IRS Bids to Reinstrate Tax Preparer Regulation

According to an Accounting Today article, the Internal Revenue Service has filed notices with a federal district court and appeals court of its intention to appeal a judge’s ruling that struck down the mandatory testing and continuing education requirements of its Registered Tax Return Preparer regime and asked the court to suspend the January ruling that invalidated the RTRP regime.

Last month, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia ruled against the IRS on behalf of three independent tax preparers — Sabina Loving of Chicago, John Gambino of Hoboken, N.J., and Elmer Kilian of Eagle, Wis. — who had filed suit against the IRS’s tax preparer regulatory scheme. The suit, known as Loving v. IRS, was brought by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian law firm in Arlington, Va. It argued that the IRS lacked the statutory authority to impose the requirements for all tax preparers to pass a competency exam and take continuing education courses, and the judge agreed.

To read the full article, click here.