Ernst & Young has announced it will offer its Online Tax Advisor to CPAs in other firms through CPA2Biz, the distribution arm of the American Institute of CPAs.

Online Tax Advisor will give CPAs a direct connection to tax professionals in Ernst & Young's tax specialty groups. Currently, over 300 Ernst & Young tax professionals participate in the service. They represent international, mergers & acquisitions, real estate and over 20 other specialty groups.

The service will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Basically, it is a way of obtaining written tax advice on a wide range of issues with a guaranteed fast turnaround time (one to three business days for questions with only U.S. jurisdictions, four business days for questions involving non-U.S. jurisdictions).

The online research capabilities were originally developed as a best practice for use internally and with select clients. Terry Brooks, director of Marketing for the Online Tax Advisor, explains, "Ernst & Young's Online Tax Advisor was introduced just three years ago and its professionals have provided over 26,000 answers to a wide variety of tax questions in corporate, individual, state and federal taxation, as well as in various specialty tax practices."

The average fee for an Online Tax Advisor response is about $1,600.

Learn more about Online Tax Advisor. Download sample questions and responses from Ernst & Young.

-Rosemary Schlank