The Progressive Accountant - Tax
AICPA Opposes Proposed IRS Fees E-mail
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Friday, 07 October 2011 14:45

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Patricia ThompsonThe American Institute of CPAs says fees proposed for individuals required to take competency exams would burden small and medium-sized firms. In testimony before the Internal Revenue Service this week, the AICPA was also concerned about the proposed fingerprinting of supervised non-signing, non-licensed staff. The AICPA registered its concerns through the testimony of Patricia Thompson, chair of the AICPA's Tax Executive Committee.

Fees apply to individuals required to take the exams in order to participate in the preparer tax identification number (PTIN), acceptance agent and authorized e-file provider programs. Testing is not required for CPAs, Enrolled Agents and tax attorneys.

"As a threshold matter, we believe it is unnecessary to extend this proposal to the population of Supervised Employees," Thompson testified. She noted these employees cannot sign returns as paid preparers and must be supervised by a CPA.

Thompson noted the IRS had requested comments on whether CPAs should be fingerprinted as part of a suitability check for receive PTINS. Because CPAs are regulated by state agencies, this would be redundant because of the suitability checks by those bodies. She testified that the IRS should letting CPA firms engage a consumer reporting agency regulated by the Federal Trade Commission to perform background checks on supervised employees.

The AICPA is also concerned about the possibility the IRS will stop issuing provisional PTINs as early as April 9. Thompson said discontinuing PTINs would result in "benching" of interns and other supervised employees that are newly hired or temporary while PTIN applications are processed.


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Comments (3)
IRS Testing, PTIN regulations, Fingerprinting
3 Thursday, 13 October 2011 01:18
Nancy Brendlinger
Not only will the requirements hurt small CPA businesses, you might as well call the death knoll to the sole proprieter, who prepares returns that are simple, returns for the elderly, and low income taxpayers who can only afford the lower fees than the big tax firms. The regulations and fees will eliminate those small preparers. So sad for the small businesses & even more for the taxpayers.
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IRS FEES & TEST
2 Wednesday, 12 October 2011 19:47
JOE GILES
I OPPOSE BOTH THE FEES AND TEST; THIS WILL BE A HARDSHIP ON SMALL BUSINESS AND TAX PREPARER.
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PTINs and IRS Test
1 Wednesday, 12 October 2011 16:05
April Gutierrez
I find it baffling that any competent tax professional can be concerned about a basic competency test. I own and operate a small tax service in Portland Oregon. Oregon has mandating testing and licensing of paid preparers for nearly 40 years. Small firms flourish and are not hindered by similar fees.

There seems to be an organized effort, nationally, by certain CPAs who feel their staff, who prepare tax returns, should somehow be exempt from proving they are competent. I have to speculate that it is the part about being competent that is the problem, because the fees certainly are NOT the problem.
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