Score one for The Little Guys

Submitted by taxman on September 11, 2007 - 9:57am.
The following is an excerpt from a recent letter sent to me from the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants:

"Washington, DC (September 7, 2007) The American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants (AICPA) congratulates leaders in the U. S. House of
Representatives on passing legislation that would prohibit patents on tax
planning methods "The accounting profession appreciates the House's swift action
to protect taxpayers and tax practitioners from the growing problems
presented by the granting of tax strategy patents," said Barry C. Melancon,
AICPA President and CEO."

What they were trying to do is patent planning strategies so they could
license the strategy and enforce licensing fees if you used the strategy.
Fortunately our politicians passed legislation to prevent this. That is the
good news

Now for the bad news. Amendments to I.R.C 6694 has placed a larger burden
on your preparer. They have passed legislation making preparers responsible
for reviewing the receipts for items that are placed on a return. They have
changed the wording to require preparers to have more certainty with respect
to treatment of an item. Finally, they increased the penalties against
preparers that take positions that are deemed frivolous by the SERVICE.
Here is the kicker. The law was passed on May 25, 2007 but it is
retroactive to all returns prepared after May 25th, 2007. That very
possibly means that different standards of what is and is not acceptable
will apply to the same tax year depending on when you file your return.

What a bunch of bull! The kinder gentler IRS is dead folks. The new
aggressive IRS is born and they are coming after your money. The effect of
these laws is two fold. First, even more professional preparers will act as
compliance officers for the IRS. Second, those professional that believe
that is our job to be a advocate for the taxpayer will have to charge more
due to the increased liability we accept including increased insurance
rates. All this because we refuse to act like an IRS compliance officer
while working on the behalf of our paying clients.

If I am projecting disgust with all this then good. Because I am about as
disgusted with the tax collectors as I can be. These guys, both federal and
state, are about as unfriendly as I have seen since starting tax
preparation in 1989. Back when I got out of school and worked for an
established CPA in Birmingham, I used to hear horror stories. I never
thought I would see any of it but it is on the way. Few people care right
now because it isn't at their door step. It's coming if we all keep
sleeping.

Barry
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