However, the Administration's Fiscal Year 2015 Budget includes a proposal to explicitly authorize the IRS to regulate all paid tax return preparers.
Meanwhile, the new Annual Filing Season Program allows unenrolled return preparers to obtain a record of completion when they voluntarily complete a required amount of continuing education (CE), including a course in basic tax filing issues and updates, ethics and other federal tax law courses.
"Our program will give unenrolled return preparers a way to stay to up-to-date on tax laws and changes, which we believe will improve service to taxpayers," IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a prepared statement. Those who elected to participate can receive a record of completion that will be included in a database on IRS.gov that will be publicly available in January.
A mandatory program was tossed out earlier this year when the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that the IRS had no legal authority to issue mandatory regulations in 2011. Before that, more than 62,000 preparers passed an IRS-administered competency test and completed requirements to become Registered Tax Return Preparers under the now defunct program.