know it at the time, but my enrolled agent (EA) journey began in 2002 when my wife, Carrie, and I moved from the United States to Barcelona to pursue our Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees. When we graduated in 2004, we... David McKeegan, EA
A Turning Point
I got into the tax business as a means to an end—a way to make decent money without working all year, frankly. My dad and uncle owned and operated a multilocation tax preparation business in the Los Angeles area: Pronto... Andrew Freiburghouse, EA
The Will to Succeed
As a child, I was a refugee, a destitute immigrant, and a member of a family of Holocaust survivors. English was not my first language; perhaps my third, by the time I was 5 years old. I also had a speech impediment and spent years in speec... Eva Rosenberg, EA
Making the World Better – One Client at a Time
I am a polymath, whose interests span chemical engineering, medicine, biotechnology, business, and management, among other areas. Some of my inventions/developments include a dialyzer, a dialysate, a neurosurgical drill, a respiratory inspirometer, colon... Roy A. Ackerman, EA
Life’s Chapters
Life has its chapters. The enrolled agent (EA) license started my professional chapter and it is still in progress. We, EAs, never stop learning... I am not going to say I drifted in life because all of the other chapters prior came full circle in my ongoing professional chapter. Let’s go ... Ruth Ann Michnay, EA, CPA, USTCP
I Am an Enrolled Agent
After college in 1989, I had to move back in with my parents because, let's face it, who is going to hire a 21 year-old with no experience being part of a team? And my degree was in communication, a double-whammy when it came to corporate governance in the 90s. I was feeling sorry for myself, ... Cheryl Williams, EA
The Road Less Traveled
My tax journey started in 2008. I was 29 years old, and living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, near my hometown of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, working in student services at the University of Pennsylvania. I was a student leader in college, both during undergraduate and graduate studies at the Un... Thomas A. Gorczynski, EA, USTCP
Planning for the Future
When I was young—18—and attending my local community and state college, I also had a part-time job typing financial records for Stanford University. These documents listed every location on the university’s campus with corresponding columns of numbers and totals. Accuracy was paramount. T... Jean Nelsen, EA
My Path to Becoming an EA
So how does a woman with a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering become an enrolled agent (EA)? As I often remind people, your school decisions at 18 years old should not lock you in for life. Mine did not. After spending years as an engineer, I decided to... Beth Logan, EA
The Power of Building Relationships
My entrance into the tax industry began like so many others, in that it really was not my chosen field. My college education was in business computer information systems. After college, I went to work in the retail industry never utilizing my passion and skills. During the year prior to enter... Timothy W. Adams, EA
More than Initials Behind My Name
My enrolled agent (EA) journey began in 1995. At the nudging of my wife, I took a basic income tax course at a local box retailer. The topics, mainly the calculations, intrigued me, and by the end of the course, my confidence in tax preparation was high. I worked at the retailer f... James Roberson, Jr.
We SpEAk Tax
Our meeting with the Internal Revenue Service agent was wrapping up. Sitting in the chair next to my husband, our two-year-old on my lap, I felt helpless. I knew it would take us years to pay the balance, especially with penalties and interest. All of the horror stories I had heard about ... Kesha M. Dawson Harris, EA, NTPIF, Mrs. Harris
My EA Journey
For me, like many others, becoming an enrolled agent was a second career. It started with a part-time seasonal job preparing taxes while I continued my full-time career as an elementary music teacher. I began studying for the SEE exam and became an enrolled agent the following summer. Membership in NAEA and par... Lori Carpenter, EA, CPA
The enrolled agent’s life is one to live! Pick a life and jump in.
My enrolled agent career started in 1987 when I received my master’s degree in accounting and finance from Regis University. Working at my own practice, JCP Financial, Inc., has been a wonderful ride of helping people with the many questions that arise on how to file their ... Carlton P. Johnson, Jr., EA, MBA
My EA Journey
I started on the path to becoming an enrolled agent (EA) in 2004 when I took an H&R Block tax training course. I was newly married and had purchased my first house, so I thought that taking a tax preparation class would help me to understand my own financial situation better. I fell ... Steven Heeley, EA
My EA Journey
I think I truly fell in love with taxation my sophomore year of college. At this point, I had already declared accounting as my major at Montclair State University. After years of working with my mom during tax season and after my first “Taxation of Individuals” class with a near perfect GPA, I was convinced that I would follow in my mom’s footsteps. Taxation was the career path I would choose. I decided after my four years at Mon... Brianna Antonelli, EA