Anderson Attest, LLP is a CPA firm providing attestation services but no tax related services. Thompson Tax, PC is a CPA firm providing tax related services and no attestation services. Anderson Attest refer Division Bell, LLC, a privately held audit client to Thompson Tax for possible tax services. Thompson Tax, upon successful acceptance of Division Bell as a client, hopes to give Anderson Attest a referral fee of $2,000 as a token of appreciation.

Thompson Tax agree to provide tax services for Division Bell, Inc. Division Bell needs two types of tax services. First, they need help preparing their original tax return for the 2011 tax year. Second, they are disputing the assessed valuation on their manufacturing plant, which is used to determine the amount of property taxes that are paid. They would like assistance writing a brief and preparing oral arguments to present before the state tax court.

Thompson Tax would like to structure each of these engagements in the same way as a flat fee plus a contingent fee payment based on the outcome of the engagement.

https://pub.aicpa.org/codeofconduct/ethicsresources/et-cod.pdf (link to AICPA Professional Code of Conduct for reference)

1. Can Anderson Attest accept the referral fee of $2,000? If so, are there any conditions that need to be met?

2. Can Thompson Tax structure their tax return preparation engagement to charge a flat fee plus a percentage of the return received by Division Bell?

3. Can Thompson Tax structure their property tax valuation engagementto charge a flat fee plus a percentage of the tax reduction?