CPAs File Class Action Against IRS

Two CPAs in Washington D.C. have filed a class action lawsuit against the IRS for requiring a yearly registration and related fee in order to maintain a preparer tax identification number (PTIN). The suit, which involves 700,000 practitioners, seeks to recover $150 million in fees that the IRS has collected since the regulation passed in 2010. Four years ago, the IRS put the new rule into effect as a way to dramatically expand its oversight of CPAs, attorneys and other tax preparers who prepare tax returns for financial compensation. The plaintiffs have high hopes for a favorable ruling, as the D.C. Circuit Court already ruled earlier this year that large portions of the existing regulation were invalid because they were outside the statutory authority of the IRS, Loving v. United States. For more information on the lawsuit, please visit the TaxProf Blog at the Pepperdine University School of Law.