Increase, Don't Decrease PTIN User Fee, Individual Says

Submitter Information

Submitter Name: Eugene Scarborough

City: WITTMANN

Country: United States

• Docket ID: IRS-2020-0005

• Document Type: Public Submission

• Document Subtype: Public Comment

• Status: Posted

• Received Date: Apr 16, 2020

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Comment

The fee for issuing or renewing a PTIN should be increased, NOT decreased! Also, the third party fee should be eliminated and an additional credit card, PayPal, or ACH fee added. The third party is getting more money that the IRS.

The Loving suit was an attempt by the owner of a 'tax preparation mill' to skirt the intent of the law. The IRS should be consistently and constantly lobbying congress and recruiting all the CPAs and EAs and ethical preparers to inundate congress with requests to give the IRS the authority to put ALL paid preparers under Cir 230. The IRS needs some "Teeth" to get rid of the unethical preparers that are scamming millions for their clients.

Raise the fees and provide enforcement!

Congress is always looking for ways to "clean up" the tax industry, but did not rise to the occasion when Loving suit was lost by the government. The program the IRS had in place to ensure training level and ethical conduct under Cir 230 was a good plan. Get it back out, dust it off, and put a copy on the President's desk.

Also, CPAs do not take classes for continuing education in Federal Tax. They retain their CPA credentials by taking accounting classes. Change Cir 230 to ensure a CPA must take the same number of hours of Federal Tax as ALL paid preparers. Regrettably, most CPAs know little about tax . . . they are, after all, ONLY trained in accounting and their tax knowledge is for a 'C' Corporation conversion from Financial Accounting to Tax Accounting. No state requires CPAs to even see a tax return to be licensed.