Unfortunately you are correct. The assumption that CPA's possess some special competency in tax is marketed by the AICPA and other CPA organizations but is not true. I am a CPA who specializes in tax. We are all specialists of some sort or another, and many CPA's specialize in the Financial Statement arena and do taxes as an afterthought, which given the complexity of the tax code, doesn't give one a good comfort level. In fact, I have five CPA's as tax clients for that reason. They know what they do not know.