Preparer Oversight Constraints

“About 56% of the over 684,000 preparers registered with the IRS at the beginning of Calendar Year 2026 were non-credentialed,” according to the CTR. These preparers are not attorneys, CPAs, enrolled agents, or participants in the IRS’ voluntary Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP), the CTR explains, and are largely unregulated at the federal level.

This lack of oversight stems from Loving v. IRS (113 AFTR 2d 2014-867), a 2014 decision holding that the IRS lacks statutory authority to mandate competency testing and continuing education for preparers.

“Non-credentialed and ghost preparers have a significant compliance impact on low-income taxpayers,” according to the CTR. The group cites IRS data showing returns from non-credentialed preparers accounted for over 92% of the dollar adjustments in Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) audits for tax year 2020.

To dig deeper, visit the original article on the Thomson Reuters blog.