01
Margaret Liu, CPA
California #87432 · Founder
SpecialtySmall-business filing, IRS audit defense, plain-English 1040 walkthroughs. Former IRS examiner (eleven years, SBSE).
OverseesThe top 200 most-read articles, audited personally each January.
About Easy Tax Information · Editorial Standards & Reviewers
Every word on this site is written, reviewed, and signed off by a licensed CPA or Enrolled Agent — and updated within 72 hours of every IRS release.
Founded in 2011 by a former IRS examiner. Reviewed by a 12-CPA panel. No paywalls, no lead sales, no refund-advance affiliates. Just plain-English tax answers for the 14.6 million Americans who read us last year.
- 2,800+Reviewed articles
- 12CPAs & EAs on panel
- 72 hrsIRS-update window
- 14.6M2024 readers
A note from the founder —
Why I left the IRS to write tax articles for free
I spent eleven years inside the IRS auditing individual returns before I ever wrote a single article for the public. I saw, up close, what happens when a taxpayer trusts the wrong person with their return — a refund-advance shop in Oakland pushed a single mom into a $1,200 RAC loan to "unlock" her $1,800 refund; a retiree in Sacramento paid a preparer $600 to e-file a 1040EZ he could have filed free in fifteen minutes. I started Easy Tax Information in 2011 because I wanted those folks to have something better than a sales pitch: a free, plainly written, CPA-reviewed answer to the same questions the IRS helpline would give them if they could ever get through.
Fourteen years later we are still free, still paywall-free, and still refuse to take a cent from refund-advance lenders, settlement firms, or any product we would not recommend to a member of our own family. We do not file returns, we do not sell software, and we will never ask you for your Social Security number on this site. What we do is translate the Internal Revenue Code and every major 2025 tax form into plain English — and then a second CPA or Enrolled Agent on our twelve-person review panel signs off before a word goes live.
If something we publish is wrong, you will see the correction at the top of the article within 72 hours and a permanent entry in our public changelog. That is the standard I would want for my own return, and it is the standard we hold ourselves to every day.
— Margaret Liu, CPA · California License #CA 87432 · Founder, Easy Tax Information
The Credentialed Review Panel
Twelve licensed CPAs and Enrolled Agents. Every article on this site carries one of their bylines.
We surface six of our reviewers below; the full twelve-person panel — including specialists in expat taxation, cryptocurrency, retirement planning, and IRS controversy — rotates across articles by topic. Each reviewer licenses independently in their state of practice.
02
Daniel Okafor, EA
Enrolled Agent · IRS PTIN R3987211
SpecialtySelf-employment tax, Schedule C, quarterly estimated payments, 1099-K thresholds.
OverseesThe Freelancer's Hub and every self-employment calculator.
03
Priya Raman, CPA
New York #128904 · CFP®
SpecialtyCapital gains, cost-basis methods, ETF and mutual-fund distributions, Section 199A dividends.
OverseesThe Investing & Capital Gains section and brokerage 1099-B explainers.
04
James Whitfield, CPA
Texas #106732 · MST
SpecialtyReal-estate taxation: rental property, depreciation recapture, 1031 exchanges, passive-activity rules.
OverseesThe Real Estate section and the rental-income calculator.
05
Sofía Mendoza, EA
Enrolled Agent · IRS PTIN P01194428
SpecialtyExpat and overseas taxation: FEIE, FTC, foreign housing exclusion, state residency after the move.
OverseesThe Expats section and every state-residency article.
06
Robert Tanaka, CPA
Illinois #114408 · CFF
SpecialtyIRS controversy: CP2000, IRS notices, appeals, installment agreements, offers in compromise.
OverseesThe IRS Notices & Disputes library and the notice-decoder tool.
Plus six additional credentialed reviewers covering cryptocurrency, retirement, estates and trusts, non-profits, and multi-state payroll. View the full roster on our Editorial Standards page.
The Editorial Pipeline
How an article gets published on Easy Tax Information — the five steps from IRS release to reader.
Every piece on this site passes through the same five stages. The full audit log of changes is public.
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Chapter I
1. IRS-monitoring desk flags the change
A two-person desk scans Federal Register releases, IRS Newsroom drops, and every new Revenue Procedure the day it is published. Updates are logged in a private workspace within 60 minutes of release.
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Chapter II
2. Topic-matched CPA or EA is assigned
The reviewer whose specialty matches the affected topic (e.g. expat issues go to Sofía Mendoza; CP2000 notices go to Robert Tanaka) is auto-assigned within four business hours.
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Chapter III
3. Article is rewritten and re-cited
The assigned writer updates the affected article with the new IRS guidance, adds a line-by-line citation to the relevant Publication or Notice, and rewrites any plain-English examples that need a fresh number.
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Chapter IV
4. Reviewer signs off — credentialed byline attached
The credentialed reviewer reads the new draft, runs any associated calculator against a known-good test case, and adds their name and license number as the article's byline. No article publishes without this signature.
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Chapter V
5. Published within 72 hours, entry added to the public changelog
The updated article goes live and a permanent, dated entry is posted to the public changelog at /about/#editorial-process so readers can verify exactly when and why a piece was last revised.
By the numbers · 2024 readership
Why 14.6 million readers and 158 institutions trust this site over a tax-prep product ad.
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14.6M
unique readers in 2024
Similarweb, ranked #3 in the Tax Preparation category.
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2,800+
reviewed articles on file
Federal, state, small-business, and IRS-dispute coverage.
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410,000
Tax Bites newsletter subscribers
38% open rate, the industry-leading benchmark for tax content.
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$612
average savings per filer
Self-reported in our 2024 reader survey from deductions users said they would have otherwise missed.
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38
U.S. public libraries recommend us
Plus 120+ credit unions listing us as a free member resource.
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2
"Best Tax Resource Site" wins
Financial Education Roundtable, 2023 and 2024.
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