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GGD-95-125R 1 (1995-04-14)

handle is hein.gao/gaobackui0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UntdStates G3AOj) General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 General Government Division B-260155 April 14, 1995 The Honorable Margaret Milner Richardson Commissioner of Internal Revenue Dear Ms. Richardson: This letter shares results from our study of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) oversight of both paid preparers of tax returns and software for preparing returns. We closed our study after some limited survey work because insufficient data were available for us to do enough analyses to fully evaluate the effectiveness of IRS' oversight of the preparers or software. We are providing the preliminary results we developed during our survey because we thought it may prove useful as IRS: (1) reviews recent proposals concerning IRS' oversight of paid preparers; (2) develops plans to collect new compliance data; and (3) considers ways to reach its goal of 90- percent tax compliance by 2001. Overseeing paid preparers and software is important because both can affect tax compliance either positively or negatively, depending on how well they work. BACKGROUND Anyone can be paid to prepare a tax return. Some paid preparers are attorneys, certified public accountants (CPA), or enrolled agents. These tax practitioners may represent clients before IRS but must qualify to do so. Attorneys and CPAs qualify on the basis of their professional status; enrolled agents qualify by passing an IRS test or by having worked at IRS. Other paid preparers include various types of commercial preparers. As unenrolled preparers, they are not qualified to practice before IRS. Regardless of the type of preparer, all returns are required to meet various standards, such as only including tax positions that have a realistic chance of being sustained on their merits. GAOIGGD-95-125R Paid Tax Preparers and Tax Software

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