Important limitations to understand.

WageDefender is a software tool that produces documentation. Nothing produced by the Service — no report, no factor score, no compensation figure, no written commentary — constitutes tax advice, legal advice, or financial advice. The output of the Service is an organized, methodologically consistent compilation of publicly available wage data and primary-authority factor frameworks applied to inputs you provide.

A reasonable compensation determination for IRS or Tax Court purposes requires the professional judgment of a licensed CPA or tax attorney who has reviewed all facts and circumstances of your specific situation. WageDefender produces a starting position and supporting documentation — not a final determination.

The WageDefender methodology draws on primary-authority sources: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), the Employment Cost Index (ECI), IRS Fact Sheet 2008-25, and the factor frameworks applied in Watson v. United States (8th Cir. 2012) and related Tax Court and appellate decisions.

These frameworks involve judgment on how to weight competing factors, which SOC codes most accurately reflect an officer's functional role, and how to interpret conflicting market data. Reasonable practitioners applying the same frameworks to the same facts may reach different conclusions. The IRS may disagree with the methodology, the inputs, or the resulting figure. WageDefender does not guarantee that any output will be accepted by the IRS, any court, or any other authority.

Your WageDefender report should be reviewed by your own licensed CPA or tax counsel before it is filed, submitted to the IRS, or relied upon for any compensation decision. The report is designed to be CPA-ready — that is, to provide your advisor with a documented starting point — not to replace that advisor's review.

Where you have selected the Pro-Reviewed tier, the reviewing CPA or attorney's sign-off reflects review of the methodology applied to your inputs under that professional's own license and E&O coverage. It does not constitute a representation that the resulting figure is correct under all circumstances or that it will withstand all forms of IRS scrutiny. A separate engagement letter with the reviewing firm is required for audit-defense representation.

The scoring engine applies rules. It does not exercise professional judgment. It cannot account for facts outside the inputs you provide — industry customs, compensation committee minutes, contemporaneity documentation, personal goodwill analysis, or the full set of facts and circumstances that a licensed CPA would gather in a complete engagement.

Use WageDefender to build your documentation foundation. Use your CPA to exercise the judgment that software cannot.