Forbes Quotes Charles Ruchelman: Appellate Court Delivers Blow to IRS and Taxpayers, Nixing Tax Return Preparer Regs

Forbes spoke with Charles M. Ruchelman concerning an appellate court's decision that nixed the Internal Revenue Service's attempt to regulate commercial tax return preparers. In an effort to fight fraud, the agency had issued regulations on tax preparers in 2011, requiring exams, annual fees, and continuing education coursework. For the complete article, please visit Forbes' website.

Excerpt taken from the article.

The IRS could appeal to the Supreme Court, but most likely, any remedy now rests in the hands of Congress. What took the tax lawyer community aback was that the IRS made the unusual move of pulling out such an old statute to promulgate new regulations. "The IRS overstepped its legislative mandate, and the judicial branch had to rein in the agency," says Charles Ruchelman, a tax lawyer with Caplin & Drysdale in Washington, D.C. He concedes that there are problems with tax return preparers who do bad things, and the new regulations would have been one way to address that. Going forward, he predicts, the Treasury Department might work with Congress on a statutory fix.