What it is. Tax preparation, planning, and representation led by a New York-licensed CPA: business and personal returns, year-round planning, and standing before the IRS and New York State.
What a CPA adds. A state license, professional accountability, and unlimited rights to represent you before the IRS. When there are real decisions or a real notice, that difference matters.
What we do not do. Audits, reviews, and compilations. Those reports require a NYSED-registered public accounting firm, which Corviniti is not, and we say so up front rather than blurring the line.
A CPA is a specific credential with legal meaning: a state license that requires education, examination, experience, and continuing education, carries professional accountability, and grants unlimited rights to represent a taxpayer before the IRS. Corviniti provides CPA-led tax and accounting to Long Island businesses and their owners, so the person planning and signing your return is licensed and accountable for it.
For Long Island, a licensed CPA can represent you before both the IRS and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. New York sales tax audits and residency questions are the most common matters, and the preparation for them starts with the clean, reconciled records we keep. Long Island does not add the New York City agencies or the city taxes, so the exposure is federal and New York State, handled by one licensed person. What a licensed CPA does for a Long Island business is below.
This page sits under Corviniti Accounting in New York City, our New York headquarters. That page covers the full New York City and New York State picture, and links to the rest of our local coverage.
Who can represent you
CPA, EA, attorney, preparer: what the credential means
Not every tax preparer can stand between you and the IRS. What each credential is licensed to do, and where the difference matters.
Tax credentials compared. Illustrative.
Representation
Responding to a tax notice
An IRS or New York State notice is a deadline with consequences. The path a CPA runs from notice to resolution.
Responding to a tax notice. Illustrative.
New York audits
The New York sales tax audit, and how it runs
New York audits sales tax aggressively, and it depends on tying the books to the returns to the deposits. What an auditor asks for.
How a New York sales tax audit runs. Illustrative.
This is for you if
You received an IRS or New York State notice or audit letter and do not want to face it alone.
Your return has outgrown a seasonal storefront: K-1s, multi-state income, or owner compensation questions.
You want the person who signs your return to be licensed and accountable for it.
You want a straight answer on whether you actually need audited or reviewed statements before paying for them.
What you get
A licensed CPA on the work Planning and returns by a CPA who is accountable for them and can represent you before the IRS.
Representation on two fronts Notices and audits handled before the IRS and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
Sales tax and residency defense The records and the response that answer a New York sales tax audit or residency question.
A straight answer on assurance If you truly need a reviewed or compiled statement, we say so and help you engage a registered firm.
How We Help
What you get
Tax and representation led by a New York-licensed CPA, with the assurance boundary drawn honestly up front.
A licensed CPA on the workPlanning and returns by a CPA who is accountable for them and can represent you before the IRS.
Representation on two frontsNotices and audits handled before the IRS and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
Sales tax and residency defenseThe records and the response that answer a New York sales tax audit or residency question.
A straight answer on assuranceIf you truly need a reviewed or compiled statement, we say so and help you engage a registered firm.
When companies bring us in
You received an IRS or New York State notice or audit letter and do not want to face it alone.
Your return has outgrown a seasonal storefront: K-1s, multi-state income, or owner compensation questions.
You want the person who signs your return to be licensed and accountable for it.
You want a straight answer on whether you actually need audited or reviewed statements before paying for them.
The Detail
The gaps, and how we close each one
Service 01
What a CPA does that a seasonal preparer cannot
Anyone can hang a shingle at tax time. The question is who is licensed and accountable when the return has real decisions in it or the agency comes back with questions.
How we handle it
A CPA holds a state license with education, examination, experience, and continuing-education requirements, is professionally accountable for the work, and has unlimited rights to represent you before the IRS. An unenrolled preparer can type a return; they cannot fully stand between you and the agency when questions come. For a simple return the difference may not matter. When there are real decisions or real notices, it does.
Facing an IRS or New York State notice? Talk to a licensed CPA before you respond.
A tax notice or audit letter is a deadline with consequences, and for a Long Island business the two agencies that send them are the IRS and New York State.
How we handle it
As a licensed CPA, Ro represents taxpayers before both the IRS and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance: reading the notice, responding on the record, and dealing with the examiner directly. New York sales tax audits and residency questions are the most common, and the preparation for them starts with the clean records we keep, which is what turns an examination from a crisis into a document request.
What you get: Representation before the IRS and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a CPA and a tax preparer?
A CPA holds a state license with education, examination, experience, and continuing-education requirements, is professionally accountable for the work, and has unlimited rights to represent you before the IRS. An unenrolled preparer can type a return; they cannot fully stand between you and the agency when questions come. For a simple return the difference may not matter. When there are real decisions or real notices, it does.
The IRS or New York State sent us a notice. Can you handle it?
Yes. As a licensed CPA, Ro represents taxpayers before both the IRS and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance: reading the notice, responding on the record, and dealing with the examiner directly. New York sales tax audits and residency questions are the most common, and the preparation for them starts with the clean records we keep.
Do you work with contractors and the trades?
Yes, as a licensed CPA. Past the return, that means representation if New York examines your sales tax, which for the trades usually depends on capital-improvement certificates (Form ST-124) and worker classification, employee versus 1099. We plan the entity and elections during the year and deal with the agency directly if a notice comes.
Do you work with medical and dental practices?
Yes, as a licensed CPA. We plan the entity, compensation, and retirement structure that lowers the tax on a high-income practice, sign the returns, and represent the practice if the IRS or New York questions owner compensation or the filing.
Do you work with restaurants and bars?
Yes, as a licensed CPA. Restaurants draw New York sales tax examinations more than most businesses, and the exam depends on tying point of sale records to the returns and the deposits. We keep the records that answer it, represent you if the state opens one, and claim the FICA tip credit on the return.
Do you work with e-commerce and retail sellers?
Yes, as a licensed CPA. The exposure for online sellers is multistate sales tax nexus and the marketplace facilitator rules, which generate most of the notices. We plan the nexus footprint, file the returns correctly, and represent you on state notices.
Do you work with law firms and professional services?
Yes, as a licensed CPA. That covers the trust-accounting discipline bar regulators expect, the PTET planning that is often a partner group's biggest lever, and representation before the IRS or New York if a return is questioned.
Do you work with real estate investors?
Yes, as a licensed CPA. We plan depreciation, cost segregation, passive-loss and real estate professional positions, and 1031 exchanges, and we defend those positions if the IRS examines them, since the aggressive ones draw scrutiny.
Is Corviniti a CPA firm?
No. Corviniti is an accounting and tax company led by a New York-licensed CPA, not a public accounting firm registered with the New York State Education Department. Accordingly, we do not perform audits, reviews, or compilations of financial statements, the engagements a registered firm performs under professional standards (audits under the auditing standards, and reviews and compilations under the SSARS, the Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services). Tax preparation, planning, representation, and accounting do not require firm registration, and that is the work we do.
Sources & authorities
Primary sources for this page
The pass-through entity tax.New York's PTET: the election, the March 15 deadline, and the credit each owner claims.
This page summarizes New York State tax rules for general information, and is not tax advice for your situation. Rates and thresholds change; confirm the current figures with the authority before you rely on them.
