Debra is a US Navy Veteran. Debra served during Desert Storm as a Hospital Corpsman. She is happily married to a prior US Marine, James, for 25 years. Together they have 5 wonderful children. All 4 of her boys serve or have served in the armed forces. Her daughter attends Longwood University and is in the honors college. She is proud of her family and their military service. Debra & James are proud of all of her children and their accomplishments.
Debra started working at Leite & Surfer Tax - Bookkeeping in September 2005. Working with her father, Mike Surfer and his partner Jimmy Leite, was supposed to be a temporary part-time job. Her father and partner were very happy with her work and ethics, so they hired her as a full-time employee. During this time, Debra quickly learned about payroll, bookkeeping and taxes. Debra continued to work for them full time and decided to take the Enrolled Agent exams, so she could take over the business in January 2014. Being an Enrolled Agent is and will always be her passion.
Debra is a Notary Public and provides this free service to her clients.
As an Enrolled Agent, Debra is bound by circular 230 and takes her continuing education seriously. She feels that this makes her stand out from other preparers. Just like a CPA or an attorney she can represent clients, without them present, in front of the IRS and different state tax authorities.
In 2016, she completed the intensive program from the National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA) in Taxpayer Representation and Practice before the Internal Revenue Service and earned the designation of NTPI Fellow. This designation helps her to represent clients and fix their tax issues on a federal or state level.
What is an Enrolled Agent? 
An enrolled agent is the only federally-licensed tax practitioner who specialize in taxation and also have unlimited rights to represent taxpayers before the IRS. Enrolled agents are required to complete many hours of continuing education each year to ensure they are up-to-date on the constantly changing tax code and must abide by a code of ethics also, known as “America’s Tax Experts”.
The difference between an EA and other tax professionals:
The enrolled agent license is the most expansive license the IRS grants a tax professional. Enrolled Agents are generally unrestricted as to which taxpayers they can represent, what types of tax matters they can handle, and the IRS offices before which they may practice. Unlike attorneys and CPA, who may or may not choose to specialize in taxes, all enrolled agents specialize in taxation. CPAs and attorneys are licensed by the states, but enrolled agents are federally licensed. While the IRS requires all preparers to obtain and maintain a valid preparer tax identification number (PTIN), enrolled agents have gone beyond the basic requirements and have demonstrated their expertise through testing.