Can an enrolled agent describe themselves as a certified tax professional?

No. Circular 230, at 31 CFR 10.30, says enrolled agents, enrolled retirement plan agents and registered tax return preparers may not use the term certified when describing their professional designation, nor imply that they are employed by the IRS. It gives acceptable wording instead, such as enrolled to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service, or admitted to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.

Can I publish my tax preparation prices on my website?

Circular 230 allows practitioners to publish fixed fees for specific routine services, hourly rates, ranges of fees for particular services and the fee for an initial consultation. Any fee statement for matters where costs may arise must say whether the client pays those costs. Date the page, because the published rates bind you for at least 30 calendar days after publication.

How long must a published fee stay the same under Circular 230?

Section 10.30(b)(2) says a practitioner may charge no more than the published rates for at least 30 calendar days after the last date on which the schedule of fees was published. So change a fees page on purpose, put the date of the change on the page, and keep the old version on file in case a client asks what was shown.

Can an accounting website promise clients a bigger refund?

Interpretation 1.600.010 of the AICPA code says promotional efforts are false, misleading or deceptive if they create false or unjustified expectations of favorable results. A bigger refund is a favorable result, and it depends on each client's facts. Explain instead what you check, such as credits and deductions the client may have missed.

Do the AICPA advertising rules apply to a referral site that sends me clients?

They concern you. Interpretation 1.600.010 says that when a member serves clients of a third party, the member should determine that the third party's promotional efforts comply with the advertising rule, because members must not do through others what they are prohibited from doing themselves. Read what any lead site or directory says about you before you accept its clients.

How can a client check the credentials of my staff?

The IRS keeps a public Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications, which lists attorneys, CPAs, enrolled agents and others with their city, state and zip code. Certified public accountants are also licensed by state boards of accountancy. Show each person's full name and credential on your team page, so that the directory search matches.

How does an accounting or tax practice become the answer when people ask Google and AI assistants about taxes and bookkeeping?

Which questions clients ask before they hire an accountant, which titles each type of tax professional may use, what the AICPA code and the IRS rules in Circular 230 say about advertising and published fees, and how the pages and the Business Profile should present a practice.

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An accounting or tax practice becomes the answer by giving each service its own page that answers the client's question in its first lines, and by stating on every page and on the Business Profile which credentials the people doing the work hold, using only the titles the rules allow. The IRS says that enrolled agents, certified public accountants and attorneys have unlimited representation rights before the IRS; Circular 230 forbids enrolled agents to describe their designation with the word certified; and the AICPA code forbids advertising that is false, misleading, or deceptive.

Which questions do clients ask before they hire an accountant?

Think of the moments when a person looks for an accountant: a tax deadline comes close, a business starts, a letter from the tax authority arrives, or the bookkeeping is behind. Their questions mix money and trust. What will it cost? Can this person deal with the IRS for me? Is a bookkeeper enough, or do I need a certified public accountant? And above all: is this person qualified?

Licheo wrote the questions in the table on 17 October 2026 as an illustration, with no search figures. Tax rules and dates change every year, so any page that answers a deadline or a rate question should name its official source and the date it was checked; the pages that answer the check questions, on the other hand, rest on facts that change rarely, such as who holds which credential.

Questions clients ask before they hire an accountant, and where the answer belongs: written by Licheo on 17 October 2026 as an illustration, with no search counts.
Question a client might ask	Type	Where the answer belongs
can an accountant talk to the IRS for me	Check	A team page that names each person's credential and what it allows
how much does a small business tax return cost	Cost	A fees page with fixed fees or ranges, as text
do I need a CPA or a bookkeeper	Plan	A comparison page with the tasks each one does
I got a letter from the IRS, what now	Urgent	A page for tax letters: first steps in a short list and how to reach you
accountant open Saturdays in tax season	Now	Business Profile special hours and the same hours on the contact page
is this firm a CPA firm	Check	The About page: names, license states and the board that issued each license

Which answer places matter most for an accounting practice?

For an accounting practice, answer engine optimization (AEO) has a simple aim: the answer a client reads on Google or hears from an assistant should come from your pages. Here the plan and urgent questions are answered by the featured snippet (the boxed result in which Google shows the answer text first), by People Also Ask (the list of related questions that open to a short answer from a web page) and by the answers in Google's AI features and in assistants. The check and cost questions are answered by the Google Business Profile (the free listing in Google Maps and Search) and by the team and fees pages.

Money questions belong to the topics where Google's systems rely more on signs of trust: its helpful content guide names financial stability alongside health and safety, as our main guide to AEO by industry explains. For an accounting practice the practical result is that every answer page should say who wrote or reviewed it and which credential that person holds.

Which titles may each type of tax professional use?

The IRS page on tax return preparer credentials, updated on 29 January 2026, sets out who licenses whom. Enrolled agents are licensed by the IRS. Certified public accountants are licensed by state boards of accountancy, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Attorneys are licensed by state courts or their designees, such as the state bar. All three have unlimited representation rights before the IRS, which the page says covers any matters including audits, payment and collection issues, and appeals. A preparer who holds only a Preparer Tax Identification Number may prepare returns, and the IRS's page on choosing a tax professional says that anyone can be a paid tax return preparer as long as they have one, but such a preparer has no authority to represent clients before the IRS (except regarding returns they prepared and filed December 31, 2015, and prior).

The words used to describe each title are regulated too. Treasury Department Circular 230, the rules for practice before the IRS at 31 CFR 10.30, says that enrolled agents, enrolled retirement plan agents and registered tax return preparers may not utilize the term certified or imply an employer/employee relationship with the Internal Revenue Service, and it gives acceptable wording, such as enrolled to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service. For certified public accountants, the AICPA code sends members to state law: a member should refer to applicable state accountancy laws and board of accountancy rules and regulations for guidance regarding the use of the CPA credential.

Tax credentials and the words that describe them, from the IRS page Understanding tax return preparer credentials and qualifications (updated 29 January 2026), 31 CFR 10.30 (text as of 15 October 2026) and the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (updated through July 2026), read on 17 October 2026.
Credential	Who licenses it	Representation before the IRS	Wording rule to respect on the page
Enrolled agent	The IRS	Unlimited	No word certified; for example: enrolled to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service
Certified public accountant	State boards of accountancy, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories	Unlimited	Use of the CPA credential follows the accountancy laws of each state where the CPA practices
Attorney	State courts or their designees, such as the state bar	Unlimited	The lawyer advertising rules of each state; see our page for lawyers
Preparer with a Preparer Tax Identification Number only	The IRS issues the number	None, except for returns prepared and filed up to 31 December 2015	Describe the service as return preparation

What does the AICPA code say about advertising?

The American Institute of CPAs publishes the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, which its membership adopted to give guidance and rules to all members; the version we read is updated for all official releases through July 2026. Rule 1.600.001 is short: A member in public practice shall not seek to obtain clients by advertising or other forms of solicitation in a manner that is false, misleading, or deceptive. Solicitation by the use of coercion, over-reaching, or harassing conduct is prohibited.

Interpretation 1.600.010 lists what makes promotion false, misleading, or deceptive. Among the examples are efforts that create false or unjustified expectations of favorable results, efforts that imply the ability to influence any court, tribunal, regulatory agency, or similar body or official, and a stated fee or fee range when it was likely at the time that the fee would rise a great deal and the member did not warn the client. On an answer page, "we get you the biggest refund" falls under the first example, and "we know how to deal with the IRS" written to suggest special access falls under the second.

The same interpretation reaches beyond the firm's own pages. When a member serves clients that come through a third party, the member should determine that the third party's promotional efforts comply with the rule, because members must not do through others what they are prohibited from doing themselves. A lead site or directory that promises results on your behalf is therefore your concern too.

Can an accounting firm publish its prices online?

Yes, and for answers it often should, because a cost question deserves a direct reply. Circular 230 at 31 CFR 10.30(b) says a practitioner may publish the availability of a written schedule of fees and disseminate fixed fees for specific routine services, hourly rates, a range of fees for particular services, and the fee charged for an initial consultation. Any statement of fees for matters in which costs may be incurred must say whether clients will be responsible for such costs.

Two conditions follow. A practitioner may charge no more than the published rates for at least 30 calendar days after the last date on which the schedule of fees was published, so a fees page should carry a date and change only on purpose. And for direct mail and e-commerce communications, the practitioner must retain a copy of the actual communication, with a list or other description of the people it was sent to, for at least 36 months. The rule does not define whether a website counts as e-commerce communication, so keeping dated copies of the fees page is a prudent habit; ask your own adviser how the rule applies to you.

The AICPA code adds its own condition, quoted above: a stated fee or range misleads when the member expected at the time that it would rise a great deal and did not say so. A fees page that answers "how much does a small business return cost?" with a range, the factors that move a client up or down that range, and the date, follows the wording of all three texts.

Can a firm name its clients or publish their testimonials?

Rule 1.700.001 of the AICPA code says that a member in public practice shall not disclose any confidential client information without the specific consent of the client. A client's name, the fact that they are a client, or the story of their tax problem can all be confidential, so a case study or a testimonial on an answer page needs that consent, in writing, before it appears.

The firm's name has rules as well. Rule 1.800.001 says a member shall not practice public accounting under a firm name that is misleading, and that a firm may not designate itself as Members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants unless all its CPA owners are members of the AICPA. For answer engine optimization, this means the business name on the Business Profile, on the website and in the structured data should be the firm's real name, with no added words such as "tax relief experts" that the name does not carry.

What should an accounting firm's pages and Business Profile state?

Each service deserves its own page, because each answers a different question: bookkeeping, payroll, individual returns, business returns, representation before the IRS, planning for a sale or a retirement. Each page opens with the direct answer, names the person who does the work and that person's credential, and links to the fees page. The IRS's public Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications lets a taxpayer look up attorneys, CPAs, enrolled agents and others with valid numbers, so make sure the names on your team page match the names a client would find there.

Google's Business Profile guidelines name financial planners among the individual practitioners who may have their own profiles, and they say that practitioners can include a title or degree in the profile name. The list does not name accountants, so check the guidelines before you create a profile for each accountant, and keep at least one profile for the office. Structured data (labels in the page code that tell a search engine what each fact on the page is) draws on a shared vocabulary called Schema.org, which has an AccountingService type, described as an accountancy business and placed under FinancialService and LocalBusiness; use it on the page that describes the firm, with the same name, address, phone and hours as the profile. If the firm advertises through Local Services Ads, Google's advertising program for local service businesses, the United States requirements for the tax specialist category list business owner identity verification and business license checks.

Team page: each person's name, credential, the state or body that issued it, and what it allows them to do.
Service pages: one per service, answer first, naming who does the work.
Fees page: fixed fees or ranges, what is included, whether costs are extra, and the date.
Tax season: special hours on the Business Profile and the same hours on the contact page.
Case studies: only with the client's written consent.

Part of a larger guide

This page is one part of AEO by industry. The other parts:

Questions people ask

Can an enrolled agent describe themselves as a certified tax professional?: No. Circular 230, at 31 CFR 10.30, says enrolled agents, enrolled retirement plan agents and registered tax return preparers may not use the term certified when describing their professional designation, nor imply that they are employed by the IRS. It gives acceptable wording instead, such as enrolled to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service, or admitted to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.
Which tax professionals may say on their website that they represent clients before the IRS?: The IRS says enrolled agents, certified public accountants and attorneys have unlimited representation rights before the IRS, covering audits, payment and collection issues, and appeals. A preparer who holds only a Preparer Tax Identification Number may prepare returns but has no authority to represent clients, except for returns they prepared and filed up to the end of 2015.
Can I publish my tax preparation prices on my website?: Circular 230 allows practitioners to publish fixed fees for specific routine services, hourly rates, ranges of fees for particular services and the fee for an initial consultation. Any fee statement for matters where costs may arise must say whether the client pays those costs. Date the page, because the published rates bind you for at least 30 calendar days after publication.
How long must a published fee stay the same under Circular 230?: Section 10.30(b)(2) says a practitioner may charge no more than the published rates for at least 30 calendar days after the last date on which the schedule of fees was published. So change a fees page on purpose, put the date of the change on the page, and keep the old version on file in case a client asks what was shown.
Can my accounting firm list its clients on the website?: Only with each client's specific consent. Rule 1.700.001 of the AICPA code says a member in public practice shall not disclose any confidential client information without the specific consent of the client. Ask in writing before you publish a client's name, logo, quote or story, and keep the consent with the client file.
Can a firm describe itself as members of the AICPA?: Only if all its CPA owners are members. Rule 1.800.001 of the AICPA code says a firm may not designate itself as Members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants unless all its CPA owners are members of the AICPA. The same rule says a member shall not practice public accounting under a firm name that is misleading.
Can an accounting website promise clients a bigger refund?: Interpretation 1.600.010 of the AICPA code says promotional efforts are false, misleading or deceptive if they create false or unjustified expectations of favorable results. A bigger refund is a favorable result, and it depends on each client's facts. Explain instead what you check, such as credits and deductions the client may have missed.
Which schema type should an accounting firm use?: Use AccountingService, which Schema.org describes as an accountancy business and places under FinancialService and LocalBusiness. Put it on the page that describes the firm, with the same name, address, phone and hours as the Business Profile. Google's local business guide asks for the most specific sub-type possible, which for an accounting firm is this one.
Do the AICPA advertising rules apply to a referral site that sends me clients?: They concern you. Interpretation 1.600.010 says that when a member serves clients of a third party, the member should determine that the third party's promotional efforts comply with the advertising rule, because members must not do through others what they are prohibited from doing themselves. Read what any lead site or directory says about you before you accept its clients.
How can a client check the credentials of my staff?: The IRS keeps a public Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications, which lists attorneys, CPAs, enrolled agents and others with their city, state and zip code. Certified public accountants are also licensed by state boards of accountancy. Show each person's full name and credential on your team page, so that the directory search matches.

Sources

AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (copy published by the Minnesota Board of Accountancy), American Institute of CPAs. Updated for all official releases through July 2026, accessed 17 October 2026.
31 CFR 10.30, Solicitation (Treasury Department Circular 230), Department of the Treasury, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. Text as of 15 October 2026, accessed 17 October 2026.
Understanding tax return preparer credentials and qualifications, Internal Revenue Service. Updated 2026-01-29, accessed 17 October 2026.
Choosing a tax professional, Internal Revenue Service. Updated 2026-08-21, accessed 17 October 2026.
Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help. Accessed 17 October 2026.
Business screening and verification requirements, United States, Google Local Services Help. Accessed 17 October 2026.
AccountingService, Schema.org. Accessed 17 October 2026.
Local business (LocalBusiness) structured data, Google Search Central. Updated 2026-09-08, accessed 17 October 2026.
Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, Google Search Central. Updated 2026-10-05, accessed 17 October 2026.

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