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发帖数: 29846 | 1 February 11, 2014 - 4:05 PM
Associated Press
McLEAN, Va. (AP) — The IRS on Tuesday lost a federal appeal in a legal
battle over its effort to institute competency exams and other new
regulations for as many as 700,000 paid tax preparers.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia unanimously upheld a lower court's ruling last year that the IRS
lacked authority to impose the new rules without congressional authorization.
The regulations were challenged by the Institute for Justice in Arlington,
Va., a libertarian legal group that has filed a variety of lawsuits
challenging occupational licensing laws. It argued that the proposed
regulations for tax preparers were onerous and would have put thousands of
mom-and-pop tax preparers out of business.
Dan Alban, a lawyer for the institute who argued the case in front of the D.
C. circuit, called the ruling "a clear win both for tax preparers and
taxpayers" and said it could have broad implications for federal agencies
that attempt to issue regulations without a mandate from Congress.
"Congress never gave the IRS the power to license tax preparers, and the IRS
cannot give itself that authority," Alban said.
The IRS has said the rules are needed to weed out ill-trained and
incompetent tax preparers. It said it had the authority to impose the
regulations under an 1884 law passed to help Civil War soldiers seeking
compensation for dead horses.
That law authorizes the IRS to "regulate the practice of representatives of
persons before the Department of the Treasury" but the appellate judges said
it should not be stretched to give the IRS regulatory dominion over tax
preparers.
"It might be that allowing the IRS to regulate tax-return preparers more
stringently would be wise as a policy matter. But that is a decision for
Congress and the President to make if they wish by enacting new legislation,
" Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote in an opinion joined by David Sentelle and
Stephen Williams. "The IRS may not unilaterally expand its authority through
such an expansive, atextual, and ahistorical reading" of the law.
Kavanaugh was appointed to the court by George W. Bush. Sentelle and
Williams are both Reagan appointees.
On Tuesday the IRS said it is reviewing the decision and "continues to
believe that it's critical for taxpayers to be able to rely on quality work
from tax preparers."
Paid tax preparers fill out 60 percent of all U.S. tax returns, according to
a study from the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog
agency. The GAO has found significant problems over the years in the
quality of work done by them. In one 2006 study, the GAO took tax returns to
19 different commercial tax preparers, and 17 of 19 incorrectly calculated
the taxes due.
The regulations sought by the IRS would have required preparers to pass a
qualifying exam, pay an annual application fee, and take 15 hours annually
of continuing-education courses. Attorneys and CPAs would have been exempt
from the rules.
Had the regulations not been challenged, they would have taken effect this
year.
Sabina Loving, an independent tax preparer from Chicago who was the lead
plaintiff on the case, said in a statement that "(m)y customers — not the
IRS — should be the ones who get to choose who prepares their taxes. I have
a right to earn an honest living without getting permission from the IRS." |
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