“Enrolled agents, like attorneys and certified public accountants (CPAs), have unlimited practice rights”
Quote from the IRS web site I cited in the original post tax matters only tax court is very different from other federal courts.
CPA’s can do far more than Enrolled Agents (EA’s cannot perform the attest function)
Attorneys can do far more than CPA’s but not everything that CPA’s do.
As it relates to the IRS, all three must pretty much follow the same rules and procedures and are held to the regulations of IRC Circular 230.
However EA’s do not have the same abilities due to individual state regulations that restrict abilities. One of the main abilities are the rules relating to confidentiality. There is no protection of work papers or documents in the EA’s file.
I’m a retired litigation consultant working with many attorneys and often I would tell a client that they need an attorney and I will work for the attorney in order to provide protection on such matters as completing the FBAR requirements. If an EA completes the form they can be prosecuted for practicing law without a license as the requirements do not fall under Title 26 of the USC and therefor are outside the legal jurisdiction of EA’s.
The same thing is true when dealing with tax court matters. An EA’s inability to protect their client’s confidentiality may expose the client to damaging discovery while an attorney may block the IRS.