Thanks for the additional information! I appreciate you picking up on the fact that, indeed, this product is marketing itself as an option for those of us looking for a "tax preparer of record." I recognize it's a darn good deal at a little over a hundred bucks to have an actual CPA or EA sign off on the form and am looking forward to the additional peace of mind that provides. Indeed, all tax software is definitely trying to hit a moving target and I appreciate the business choses to operate in what must be a difficult space.
Fortunately, the reason code used was supported -- my situation is choice G as I've filed an SS-8 and am awaiting the reply. The crux of the concern (from how it was communicated to me) was that the "standards team" was unwilling to allow the Enrolled Agent to sign off on the form due to this somehow meeting their threshold of an "appeal" to the IRS. Which surely is an interesting interpretation as the process is described on their website as a "binding determination" that in no way is an "appeal or direct referral for audit." I did fairly well in accounting and one of my favorite professors said "if it ain't spelled the same it ain't the same thing."
I've got another set of eyes coming in on this as I found contact information for the Voice of the Customer team. They just got off a brief call with me and are referring it over to a manager on their tax team. Hopefully I can at least get more concrete answers behind the WHY. There are many types of customers, and I'm very much the thinker that needs to know the underlying reason behind a decision to be satisfied.
I'll keep everyone informed on what happens here. While it's a special situation there seems to be more and more misclassified workers each year (especially with the gig economy). Here's hoping I can help make someone else's time easier.
Best,
Shawn
