How Are the New Tax Preparer Regulations Going to Affect Small Tax Service Companies?

There is a large percentage of people who look forward to the income tax season. Some people use their income tax refunds to catch up on bills while others may use them for leisure. Many companies that prepare taxes jockey for position to secure new customers during this time of year. The new proposed tax regulation will have a serious effect on companies where the majority of their business is tax preparation.

Soon the business of tax preparation will be a little more difficult. Now there are some people who prefer to prepare their own taxes by using software such as TurboTax, Quicken, and Taxwise only to name a few. According to the IRS, eighty percent of Americans use these types of tax preparation software. Now there are others who allow small neighborhood establishments to prepare their taxes. Many people prefer these small tax companies over some of the larger ones because they believe that they will get them the maximum refund. The IRS has a growing concern that some of these business entities providing tax preparation services are everyday people that may not even be qualified to perform these tasks. Currently almost anybody can prepare an income tax return without having any type of certification. The IRS wants to implement competency tests for these individuals; also requiring them to sign off on the returns that they prepare making them liable for possible errors made on tax returns. This appears to be a blatant attempt to discourage people from patronizing the small tax preparers. People will be forced to use some of the larger tax preparers such as H and R Block and Jackson Hewitt, which are believed to be closely tied to the IRS. This country gives us the right to choose who we want to do business with especially when it is dealing with an issue as serious as income taxes.

The tax regulations that the IRS has proposed for small tax preparation companies will have a major effect on taxpayers. This is a way to try to force taxpayers to patronize the services of some of the larger tax preparation companies. Hopefully if the IRS is successful in implementing these new tax regulations it will not go into effect for the next couple of years.