IRS Needs Authority to Regulate Return Preparers, Committee Says

Congress should authorize the IRS to regulate tax return preparers, an advisory committee made up of public tax officials and tax software representatives told Congress in its annual report.

The decades-old Internal Revenue Service Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee gave three recommendations to Congress and nine to the IRS that intend to improve electronic tax filing.

By allowing the IRS to regulate non-credentialed tax return preparers, Congress could help the agency prevent fraudulent tax credit claims. The recommendation comes as the agency is grappling with fraud in its pandemic-era employee retention credit, which was so widespread that the ...