IRS Plans to Regulate Paid Tax Preparation

Assuming for the moment this new regulation will be enforced, it comes as good news for the immigrant community in the United States, particularly for individuals facing removal in US Immigration Court. Payment of taxes is routinely addressed in these proceedings, and immigrants are often forced to explain the "shoddy or fraudulent" work of unregulated and unlicensed tax preparers.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:

The Internal Revenue Service plans to test, register and screen people who get paid to prepare tax returns, stepping into a virtually unregulated business on which millions of Americans depend for crucial financial services.

The agency wants to crack down on preparers who do shoddy or fraudulent work and create a way for consumers to make more informed choices -- though the moves could increase the cost of having tax returns prepared.

"In most states you need a license to cut someone's hair," but today "most tax-return preparers don't have to meet any standards when they sit down and prepare a federal tax return for an American taxpayer," IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said in an interview Monday.

The agency said it will phase in the changes with the 2011 tax season.

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