| Website
of the Month: National Association of Tax Professionals
By
Susan B. Anders
MARCH 2006 - The
National Association of Tax Professionals’ (NATP) website,
www.natptax.com,
is an excellent resource for all tax practitioners, whether
they are members of the NATP or not. The organization was
formed in 1979 and has chapters in 35 states. Its membership
includes enrolled agents, accountants, attorneys, financial
planners, and CPAs. Respondents to The CPA Journal’s
2003 annual tax software survey indicated that the NATP site
was useful in their tax practices. Although some materials
are restricted to members, many features are available to
the public.
The
NATP homepage and main pages are organized with a consistent
banner header containing links to “about us,”
“contact us,” and “find a tax pro.”
The center of the homepage is in a newsletter format, presenting
“news alerts” on current events in taxation,
“upcoming education” for access to NATP continuing
education and self-study courses, and “NATP news.”
The subsidiary main pages look similar to the homepage,
generally utilizing a simple text format presentation with
embedded or bulleted hyperlinks.
The
main navigational tool is a left-side topical index that
includes “what’s new,” “membership,”
“federal tax info,” “publications,”
“state information,” and “press room.”
Some topics offer drop-down menus with more selections.
Navigation is inconsistent and could be improved by offering
summary main pages for each topical area.
Federal
Tax Information
The
Federal Tax Information section is one of the best-developed
resources on this website. Its subsidiary main page presents
a table of contents of a variety of resources, which include
the “NATP Research Center,” “tax news,”
“tax facts,” “tax tip of the week,”
“Revenue Rulings,” “Treasury decisions
and regulations,” “IRS publications,”
and “tax links.” The NATP Research Center offers
research services to members for a nominal charge, after
the first free question. Nonmembers can also submit questions,
but for a higher rate than members.
Tax
news presents a varied collection of items, accessible by
hyperlinks to PDF documents. This section could benefit
from reorganization (and renaming), as users may miss some
of the great materials. For example, tax news includes links
to the 2004 IRS Enrolled Agents Exam booklets and answers.
Tax facts also includes some odds and ends, such as standard
mileage rates and where-to-file IRS addresses.
Revenue
Procedures, Revenue Rulings, Treasury decisions and regulations,
and IRS publications provide selected documents in PDF format
directly through the NATP website. Selected IRS Notices
are available from the homepage. Tax Act summaries cover
the major tax acts from 2001 through 2005.
Tax
links is one of the jewels of this website. Besides offering
an extensive collection of tax-related websites, it is one
of the best-organized website lists available and contains
many good and rare links. This feature should be on the
homepage and not hidden under “federal tax info.”
Other
Features
Under
“education,” users can access information about
NATP’s online and self-study courses, workshops, and
conferences. “Find a tax pro” connects to a
separate website, www.taxprofessionals.com, which permits
users to search the directory of NATP members.
“State
information” is another excellent section. It provides
links to the 35 states in which NATP has chapters. The subsidiary
state pages include links to the state board of accountancy,
the state government, chapter information, and others. The
individual chapters appear to have contributed customized
information that would interest tax practitioners in that
state.
Members
have access to additional resources, such as state tax assistance,
downloadable worksheets, and a newsletter and journal. Access
to a student website is available only to members. A suggested
improvement is to allow nonmember students some unrestricted
access via a main link on the homepage.
Susan
B. Anders, PhD, CPA, is an associate professor of
accounting at St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure,
N.Y. |