The IRS has started sending letters to tax return preparers whom it has identified as at high risk of not complying with their responsibilities as return preparers. The IRS will follow up with office visits to some of these preparers who appear to have serious compliance issues.
This is the third year the IRS has run a preparer compliance program, and this year's version represents an expansion and modification of last year's "10,000 letters" campaign. This year, the IRS plans to send approximately 21,000 letters to preparers, informing them that the IRS has identified potential compliance errors in their tax return preparation. It plans to visit approximately 2,100 of those preparers in their offices.
In addition, the IRS plans to move many of the office visits out of tax season. Last year, the AICPA strongly emphasized to the IRS that CPAs operate their practices on a year-round basis, and the scheduling of office visits during the very busy months of January through April constitutes an unnecessary hardship.