Common Questions
Questions about the Membership, annual preparation, and working with an Enrolled Agent. If yours is not here, ask on the introductory call.e way.
Credentials and Qualifications
What is an enrolled agent, and how is one different from a CPA?
An enrolled agent (EA) is a tax professional licensed directly by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, with unlimited rights to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service. The credential is federal, not state-issued, and it is earned by passing a three-part IRS examination covering individual taxation, business taxation, and representation, or through qualifying experience as a former IRS employee.
The practical difference from a CPA is one of focus rather than rank. CPAs are licensed at the state level and their training spans audit, attestation, and financial reporting alongside tax. Enrolled agents specialize in taxation exclusively. Both hold unlimited practice rights before the IRS. For a taxpayer whose question is “how do I file correctly and pay the least legally required,” the EA credential is a direct match. For a taxpayer who needs audited financial statements, a CPA is the correct professional.
Foundation Tax Advisors LLC is an enrolled agent practice based in Tempe, Arizona.
Who prepares the returns at Foundation Tax Advisors?
Every return at Foundation Tax Advisors is prepared and signed by Stephen Hazel, EA. There is no seasonal preparer pool and no offshore processing. The person you meet with is the person who prepares your return and the person who represents you if the IRS has questions about it.
Stephen Hazel holds the Enrolled Agent credential, the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification, the Certified Financial Transitionist® (CeFT®) designation, and the Registered Life Planner® (RLP®) designation. His background includes nearly two decades in banking and financial services in senior executive roles, and he serves as adjunct faculty at Rio Salado College. He holds a BA in Asian Languages from Arizona State University and an MBA from Grand Canyon University.
Can an enrolled agent represent me in an IRS audit?
Yes. Enrolled agents hold unlimited representation rights before the Internal Revenue Service, the same practice rights held by CPAs and attorneys. An enrolled agent can represent a taxpayer in an examination, a collection matter, or an appeal, in any state, regardless of who prepared the original return.
This matters because most seasonal tax preparers cannot do this. Preparers without an EA, CPA, or attorney credential have only limited representation rights, and only for returns they personally prepared and signed. Foundation Tax Advisors, as an enrolled agent practice, handles IRS correspondence and representation for its clients as part of the ongoing relationship rather than as a separate emergency engagement.
Services and Scope
What services does Foundation Tax Advisors provide?
Foundation Tax Advisors LLC provides individual and business tax preparation and year-round tax advisory services from Tempe, Arizona. Specific services include:
- Federal and state individual income tax return preparation (Form 1040 and all supporting schedules)
- S-corporation return preparation (Form 1120-S), including shareholder basis tracking and K-1 issuance
- Partnership return preparation (Form 1065)
- Trust and estate income tax return preparation (Form 1041)
- Multi-state and part-year resident returns
- Mid-year tax projections and quarterly estimated payment calculations
- Year-end tax strategy sessions
- Retirement distribution and Roth conversion tax modeling
- IRS and state notice response and representation
- Prior-year and amended return preparation
The practice files approximately 175 returns annually and deliberately limits volume in order to preserve preparation time per return.
Who does Foundation Tax Advisors work best with?
Foundation Tax Advisors works primarily with three groups: retirees and pre-retirees managing distributions across multiple account types, widows and widowers navigating a first filing season after a spouse’s death, and business owners in transition, whether starting, scaling, restructuring, or selling.
What these situations share is that the tax return is not the hard part. The hard part is the sequence of decisions made before December 31 that determine what the return says. A retiree deciding how much to convert to Roth before crossing an IRMAA threshold, a surviving spouse facing the last year of joint filing status before the single-filer brackets apply, or an owner deciding on reasonable compensation for an S-corporation. These are decisions with five-figure consequences that a February filing appointment cannot fix.
Does Foundation Tax Advisors handle S-corporation and partnership returns?
Yes. Foundation Tax Advisors prepares Form 1120-S for S-corporations and Form 1065 for partnerships, including the associated Schedule K-1s for each shareholder or partner.
Business return work includes bookkeeping review before preparation begins, year-end journal entry recommendations, book-to-tax reconciliation on Schedule M-1, shareholder basis tracking, accumulated adjustments account (AAA) roll-forward, and reasonable compensation analysis for S-corporation owner-employees. Returns are not filed until the books tie to the M-1, the M-1 ties to taxable income, the balance sheet ties to the accounting records, and the K-1s tie to Schedule K.
Does Foundation Tax Advisors prepare trust and estate returns?
Yes. Foundation Tax Advisors prepares Form 1041 fiduciary income tax returns for trusts and estates. Trust return pricing is quoted individually based on complexity. Contact the practice for a quote.
Pricing
How much does Foundation Tax Advisors charge for tax preparation?
Foundation Tax Advisors prices returns by complexity, using a published tier structure rather than hourly billing or per-form surcharges. You receive a fixed quote in writing before work begins.
| Return type | Fee |
|---|---|
| Simple individual return (Form 1040, W-2 income, standard deduction) | $325 |
| Individual return with itemized deductions (Schedule A) | $450 |
| Complex individual return (Schedule C, Schedule E, K-1s, multi-state) | $675 |
| High-complexity individual return (multi-entity, equity compensation, multiple K-1s) | $1,050 |
| Business return (Form 1120-S or Form 1065) | Starting at $1,200 |
These are the standard fees for the tier. Disorganized records, late filing, and rush requests are quoted separately, and your final fee is confirmed in writing before the engagement begins.
For reference, CPA firms in the Phoenix metropolitan area commonly price comparable business returns at $1,000 and above, and the base fee for a basic individual federal return has risen roughly 45 percent across the profession over the past two years.
Why is Foundation Tax Advisors more expensive than a tax software subscription?
Consumer tax software prices the data entry. Foundation Tax Advisors prices the judgment.
Software will accurately place the numbers you give it onto the correct lines of the correct forms. What it will not do is tell you that you had room for another $18,000 of Roth conversion before hitting the next bracket, that your Social Security became 85% taxable because of a decision made in October, or that your S-corporation salary is low enough to attract examination. Those are determinations made before year-end, by someone who has looked at your actual situation.
For a taxpayer with a W-2, a standard deduction, and no meaningful decisions to make, software is a reasonable and honest answer, and Foundation Tax Advisors will say so. For retirees managing multi-account distributions, surviving spouses facing a filing-status change, or business owners with entity-level decisions to make, the arithmetic runs the other direction quickly.
Are tax preparation fees at Foundation Tax Advisors deductible?
For business entities, tax preparation fees attributable to the business are deductible as an ordinary and necessary business expense. For individuals, tax preparation fees are not deductible on Schedule A for tax years 2018 through 2025 under the suspension of miscellaneous itemized deductions enacted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Fees allocable to a Schedule C, Schedule E, or Schedule F remain deductible against that activity.
This is general information rather than advice about your specific situation. Foundation Tax Advisors will identify the correct allocation for your return.
Foundation Advisory Membership
What is the Foundation Advisory Membership?
The Foundation Advisory Membership is a twelve-month retainer relationship with Foundation Tax Advisors that replaces the once-a-year filing appointment with continuous tax advisory access. It is priced at $175 per month for individuals and $275 per month for business owners, billed by ACH.
Membership includes:
- Preparation and filing of the annual tax return (the business tier includes both the entity return, Form 1120-S or Form 1065, and the owner’s personal return)
- Quarterly check-in meetings
- A June mid-year tax projection
- A November year-end strategy session, held while decisions can still be made
- Email access with a two-business-day response commitment
- IRS and state notice handling, included rather than billed separately
Membership is capped at 25 clients. This is a structural limit on the practice, not a marketing device. The response-time commitment and the quarterly meeting cadence are only deliverable at that volume. in order to preserve preparation time per return.
Why is the Foundation Advisory Membership limited to 25 clients?
Because a two-business-day email response commitment and four scheduled meetings per client per year cannot survive scale in a solo practice. Twenty-five members is the number at which those commitments remain deliverable alongside the practice’s roughly 175 annual returns.
When the twenty-fifth membership is filled, the practice maintains a waitlist and opens membership only as existing members leave.
What is the difference between the Membership and just having my return prepared?
Standard tax preparation is transactional. You send documents, Foundation Tax Advisors prepares and files the return, and you receive a copy. It is a complete and appropriate service for taxpayers whose situations do not change much year to year.
The Foundation Advisory Membership is the opposite in timing. The most valuable work in tax happens between June and December, when there is still time to act, before the Roth conversion window closes, before the required minimum distribution is taken, before the equipment purchase is made, before the reasonable compensation figure is locked for the year. The membership exists to put a scheduled conversation in those months rather than in March, when everything is already history.
Can I cancel the Foundation Advisory Membership?
The Foundation Advisory Membership is a twelve-month term commitment, because the service is delivered across a full tax year and the annual return is included in the monthly fee. Cancellation terms, including treatment of the return if the membership ends mid-term, are set out in the engagement agreement provided before enrollment.
Working Together
How do I become a client of Foundation Tax Advisors?
The process begins with an introductory conversation, at no cost, to determine whether the practice is a fit for your situation.
- Schedule an initial call. Click Here to Schedule
- Fit conversation. A discussion of your situation, the returns involved, and what you are trying to accomplish. If a different professional is the better answer, you will be told so.
- Written quote and engagement agreement. Fixed fee, stated in writing, before any work begins. No surprise invoices.
- Secure document upload. Through the client portal. Click here to Sign Up
- Preparation, review, and e-file authorization. You review a draft and sign Form 8879 electronically before anything is transmitted.
Does Foundation Tax Advisors work with clients outside Arizona?
Yes. The enrolled agent credential is federal, which means Foundation Tax Advisors can prepare returns and represent clients before the IRS in all fifty states. The practice regularly handles multi-state and part-year resident returns.
Meetings are held by video conference or by phone. The practice is based in Tempe, Arizona, and serves the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, including Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale, Gilbert, and Phoenix, as well as clients nationally.
Where is Foundation Tax Advisors located?
Foundation Tax Advisors LLC is based in Tempe, Arizona, in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Client meetings are conducted by video conference or phone.
What documents do I need to provide?
The list depends on your situation, and Foundation Tax Advisors sends a personalized checklist after the initial call. Commonly required items include:
- Prior-year federal and state tax returns (two years for new clients)
- All Forms W-2, 1099, 1098, 1095, and K-1
- Brokerage year-end consolidated statements
- Records of retirement account distributions and any Roth conversions
- Charitable contribution documentation
- Property tax and mortgage interest statements
- For business owners: year-end financial statements, payroll reports, and fixed asset additions
- For rental property owners: income and expense records by property
Documents are submitted through a secure encrypted client portal. Email attachment of tax documents is discouraged.
What happens if I get a notice from the IRS?
Send it to Foundation Tax Advisors before responding to it or paying it. Notice handling is included for Foundation Advisory Members and available to all clients.
A meaningful share of IRS notices are either incorrect or resolvable with a single written response, and paying a proposed assessment because the letter looked official is a common and expensive mistake. As an enrolled agent, Stephen Hazel holds unlimited representation rights before the IRS and can correspond with the Service directly on your behalf.
Does Foundation Tax Advisors offer refund anticipation loans or instant refunds?
No. Foundation Tax Advisors does not offer refund anticipation loans, refund advances, or refund-transfer products of any kind, and does not deduct fees from refunds. These products carry effective costs that are rarely disclosed clearly, and they are not consistent with how this practice works.
The Financial Planning Relationship
Is Foundation Tax Advisors a financial planning firm?
No. Foundation Tax Advisors LLC is a tax preparation and tax advisory practice. It is a separate legal entity from Magnificent Life Financial Planning, which provides investment advisory services through Farther Finance Advisors, LLC, a registered investment adviser.
The two practices maintain separate engagement agreements, separate fee structures, and separate client relationships. Tax clients are never required to become wealth management clients, and tax preparation is never bundled into an investment advisory fee. Each service is engaged and priced on its own terms.
Do I have to use your investment services to be a tax client?
No. Tax clients of Foundation Tax Advisors are under no obligation to engage Magnificent Life Financial Planning or any other advisory service. The practices are separate entities with separate fees, and tax services are always charged separately.
A Tempe, Arizona practice led by Stephen Hazel, an Enrolled Agent and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, serving clients nationwide.
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