Audit Assistance vs Audit Representation: Is There a Difference? Part 4

Loving and Cir. 230

In February of 2014 the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the D.C. Circuit Court’s 2013 decision that the IRS had overstepped it’s authority in establishing certification and continuing education requirements for all tax preparers, not just the traditional “representatives” including Attorneys, CPA’s, and EAs.

The regulations had been seen by CPA’s and Enrolled Agents as a way to level the playing field. Without the regulations, we could be at a disadvantage because we are required to comply with competency and quality control regulations under IRS Circular 230, while unlicensed tax return preparers are not.

There are movements being made at various levels to get legislation in place to correct this situation and I recommend all of you to follow your conscience on this subject. In the meantime, what does this mean for those of us who are doing Assistance and Representation?

Tax Professionals who do, as we have defined above, Audit Assistance are still allowed to continue. Unenrolled tax preparers may do limited representation of their clients whom they prepared the return for in the first place. Anything other then the basics must still be handled by a a credentialed professional.

This doesn’t affect the audit side of the profession as much as it does the preparation side, however, it is still important our clients and the general public understand the difference between tax professionals, credentialed or not, who keep up on their education and changes, and preparers who do not.

The moral to this tale is to protect yourself. You can’t help your clients if you are not protected first. By protecting yourself and your firm, you are protecting your clients and ensuring that you can continue to assist them, even when they are being their own worst enemy.

While we would all like to believe that none of our clients would ever sue us or have issues with anything we do to help them, the harsh truth is there are clients out there that will take the very first opportunity to throw anyone other then themselves under the bus and you are at the head of the line, unless you are covered.

Links and Resources

www.naplia.com
www.calsurance.com/taxprep/
www.aicpa.org/
www.naea.org
www.camico.com

Anything and everything taxes. I also write the Louisiana State book to go to our new Income Tax Course learners and the state-wide training for upper level Tax Professionals. I am an Instructor of all levels of tax related classes. I love to teach and write as well as taking the absolute best care of my clients all year round.

26 years in Law Enforcement (13 in the Air Force and 13 at the Bossier City PD), 20 years doing income taxes professionally.
My goals now are to spend many years being my 3 grandchildren’s MeeMaw, taking the absolute best care of my clients, and continually learning new things.
Specialties
Taxes! I specialize in military, states, small business, and rentals.
The postings made on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent HR Block’s positions, strategies or opinions.

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