Instructor
David Peters
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Instructor
David R. Peters, CPA, CFP, CLU, CPCU, MST, MBA
Founder & Owner, Peters Professional Education
David Peters is the Founder and Owner of Peters Professional Education in Richmond, VA, and is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an Investment Advisor Representative (IAR) with Peters Financial LLC. He has over fifteen years of experience in financial services, including 3 years in the hedge fund industry and six years in the insurance industry.
David was the first-ever Chief Financial Officer at Compare.com - a position he held for over three years. He is a national CPE Instructor/Discussion Leader for Surgent, Kaplan, the AICPA and Don Farmer Tax Courses. He regularly teaches courses in accounting, finance, insurance, financial planning, and ethics throughout the United States.
He holds four master’s degrees and contributes regularly to various CPA publications, including NCACPA’s Interim Report, SCACPA’s CPA Report, and VSCPA’s Disclosures. He was also a co-author of the Virginia CPA Ethics course in 2018, 2019 and 2020 – a required course for all CPAs licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Education
Certifications
Activities & Associations
In more recent times, the tax profession has become more engagement letter driven. While engagement letters seem to get longer each tax season, it is sometimes difficult to know when they are required and when they are not. Can I answer a quick question from a client without an engagement letter? What happens if a client does not want to sign? Can a preparer ever be liable for penalties related to an engagement? In this course, we will examine these questions and many others related to engagement letters and preparer liability. We will talk about what is required of tax professionals and how an engagement letter protects us. Finally, we will look at some best practices related to client engagement letters.
-Recall the basic requirements for tax preparers according to Circular 230.
-State the different penalties that can be assessed against tax preparers.
-Identify common clauses in engagement letters.
-Recognize when an engagement letter should be signed by a client.
- Practitioner Compliance under Circular 230
- Due Diligence Standards
- Client Fees & False Information Standards
- Conflicts of Interest
- Who is considered a tax preparer?
- What is considered a “substantial portion” of the return for purposes of compliance standards?
- Understatement of Taxpayer Liabilities
- Unauthorized Use or Disclosure Standards
- Engagement Letters
- Disengagement Letters
- Summing It Up
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Tax practitioners, small business owners, and other accountants looking to serve their companies or clients in the areas of payroll services or operations.
