Key points of unlicensed tax preparers:
There are about 500,000 unlicensed tax preparers in the U.S. IRS is concerned about fraud and incompetence among tax preparers.
There is no implication that all unlicensed preparers are problematic. We need these unlicensed tax preparers in our economy.
Other tax preparers – attorneys, CPAs and EAs – are already highly regulated.
IRS requires registration of all tax preparers but does not currently have the ability to revoke that registration of fraudulent or incompetent preparers
There is an active proposal to regulate unlicensed tax preparers.
I have a personal conflict of interest in this matter because I derive occasional but significant business income stemming from the inferior work of unlicensed tax preparers. Therefore I express no opinion in this matter.
AICPA has an opinion on this issue. I defer to and support the AICPA’s position.