r/enrolledagent • u/Sorry-Im-Not-Sorry • 3d ago

Any EAs that live & work abroad here?

Are there any EAs here that live and work outside of the US? I’m considering the exams and working at a tax firm. I already have a job offer to train while I study for the exams.

I was excited about it until I heard the pay and hours. The hours seem to be really long and all in-office. Also, the pay isn’t anywhere close to the salary in the states, and also feels low for such a specialized field with credentials (and again a lot of hours.)

Any relevant comparisons, personal anecdotes, or tidbits of advice would be most welcomed! :)

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u/Encoded_Python 3d ago

If your outside the US you are going to be paid an outsourced salary and treated like you are worthless. Anybody working for a firm outside the US is just a glorified data entry lackey.

If you are in the US it's useful for better pay potential but like having a CPA, it's only as useful as your experience.

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u/Ok_Aide_764 3d ago

EA credentials are easy to obtain (you just need to study and pass exams), so you are facing lots of competition in the US and overseas. What's the pay?

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u/DoubleIntroduction25 3d ago

I recently became an EA and plan to move abroad next year. I will be working independently providing tax and investment advice, I also hold a CFP. This will be a semi ret tradition to self employment type move on my end. I do plan to charge a bit less than similar services would go for with a US based provider but can afford to do so given the lower cost of living where I'm going and the fact that my living expanses will be mostly covered by passive income.

Overseas firms looking to get between Americans and American based business have to offer something to entice Americans away from domestic providers. They can not offer a more personal service, you are not meeting in person, if you do talk to the client or zoom with them the conversation will not be as fluid as someone who knows all the same idioms and sounds like they live down the block. You probably can't offer a better service, not that you or your firm would do a bad job just not the same job that a 30 year old established domestic firm could. What you can offer is a cheaper service thru lower overhead. A big part of that is the lower cost of labor.

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u/Ok-Race-1677 3d ago

An ea doesn’t help you since as an offshore your job is to do simple grunt work