The American Institute of CPAs today continued its push to get the Internal Revenue Service to ease the adoption of mandatory e-filing by changing the threshold for tax preparers who must efile from a minimum of 100 returns to 200 returns. That was one key recommendation in the testimony by Kathy Petronchak, vice chair of AICPA's IRS Practice and Procedures Committee, at an IRS hearing last week.
The AICPA is calling for the IRS to be more flexible in implementing mandatory e-filing program because final regulations may not be issued until the middle of tax season. That would leave preparers without clear guidance in the interim. The AICPA also urged the IRS to phase in the program over three years, as as recommended by the IRS Electronic Tax Administration
Committee's 2010 Annual Report to Congress, instead of over the two years currently planned.
Other recommendations included greater flexibility regarding undue hardship claim waivers, client opt-out rules and a longer period of time in which to correct errors with returns that are not initially accepted by the IRS's computer systems because of technological issues.
