Bring the Best to Bear™

Advance Tax Services boasts a wide range of tax and accounting specialties, but this isn’t a shop where you’ll encounter anyone with a narrow focus. Linda and Alan Ruckel ran businesses separately and together before they moved to New Mexico. While Alan gained experience working for the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, Linda started out as a preparer for a big tax firm and earned her IRS Enrolled Agent certification.

As Linda progressed in her career, she became convinced that her clients would be better served by a top-notch tax preparer who could also support impeccable bookkeeping and smart accounting practices. So, in 2002, Linda launched Advance Tax Services, and began promoting the continuing education and professionalism that defines her firm today.

When you work with Advance Tax Services, you are mobilizing a team that is trained to see the big picture and committed to the highest ethical standards. With Advance Tax Services, you can avoid the piecemeal approach to financials that trips up so many small businesses and undermines so many retirements; and because the staff’s certifications require ongoing education, clients can expect that the advice they receive is current and tailored to fit their particular needs.

A Guide to Our Certifications (and why they matter to you!)

Enrolled Agent – EA

An Enrolled Agent is “enrolled” with the Internal Revenue Service to serve as an expert representative on behalf of his or her clients. An EA may represent a client who is being audited or is out of compliance with IRS regulations. For example, an EA might represent a client who has failed to file taxes in one or more years, who owes back taxes, or who has been assessed a tax lien or levy.

Additionally, EA certification entails rigorous testing and continuing education. When an EA prepares your taxes, you know you won’t misfile or miss out on a newly-approved deduction.

Accredited Business Accountant – ABA

Just as individuals can advertise tax preparation services without substantial training or a commitment to professional standards, you want to be careful as you choose someone to manage your accounts. An Accredited Business Accountant must have at least three years experience and sit for a six-hour exam covering financial accounting, financial reporting, financial statement preparation, taxation, managerial accounting, business law, and ethics. Like Enrolled Agents, ABAs must earn continuing education credit to maintain their certifications.

Certified Payroll Specialist – CPS

Certified Payroll Specialists are trained in timekeeping, wage calculation, payroll and tax duties such as federal and state reporting, and withholding. This certification tells you that you’re working with someone who understands not just the software that records and calculates your payroll, but the requirements and expected outcomes of a payroll system.

Certified Public Bookkeeper – CPB

Like the Certified Payroll Specialist, the CPB has experience, sits for an exam, and adheres to a code of ethics.

Registered Tax Return Preparer – RTRP

In 2010, acknowledging that many taxpayers were being improperly served, the IRS launched a program to raise standards for tax return preparers. This program was to confer IRS accreditation on qualifying preparers, as the agency does for Enrolled Agents. Linda and Alan both obtained this certification when it was offered, but the program was discontinued in 2013 when a court decided that the IRS didn’t have authority to set this standard… further proof that the consumer should take care when searching for a tax preparer.