Tax Preparing CPA
Tax Preparing CPAs and Issues Related to Client Confidentiality The case talks about John Jones who is a CPA with 20 years of experience in preparing tax returns for clients. In 2013, Jones prepared a list of taxpayers that contained some specific information, which he could use to get in touch with those taxpayers for providing them with information regarding business and economic conditions, and also use these info for tax education and analysis purposes. As a result, the main objective of this paper is to analyze whether the action taken by Mr. Jones is a violation of client confidentiality or not. This is a very tricky issue of client confidentiality and it is directly related to the Internal Revenue Code 7216 and T.D. 9608. The Internal Revenue Code 7216 was sanctioned in 1971 and it originally says that if a tax preparer recklessly or knowingly discloses any client information, or uses these
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9608) that were finalized and enacted on December 28, 2012. These revisions actually widened the scope of using taxpayer information by the tax preparers or CPAs. For instance, the revised policy suggests that, “a tax return preparer may, without taxpayer consent, compile a list of specified taxpayer information that can be used to contact taxpayers on the list to provide tax information and general business or economic information or analysis “for educational purposes” ("Internal Revenue Bulletin - T.D. 9608: Disclosure or Use of Information by Preparers of Returns", 2013). This instruction is directly relatable to our scenario. In this case, Mr. Jones, complied a taxpayer information list without obtaining their consent first. But his purposes behind preparing the list were exactly the same as the ones mentioned in the amended IRS 7216 guideline above. As a result, we can assert that the current law basically allows him to do that and he is not going to be prosecuted or punished for his
9608) that were finalized and enacted on December 28, 2012. These revisions actually widened the scope of using taxpayer information by the tax preparers or CPAs. For instance, the revised policy suggests that, “a tax return preparer may, without taxpayer consent, compile a list of specified taxpayer information that can be used to contact taxpayers on the list to provide tax information and general business or economic information or analysis “for educational purposes” ("Internal Revenue Bulletin - T.D. 9608: Disclosure or Use of Information by Preparers of Returns", 2013). This instruction is directly relatable to our scenario. In this case, Mr. Jones, complied a taxpayer information list without obtaining their consent first. But his purposes behind preparing the list were exactly the same as the ones mentioned in the amended IRS 7216 guideline above. As a result, we can assert that the current law basically allows him to do that and he is not going to be prosecuted or punished for his