Accountant charged me to respond to IRS Inquiry?

[Robert M.]

I received a CP2000 notice from IRS and send to my accountant who prepared taxes. The inquiry was resolved with a simple letter to IRS explaining where income (rents) were accountant for in LLC return.

The issue was resolved but I just received an invoice from accountant.  

It seems to me that since the accountant prepared the returns that I shouldn't have to pay for the response.  The fees the accountant charges for tax prep are very high.

Should I pay for the response service or not?

[Brandon Hall]

@Robert M. Sorry, but I disagree. You should pay the accountant. 

You hired the accountant to prepare your tax returns and defend those tax returns. It sounds like he defended the tax returns successfully, so I don't understand what the fuss is. 

Now, if his preparation resulted in an error in which was no fault but his own and you had to amend your tax return as a result, that's when I can understand balking at paying the fees to amend the tax return.

Defending you from the IRS is part of our job (normally). It's something we know how to over non-accountants and we ought to be compensated for that service, wouldn't you agree? 

If you received an engagement letter from the accountant, there is probably a section that discusses IRS defense. I'd review that. Otherwise he should have told you prior to taking it on that he was going to bill for the work.