aicpa backs bill to regulate tax practitioners.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
here’s a shocking stat from the treasury department:
“… unregulated preparers who lack the training to provide accurate tax assistance … submit more returns than all other preparers combined.”
more: grappling with the tax gap | wealthiest taxpayers cheat irs out of $400 billion a year | 173% increase in irs correspondence backlog | hunker down: the irs backlog isn’t going away anytime soon | the irs studebaker bomb | imagine irs ‘concierge’ service. just imagine. | irs has recruiting problems, too
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that sounds like trouble in a number of ways:
- unwitting taxpayers may be paying more taxes than they owe.
- taxpayers may be left liable for shoddy or shady tax preparation.
- the irs may be collecting less than it could.
- taxpayers may be left in a lurch when the irs has questions but the preparer has disappeared.
a compliance agenda
treasury has issued a document, “the american families plan tax compliance agenda,” that explains what the administration is proposing. the objective is to narrow the tax gap – the difference between what taxpayers owe and what they actually pay – by enforcing compliance.
the aicpa is supporting a bill introduced in congress that would authorize treasury to regulate paid tax return preparers and mandate minimum competency standards. the proposed legislation has bipartisan backing and is sponsored by reps. jimmy panetta, d-calif., and tom rice, r-s.c.
if enacted, the taxpayer protection and preparer proficiency act, h.r. 4184, would authorize treasury to reinstitute the irs’s 2011 registered tax return preparer program.
the administration’s agenda intends to improve compliance in four ways:
- providing the irs with the resources it needs to address “sophisticated tax evasion,” i.e., the tricks of the rich
- providing the irs with more complete information regarding everyone’s income
- overhauling outdated technology
- regulating tax preparers and increasing penalties for abetting evasion
the treasury explanation notes that taxpayers often resort to tax preparers because the irs is so lax (to put it lightly) about answering questions. with all intentions of filing an honest return, taxpayers – especially those of lower-income – hire the services of the most affordable tax preparer.
too often, “ghost preparers” don’t even sign the return they prepared.
maybe it’s shame of a shoddy job.
maybe they’re dodging responsibility for abetting evasion.
maybe they’re enriching themselves with a portion of the taxpayer’s illicitly calculated refund.
whatever the reason, president biden’s proposal would add sanctions for preparers who fail to identify themselves on the returns they prepare.
agents in search of incompetence
in 2014, the government accountability office sent undercover agents to 19 randomly selected unregulated preparers to have a tax return prepared. only two calculated refunds correctly.
back in 2010, the irs briefly administered a competency exam. roughly 25 percent of enrolled preparers could not pass. no more tests were given because a subsequent court ruling determined that the irs had no statutory authority to regulate preparers.
requiring and certifying competence is probably not a bad idea. stiffer penalties for malfeasance, abetting evasion, or failing to admit preparation is definitely a good idea, one that should be supported by honest, competent, and regulated preparers.
the intentions of both ideas, even if not enacted into law, could be partially met by a) simplifying the tax code, and b) improving the irs’s capacity to answer questions. a simpler tax code would effectively increase everyone’s competence, and timely irs responses to questions would make professional tax preparation less necessary, especially at the lower income levels where taxpayers can least afford it.
the conclusion of the treasury explanation:
“working to close the tax gap reflects a commitment to ending our two-tiered tax system, one where most american workers pay their full obligations, but high earners who accrue income from opaque sources often do not. the president’s proposals address this inequity in a way that will pay large dividends in this decade – and in the decades to come.”
2 responses to “how charlatans, creeps, and ghosts plague the tax profession”
bob
i’ve been a licensed and practicing tax cpa for 23 tax seasons. i’m sorry, but what this reads like is gulag thinking.
i do not want to work with treasury, or any agency that by the power of the stroke of a pen and without congress’ approval can and does enforce civil penalties to the tune of $25,000 each incident.
you should be a citizen’s advocate instead.
less government is the answer, not more binding rules from one of the least efficient agencies in the world, one who allowed (and admits they did so) over $140b in fraudulent refunds over the last 6 years.
perspective. our government’s treasury department gave away to criminals more money than the annual national budgets of the bottom third of the 228 countries of this planet. the average 1040 tax return with 3 or 4 schedules used to take me (in early 2000’s) on average about 4.5 hours to complete: organizing workpapers, creating open items list, client interface, 2 reviews, processing, and e-filing, close file.
now, with the constant increase in forced compliance of ridiculous forms, that 2-week trained h&r block employee checks off just to get it e-filed, yet have no idea why the questions are asked – and frankly does nothing to stop fraud – form 8867.
it is a waste of my time and any equivalent tax professional’s time. i can do a canadian tax return, reading every single line in 1/3 the time. and, i doubt they have a 10th of the fraud (i doubt they have 2% of the fraud).
you should work with lawmakers to remove the welfare nature of tax and tax reporting and the fraud will disappear. put welfare and citizen assistance services in another department like hud. stop making the tax return the be-all/catch-all for every whim of well-intentioned groups or professional politicians in congress. that, will clear out the profession of misfits and miscreants.
yours truly,
– one of the real tax professionals
(one who reads tax- and compliance-related code on average of an hour a day, 365 days a year.)
michael chaffee
hear, hear! well said, bob!