Tutorial Services
Most applicants to the 2021 Tax Court Nonattorney Examination will not sign-up to prepare at TLI because they've heard that our program is too rigorous and demanding. And how right they are! At TLI we recognize that the historical reason for the low pass rate on the nonattorney exam is mostly because IRS enrolled agents and CPAs who apply are ill-prepared. They expect to go in and sit for an examination on tax preparation and the internal revenue code, along with three law sections that most believe they could reasonably command with diligent study. (At one point, "Evidence" was considered to be the most problematic exam section for test-takers; presently, "Substantive Tax Law" is the section that most flunk.) Well, they could never be more wrong because the entire Nonattorney exam is actually a bar exam. The upcoming November 2021 is very much a bar exam (just consider how the exam changed its focus during the 2018 administration). It is a test of legalities - that is, the legal interpretation and analysis of IRC sections that require, when challenged e.g. IRS Notice of Determination, the submission of evidentiary facts that are material and support a legal premise found in those code sections; and which, once admitted into the record as evidence, would support a reasonable conclusion of law based upon those facts.
Learn the Tax Laws i.e. IRC
Civil and criminal law is rooted in statutes that are decades, and even centuries old. Such laws are derived from English Common Law (or as in the state of Louisiana, from the Napoleonic Code). They change at a turtle's pace, for the most part. But tax law is like the rabbit; it changes rapidly. Unlike civil and criminal law that is devised by states and the federal government, tax law is devised according to the whims of Congress and the regulators over at Treasury. At the end of the day, it is all about "the Code" - the Internal Revenue Code aka IRC, that is.
It's Not About "Tax Preparation"
This is what sets our Tax Court Bar Review apart from other preparatory exam courses - we prepare you to interpret and apply the tax laws as Congress intended them to unfold. You may have prepared taxes for the past 20 years and done so very successfully. But did you do so in a legal frame of mind? Probably not. Why? Because you trained as a tax accountant - either a CPA or an EA - not as a legal practitioner, and most likely not as a tax lawyer or tax litigator. You probably did what every good tax accountant is supposed to do - you read the Code and you followed the rules. Now, what you'll have to do to pass the 2021 Nonattorney Examination is to take all those years of knowledge, experience and habit and repackage them in the mindset of a tax litigator. You'll have to consider why the Congress and Treasury made those rules, what were their intentions and what did they hope the tax policies would achieve - if you keep in mind that there is public policy purpose underlying every tax regulation. And that's exactly what we'll teach you to do at the Tax Law Institute as we have both the judicial and scholarly insight to do so.
Think "Litigation"
Transitioning from the mindset of a tax preparer to that of a tax litigator is not hard to do, if one gets pointed in the right direction. At TLI, we have developed a methodology for helping lay tax practitioners make the change. It's taken us almost 20 years to get it right, but we finally figured it all out with the help of a former Tax Court judge and former judicial clerk of the Tax Court. With their combined 30 years of judicial experience, TLI has the best study and lecture regimen to prepare nonattorneys for testing successfully on the Tax Court exam and for starting their practice, not as an administrative USTCP who files only "s-cases", but as a fully functioning "Tax Litigation Counsel" who can take on a regular tax case with a confidence held previously only by the IRS district counsel.
Work With a Former Tax Court Judge
If you believe you have the aptitude and the stamina to become a United States Tax Court Practitioner and to be recognized by the Court as a skilled "Tax Litigation Counsel" [for the Petitioner] then get yourself trained by a former U.S. Tax Court Special Trial judge and get the confidence you need to litigate. Get prepared to pass the exam and learn Tax Court litigation practice at the same time. Call Rod Monger EA, interim director of Tutorial Services for the 2021 Testing Cycle. He will talk to you, frankly and prolifically, about your background and goals as well as our program of exam preparation and simulated courtroom apprenticeship.
►Our tutorial service is a free service of the Tax Law Institute available throughout the term of enrollment during the 2021 Testing Cycle.
Rod Monger E.A. Ph.D. MBA has been named as interim director of tutorial services at TLI. He is a tax professional and IRS Special Enrolled Agent licensed to represent clients before the Internal Revenue Service. He is also adjunct professor of accounting at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. He has taught accounting, taxation, and finance at universities in New York, Boston, and Texas, and overseas in China, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Afghanistan, where he chaired the business department. He has published two books. He also has industry experience as Vice President of Consulting for a New York-based think tank and with Exxon Corporation, and entrepreneurial experience in consulting, education, financial services, and real estate. He has served on several boards including chair of Afghanistan International School, which he founded, and a regulated financial investment firm formerly based in Dubai. His doctorate in accounting, MBA, and B.S. economics degrees are from the University of Houston.
►Contact Rod Monger at +1.800.674-3804
Register +1.800.513.1598
Courtesy photos above of the FRE and Joni Larson Tax Evidence texts used in our program
Updated: August 7, 2020
Guarantee
If you prepare with us and do not pass the 2021 Nonattorney Exam then you may repeat the Program, at no charge, during the 2023 Testing Cycle.
Extended Office Hours