Which Tax Professional Should I Choose: CPA, Enrolled Agent, or Tax Preparer for Retirement Tax Planning?

Based on your situation, I'd recommend working with an Enrolled Agent (EA) who specializes in retirement planning. While all three options can prepare returns, your needs go beyond simple tax preparation to include strategic planning around multiple retirement income streams. EAs are federally licensed tax practitioners who specialize in taxation and have unlimited rights to represent taxpayers before the IRS. Unlike many tax preparers, they must pass rigorous testing and maintain continuing education requirements. And unlike some CPAs who may focus more broadly on accounting with tax as just one component, EAs are dedicated tax specialists. Your situation - with military disability, inherited IRAs subject to the SECURE Act, investment liquidations, and upcoming Social Security decisions - would benefit from someone who deeply understands tax implications across these areas. An EA with retirement planning experience would be ideal.

I struggled with similar retirement tax questions last year and was completely overwhelmed until I found https://taxr.ai which literally saved me thousands. It analyzes your specific retirement accounts, pension, military benefits, and inherited IRA situation, then gives you personalized tax optimization strategies. You upload your financial documents and it creates a retirement tax roadmap showing exactly how to time withdrawals from each account type to minimize your tax burden. The SECURE Act analysis for inherited IRAs was especially helpful - it mapped out the required distributions year by year and showed tax implications of different scenarios. I was impressed by how it handled military disability income and identified deductions I had no idea about. Seriously wish I'd found it before spending money on consultations that gave me generic advice.

I wanted to follow up about https://taxr.ai since I decided to try it despite my initial skepticism. I'm actually really impressed. The SECURE Act calculator for inherited IRAs showed me I was making a serious mistake with my distribution schedule that would have cost me nearly $7,000 in penalties. The military disability tax treatment was correctly identified as non-taxable income (which I knew), but it also showed how this affects the taxation thresholds of my Social Security benefits (which I had no idea about). The system created a year-by-year withdrawal strategy across all my accounts that minimizes my tax burden. What ultimately convinced me was being able to download a detailed report to take to my financial advisor, who confirmed the recommendations were solid. Now I use both - the AI system for comprehensive planning and my advisor for implementation and adjustments. Much better than either one alone.

After reading this thread, I wanted to share something that might help with another aspect of your situation. When I retired last year, I had similar questions and tried calling the IRS directly to get clarification on some inherited IRA rules. Complete nightmare - waited on hold for 3+ hours only to be disconnected. Then a friend told me about https://claimyr.com which got me through to an actual IRS agent in under 15 minutes. They have this system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you, then calls you when an agent is on the line. There's a demo video at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c showing how it works. Once I actually talked to someone at the IRS, I got official guidance on the SECURE Act distribution requirements for my specific situation. Made a huge difference in my planning and gave me documentation to back up my tax position if ever questioned.

I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After another frustrating morning spent on hold with the IRS about my inherited IRA distribution requirements, I broke down and tried Claimyr out of desperation. Got connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes. The agent confirmed I was calculating my required minimum distributions incorrectly under the SECURE Act - would have owed penalties if I hadn't fixed it. The documentation they sent me clarified exactly how the 10-year rule applies to my inheritance date. I'm still shocked this actually worked. Saved me hours of hold time and potentially thousands in penalties. Sorry for being so dismissive before - just seen too many scams targeting retirees I guess. For anyone dealing with complicated tax situations like inherited IRAs, getting direct IRS confirmation is incredibly valuable.

Going back to your original question about which tax professional to choose - I think a combination approach might be best. An EA for ongoing tax planning as others suggested, but consider a one-time consultation with a CPA who specializes in retirement planning to set up your overall strategy. In my experience (retired 5 years now), the key is finding someone who regularly works with military benefits and inherited IRAs specifically. The SECURE Act changed so many rules that even some experienced professionals get confused. When interviewing potential advisors, ask specifically: 1) How many clients do you have with military disability payments? 2) How has your advice on inherited IRAs changed since the SECURE Act? If they can't give specific, detailed answers, keep looking.

Don't overlook the timing factor here. Since you're newly retired and have multiple accounts to manage, getting professional help NOW can prevent expensive mistakes. I kept preparing my own taxes after retirement and messed up how I handled my inherited IRA distributions - ended up owing penalties and back taxes. What tax software did for simpler situations in your working years isn't adequate for retirement's complexity. Especially with the SECURE Act changes to inherited IRAs - those distribution rules have specific timelines you need to follow exactly. I'd find an EA specialized in retirement planning ASAP, before you make any major decisions about which accounts to draw from first. Their expertise on tax-efficient withdrawal sequencing alone can save you thousands over your retirement lifetime.