By Phillip Rawls, Associated Press
January 30, 2009
MONTGOMERY— Someone can open a commercial tax preparation business inAlabamawithout any training or licensing.
Now a bipartisan group of legislators wants to change that, and they have the help of the state’s top tax collector.
A group of Democratic and Republican legislators announced Thursday they are drafting legislation to require testing and licensing of commercial tax preparers. The bill would not affect taxpayers who fill out their own tax returns.
Alabamais one of 47 states that do not regulate commercial tax preparers.
Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, said he’s seen too many examples of “fly-by-night tax preparation places” charging enormous fees to unsuspecting customers.
“There really is a problem in Alabama,” said state Revenue Commissioner Tim Russell. Russell said he is providing advice to the legislators as they prepare the bill for the legislative session starting Tuesday.
The push for the legislation started with ImpactAlabama, a nonprofit group that trains college students to prepare tax returns for free for low-income families. The students pass a test provided by the Internal Revenue Service before working on tax returns.
The proposed legislation would exempt accountants, lawyers who prepare taxes, and any tax preparers who have passed an IRS test. The legislators said that’s because accountants and lawyers are already in regulated professions, and the other tax preparers have demonstrated basic competency.
