What can a CPA do that an EA cannot, and vice versa?
Enrolled Agents typically specialize only in tax matters.  Their status allows them to represent clients before the IRS (which a CPA can also do) See the IRS site regarding Enrolled Agents Their focus is much narrower than a CPA and you would only hire them for advice or representation with tax related matters.  (e.g. you'd not hire an enrolled agent to do an external audit)  A CPA is a much broader certification, covering accounting in general, of which taxes are only a portion. A CPA may or may not specialize in tax matters, so if you have a tax related issue, especially an audit, review or appeal, you may want to query a prospective CPA as to their experience with tax matters and representing clients, appeals, etc. You would likely be better off with an EA than a CPA who eschews tax work and specializes in other things such as financial auditsOn the other hand if you have need of advice that is more generalized to accounting, audits, etc then you'd want to talk with a CPA as opposed to an EA "Although they may have some similar functions, CPAs and Enrolled Agents operate in two rather different areas of the accounting ""space."" CPAs deal with financial statements, usually of corporations. They're the people you want to go to if you are making an investment, or if you own your own business, and need statements of pretax profit and loss prepared. Although a few of them are competent in taxation, the one thing many of them are weak at is tax rules, and this is where enrolled agents come in. Enrolled agents are more concerned with personal tax liability. They can 1) calculate your income taxes, and 2) represent you in hearings with the IRS because they've taken courses with IRS agents, and are considered by them to be almost ""one of us."" Many enrolled agents are former IRS agents, actually. But they are less involved with corporate accounting, including things that might be of interest to stock holders. That's the CPA's province."
"At least for liquid markets, the downside of being a market maker is what we call ""negative selection"". Specifically, if you're both bid and offered in a market, trying to collect your spread, then as the market goes up, you'll tend to sell the whole way up, and vice versa. So if you're not smart about it, you can end up losing a lot of money.   Being a good market maker, then, involves either being able to smarter about when to be aggressively bid and offered and when to pull back, or being able to hedge them quickly before they really hurt you. The first probably would require more sophisticated algorithms, while the second requires good speed and execution strategies." "Can I deduct the money that I giving to my team mates from the taxes   that I pay? If yes, how should I record the transaction? Why? Why are you giving money to your team mates? That's the most important question, and any answer without taking this into account is not full. You would probably have to talk to a professional tax adviser (a CPA/EA licensed in your state) about the details, but in general - you cannot deduct money you give someone just because you feel like it. Moreover, it may be subject to an additional tax - the gift tax. PS: We don't have any partnership or something similar, it is just   each of us on his own. Assuming you want to give your team mates money because you developed the project together - then you do in fact have a partnership. In order to split the income properly, you should get a tax ID for the partnership, and issue a 1065 and K-1 for each team mate. In most states, you don't need to ""register"" a partnership with the state. Mere ""lets do things together"" creates a partnership. Otherwise, if they work for you (as opposed to with you in the case above), you can treat it as your own business income, and pay your team mates (who are now your contractors/employees) accordingly. Be careful here, because the difference between contractor and employee in tax law is significant, and you may end up being on the hook for a lot of things you're not aware of. Bottom line, in certain situation you cannot deduct, in others you can - you have to discuss it with a professional. Doing these things on your own without fully understanding what each term means - is dangerous, and IRS doesn't forgive for ""honest mistakes""." "Your #1 problem is the Government both in it's form as a taxation outfit and as a 'law and order' outfit.  You'd be very surprised at how fast a bank seizes your bank account in response to a court order.  Purchase 100 Mexican 50 Peso Gold (1.2 oz/ea).  These coins are cheap (lowest cost to get into) and will not be reportable on sale to taxing authorities.  That money is out of the banking system and legal system(s).  Do not store them in a bank! You need to find a tax strategist, probably a former IRS agent / CPA type. With the rest remaining money...  There's an old saying, Don't fight the Fed.  As well as ""The trend is your friend"".  So, the Fed wants all savers fully invested right now (near 0 interest rates). When investing, I find that if you do exactly opposite what you think is the smart thing, that's the best thing.  Therefore, it follows: 1) Don't fight the Fed 2) Do opposite of smart 3) Do: Fight the Fed (and stay 100% out of the market and in cash) We're looking like Japan so could remain deflationary for decades to come.  Cash is king..." Indian PF is a social security scheme, and as per the US India DTAA Article 20, is not taxable by the US. The exact text says as under -  This clearly states that any social security benefit paid by any of the two contracting states to a resident of the other contracting state is taxable only in the first mentioned state. In other words, US cannot tax Indian social security benefits (and vice versa). Therefore, you are liable for taxes only in India even though you have to declare to the US that you were given the social security (PF) benefit by India. It's one of those things where it was meant, economically, for the first purpose (opportunity cost) but has been used by big corporations for the later since you have to have international divisions to really even make it work (to some degree it does on the state level; however, the tax breaks aren't really big enough for it to make sense since the Federal is the big one).   It's also a huge reason why big corps have such low effective domestic tax rates on big profits and why the government is debating about restructuring tax law to prevent most forms of FTP'ing (you'd pay taxes on Gross Income essentially. It gets MUCH more complicated than that but France effectively does this now).  Also, it's very much an accounting thing, and accountants tend not to have a big seat at the table. Hence, the reasoning behind stuff often get lost on upper mgmt (or they fire the accountant, etc.). That's a BIG part of why it often makes things worse even when when the principal makes sense economically... "In Europe you can get a huge problem with the financial authorities if you do deals with a daughter company which are not done ""at arm's length"", e.g. by inflated fees or costs.  (This can be classified as fraud, tax evasion or worse.  Obviously, usually details are so complex that almost all investigations end with a deal, but in principle you can get into a lot of trouble.)  This is apparently not a problem in the US, though." Should I go see a CPA? Not unless you are filing paperwork for a corporation.  A CPA (Certified Public Accountant) is a certification required to file certain paperwork for a corporation.  In any other situation, you don't need a CPA and can just use a regular accountant.   You could conceivably go to a tax accountant, but unless you are doing something complicated (like your own business) or are rich enough that everything is complicated, you should not need to do so. Compliance issues vary from country to country and, in the US, state to state as well.  There'll be a number of levels, though: Bear in mind that it is not that these taxes and responsibilities don't apply to sole traders or unregistered businesses, it's just that being registered signals your existence and introduces the bureaucracy to you all at once. Update: Your accountant should manage your company and consumer tax calculations and submissions on your behalf (and a good one will complete all the paperwork on time plus let you know well in advance what your liability is, as well as offer advice on reducing and restructuring these liabilities).  You're probably on your own for local taxes unless your accountant deals with these and is local to even know what they are.