Gregan completes tax practice courses

Friday, Nov. 6, 2009

Brien G. Gregan has earned the "fellow" designation from the National Association of Enrolled agents for completing the National Tax Practice Institute. This achievement demonstrated Gregan's dedication to protecting taxpayer rights and attests to his expertise in tax law, according to a press release.

Gregan has been an enrolled agent since 2003 and has worked with Smatax Tax Services in Waldorf since 2000, he said. His three years of coursework at the institute, one year in Washington, D.C., and two years in Baltimore, was "basically extensive training on representing clients before the IRS, basically, is the gist of it," he said. The work helps him help clients weather audits and collections disputes with the agency.

Having successfully completed coursework covering all variants of examinations, audits, collections and appeals, and having studied best practices and role-playing, fellows know the entire process from both the IRS and client perspective, according to a release. The course, open only to licensed tax professionals, was developed to prepare them to protect their clients' rights by disseminating the most recent information about relevant laws and procedures.

Enrolled agents are independent, federally authorized practitioners who have demonstrated technical competence in tax law and are the only taxpayer representatives licensed to practice by the federal government. Agents also prepare tax returns for individuals, partnerships, corporations, estates, trusts and any other entities with tax-reporting requirements, according to a release.