Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration
Office of Audit
TAX PRACTITIONERS PROMOTING ABUSIVE
TAX SHELTERS ARE STILL ABLE TO REPRESENT TAXPAYERS BEFORE THE INTERNAL REVENUE
SERVICE
Issued on February 20, 2009
Highlights
Highlights of Report Number: 2009-10-039 to the Internal Revenue Service Director for the Office of Professional Responsibility.
IMPACT ON
TAXPAYERS
The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) plays an important role in regulating the conduct of licensed tax professionals who act as power of attorneys for taxpayers who might be involved in an audit, collection issues, or appeal of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determination. The OPR was unaware of a significant number of licensed tax practitioners who were assessed penalties, sentenced in a criminal proceeding, or enjoined for tax shelter violations. As a result, these tax practitioners were still eligible to represent taxpayers before the IRS. Practitioner misconduct can serve to erode public confidence in the tax system and create unfortunate consequences for taxpayers relying on unscrupulous tax practitioners.
WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT
This audit was initiated because abusive tax shelters are an area of
concern to Congress and continue to present formidable challenges to the IRS. A 2006 Senate report included an estimate
that Americans now have more than $1 trillion in assets offshore and illegally
evade between $40 and $70 billion in
The overall objective of this review was to determine whether the OPR is effectively identifying and taking appropriate actions against those licensed tax practitioners who have employed or promoted abusive tax shelters.
WHAT
TIGTA FOUND
TIGTA found
that the OPR was unaware of a significant
number of licensed tax practitioners who were assessed penalties, sentenced in
a criminal proceeding, or enjoined for tax shelter violations because this
misconduct may not have been referred by IRS employees as required. As a result, the OPR did not initiate an
investigation to determine whether
any sanctions were necessary to prevent disreputable practitioners from continuing to be
allowed to represent taxpayers. Specifically, the OPR was not aware
of 160 practitioners assessed tax penalties, permanently enjoined by a Federal
Court, or criminally sentenced for abusive tax shelter activities. These practitioners are still eligible to
represent 9,766 taxpayers before the IRS.
WHAT TIGTA RECOMMENDED
TIGTA recommended that the Director, OPR, determine whether
additional disciplinary actions are warranted for the tax practitioners
penalized, permanently enjoined, or criminally sentenced for abusive tax
shelter violations; establish written procedures for controlling and reviewing case
referrals on the inventory system; undertake additional outreach efforts with
other IRS functions to increase awareness of the requirement to refer to the
OPR licensed tax practitioners involved in disreputable behavior; and develop a
methodology when resources become available to proactively identify licensed
tax practitioners who might have engaged in disreputable activity.
In their response to the report, IRS officials agreed with
all of our recommendations. The Director,
OPR, plans to review the 143 identified tax practitioners penalized for abusive
tax shelter actions and take appropriate action. Further, the OPR plans to ensure that each of
the nine cases involving abusive tax shelters injunctions and the eight cases
involving practitioners subject to criminal prosecution are reviewed for
appropriate action. If these individuals
do not fall within the jurisdiction of the OPR, appropriate jurisdictional and
disciplinary decisions will be made. In
addition, the OPR plans to revise the guidelines governing the control and
processing of each complaint. The OPR also
plans to continue to provide awareness training to both internal and external
stakeholders to ensure that licensed tax practitioners involved in potentially
disreputable behavior are brought to the attention of the OPR and are appropriately
sanctioned. Finally, the OPR plans to
develop and sustain a more proactive model of case identification and
development, as resources permit.
READ THE
FULL REPORT
To view the report,
including the scope, methodology, and full IRS response, go to:
http://www.treas.gov/tigta/auditreports/2009reports/200910039fr.html.
Email Address: inquiries@tigta.treas.gov
Phone Number: 202-622-6500
Web Site:
http://www.tigta.gov