Who We Are
Numbers handled with care,
people treated like neighbors
A small Montana firm built for small businesses — with the credentials to handle whatever the IRS sends your way.
Why we started
Copper & Vine started with a straightforward idea: small business owners deserve an accountant who picks up the phone, explains the why, and treats a set of books like it belongs to a person rather than an account number.
Too many owners only hear from their accountant once a year, receive a return they do not understand, and are left to guess for the other eleven months. We built the practice around the opposite — steady contact, plain language, and no surprises in April.
We are based in Missoula, Montana, and we can work with clients in any state — an Enrolled Agent license is federal, not state-limited. The Montana part is not a limitation. It is simply where we are, and it shapes how we work: directly, plainly, and without the runaround.
Whether you call, email, or send a message in the portal, you hear back from a person who already knows your file — usually within one business day, and never a high-pressure pitch for a service you did not ask about.
How we protect your information
Financial records are among the most sensitive documents you own. Everything we exchange moves through our own client portal — never email attachments — with two-factor authentication required at every login.
Files are encrypted with AES-256-GCM at rest and over TLS in transit, under a written information security plan maintained to IRS Publication 4557.
Downloads stay off by default on every file, including the ones you upload yourself. You always see the full index of what we hold for you, and we open a specific file when you need it. Anyone who got into an account would learn a filename, not what is inside it.
Questions run through encrypted messaging in the portal rather than an email thread, so the conversation about your finances is protected the same way the documents are.
What we can — and cannot — do
We think it is worth being precise about this, because the credentials in this industry are genuinely confusing.
An Enrolled Agent can prepare any federal or state return, advise on tax strategy, and represent you before the IRS at every administrative level — examinations, appeals, and collections — in any state, without limitation.
An Enrolled Agent cannot perform financial statement audits, reviews or compilations, or issue assurance opinions on financial statements. Those are attest services reserved for CPAs. If your bank or investor requires audited financials, you need a CPA firm, and we will tell you so rather than stretch our scope.
Credentials
- IRS Enrolled Agent (EA) — a federally licensed tax practitioner with unlimited rights to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service. It is the highest credential the IRS awards, and it covers any tax matter, for any client, in any U.S. state.
- Twenty years of experience — across bookkeeping, payroll, and tax for closely held businesses
- Bachelor of Science in Accounting
- Certification in Project Management
- QuickBooks Online Advanced Certified ProAdvisor — the advanced tier of Intuit’s certification for accounting professionals
- Gusto Payroll Certification