The Internal Revenue Service’s announcement that it will allow tax preparers who have been unable to get a preparer tax identification number to use alternative means of identifying themselves came as welcome relief, tax practitioners told BNA Jan. 27.

However, some of the core issues that have been raised in relation to the IRS preparer registration program—namely, determining who is a tax preparer within the IRS’s rules and what “substantially all” of a tax return means—are still holding them up as they attempt to register with the IRS. Those two considerations will determine whether they need to get a PTIN.

Tax professionals are facing an especially difficult tax season this year as they gear up to handle clients amid an array of new requirements. For the first time, they must register with the IRS, undergo background checks, and provide IRS with other information if they want to prepare all or substantially all of a tax return for compensation.

The IRS has so far registered 620,000 people as tax preparers under its new plan to ensure competency, and is working to get another 18,000 who have applied for a PTIN registered, a spokesman told BNA Jan. 25.

Click here for full article!