REGISTERED TAX PREPARERS

July 6, 2011 – 11:22 am

As part of a new certification process, the IRS, in association with Prometric Inc., will begin administering a competency exam for paid tax return preparers in October of 2011. On June 7, the IRS issued Notice 2011-48, requesting suggestions from “tax return preparers, the associated industry and consumer groups, and taxpayers” regarding the content of the exam. Specifically, the IRS is looking for feedback concerning the following:

· Areas of tax law to be covered in the exam and the percentage of how much of each topic to be covered
· Question format (e.g., multiple choice, short-answer, written tax calculation problems, or a combination of all three)
· Difficulty and length of the exam
· Detail of the results (e.g., numeric scale vs. pass/fail)
· Time of year to revise the exam for tax law changes and updates
· How often the exam should be administered
· How much time must elapse before preparers are allowed to re-take the test if they do not pass
· Whether or not to administer the exam in other languages and which languages to consider
· Any items to include in the special enrollment exam for enrolled agents or enrolled retirement plan agents

Those interested in providing feedback can send emails by July 7, 2011 to Notice.Comments@irscounsel.treas.gov with “Notice 2011-48” in the subject line (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-11-48.pdf).

Until a paid preparer obtains a PTIN, undergoes tax compliance and suitability checks, and passes the certification exam, s/he is not an official IRS Registered Tax Return Preparer. The individual cannot prepare tax returns for compensation or practice before the IRS. The IRS restricts the use of the term “registered” until such time as the competency exam is offered. Once the registered status is obtained, the preparer must comply with the rules as outlined in Circular 230 (http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2011-13666_PI.pdf).

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