Tax Preparer Regulation

As you may be aware, there is a new push for tax preparers to be regulated. You'd have thought they were, but they aren't. Only California, Oregon and Maryland have state-specific "registrations" with various levels of requirements to be registered. Oregon is said to be the toughest, with California right behind that. Enrolled agents are the only Federally Authorized Tax Practitioners. This is a license which give us the ability to represent taxpayers before all administrative functions of the IRS.

One would have thought that tax preparers would have to be licensed, but not so. Almost anywhere in the US, all someone has to do is to say, "I'm a tax preparer," and that's it, they're a tax preparer. Congress has tried to regulate tax preparers for about the past 10 years, but it has gone nowhere. Now, the push is on and it is accelerating fast. the Commissioner of the IRS has stated that he wants to have a proposal on the President's desk by the end of this year; that's a very ambitious plan. To achieve these results, the IRS is holding a series of public forums on this issue. One was done at the end of July and two more are scheduled in September.

If you want to comment on this, the IRS has issued a notice on how you can particpate.

We'll keep you posted.