Individual Criticizes IRS for Charging PTIN User Fee

Submitter Information

Submitter Name: Anonymous Anonymous

• Docket ID: IRS-2020-0005

• Document Type: Public Submission

• Document Subtype: Public Comment

• Status: Posted

• Received Date: Apr 22, 2020

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Comment

This proposal of implementing a fee for a return preparer is excessive and overreaching. The IRS is expecting the tax preparer community to pay to be regulated even more. The liability that we take on as preparers when we sign each return is high enough. On top of this $21 fee, the IRS wants to force us to agree to pay a third party contractor. A contractor that we have no business relationship with. It's unethical for the IRS to tell us that in order to continue to work and provide for our families, that we have to create a business relationship with a contractor that we don't even know the identity of. On top of that, the IRS wants us to give this contractor $14.95 for the "privilege" to continue to work. Meanwhile, the IRS continues to push us out of our jobs by marketing "Free File" Doesn't seem to me that the IRS is approaching our industry with any kind of respect or decency. They have an agenda, get the free file program to be successful or tax and fine the paid preparer industry out of their jobs until it is. So now, in order to compete with their marketing of Free File, they expect us to pay them so that they can advertise against our industry. No. It's completely unethical to tell a whole industry that you are going to essentially require them to pay for you to market against them. Where does that even seem close to being ethical? Per the IRS Tax Reform website it states:

"On July 1, 2019, The Taxpayer First Act of 2019 was signed into law, which aims to broadly redesign the Internal Revenue Service. Generally, the legislation aims to expand and strengthen taxpayer rights and to reform the IRS into a more taxpayer friendly agency by requiring it to develop a comprehensive customer service strategy, modernize its technology and enhance its cyber security."

Understand this, that we as paid preparers, are taxpayers as well. What happened to our rights? How is requiring us to pay for a "service" that is only implemented for more regulation being friendly to us? On top of wanting to charge us, the IRS is going to advocate against our industry, and we are going to foot the bill. You can't tell our customer base to not use us, and then turn around and force us to pay you while you force us out of work. It's hard enough to make ends meet from May to December, now the IRS wants to make it even more difficult for us. All under the 'guise that they are somehow providing us a service by keeping our social security number off of the return. So the IRS can tell us that we have to diligently protect our clients data, to a point that we can go to prison for failing to protect any of their information, but, the IRS wants us to pay them for the same privilege? How does any of that make sense? We aren't even allowed to disclose information about our clients to the IRS if we are reporting preparer misconduct. But yet, the IRS feels that we owe them for allowing us to use an identifier other than our own social security number. This the same agency that sends out thousands of 5071C letters, and then left all of those taxpayers in limbo when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. How many taxpayers did the IRS abandon when they closed all offices and discontinued even phone service? There is no reason why, with today's technology, any taxpayer, let alone hundreds of millions of them should be unable to reach them. Absolutely none. They seem to be getting Economic Impact Payments made to most taxpayers. It stands to reason that they could at least have a few employees working remotely to answer those same taxpayers calls when they have questions. But, for whatever reason, they can't. However, we as tax professionals are left holding the bag, with absolutely no guidance from the IRS and trying to answer questions that we can't get answers to. So, please, tell me again. What exactly does the IRS want us to pay them for? If anything the IRS owes us for all of the extra hours we have worked disseminating the best information we could decipher from their website. After all, we are the ones doing their jobs. But it's more important to this agency that we pay them for our privacy while they don't support us in any way, shape, or form. They haven't shown me 21 cents worth of effort, let alone 21 dollars worth of value. It's no service when their end game is to destroy our industry. So, absolutely not. They can't even do the jobs they have been given unless it involves implementing some new way to take money out of the American Public's pockets and food off their table.