IRS considers licensing tax preparers
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WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service is considering registering or licensing paid tax preparers such as H&R Block Inc. and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. as part of a broad review of the way Americans file tax returns, Commissioner Doug Shulman said.
Shulman told a House Ways and Means subcommittee yesterday that he may recommend new regulations for preparers to help recover an estimated $290 billion in uncollected taxes. That could include required licensing.
Requiring paid tax preparers to become licensed would establish a national accreditation framework for the industry for the first time, with the goal of improving accuracy of tax filings and ending fraud that investigators say fleeces both taxpayers and the government.
Sixty-one percent of individual tax returns are done by paid preparers, according to Nina Olson, the IRS's chief ombudsman for US taxpayers, who has told Congress that untrained and unscrupulous preparers "present a serious problem."
