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AICPA Again Loses Suit Over IRS Voluntary Filing Season Program

  
A federal court on August 3 again dismissed the American Institute of CPAs' lawsuit to stop the implementation of the Internal Revenue Service's voluntary registration program.

NSA members may recall that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia previously dismissed the AICPA's lawsuit on the basis that, as a professional society, it was not injured by the IRS program and therefore did not have standing to file suit. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed, finding that the organization could argue that its members were injured parties because they could lose business to the voluntarily registered preparers. However, the appeals court sent the case back to the trial court with the instruction that the AICPA also needed to show that its grievance fell “within the zone of interests protected or regulated by the statutory provision it invokes.”

The trial court ruled on August 3 that the AICPA failed to show that its members' competitive interests in limiting competition in the tax return preparation field were consistent with the purposes of the statute under which the IRS regulates CPAs. Judge James E. Boasberg said “AICPA can offer no explanation, apart from the consumer-confusion argument” as to why its interest in dismantling the preparer program furthers Congress’ goal of consumer protection.

Boasberg dismissed the case without prejudice, allowing the AICPA to refile the lawsuit. The judge also said that the IRS “may wish to ensure that its Program was properly promulgated before a suitable party mounts its own challenge.”

A copy of the ruling is available here.


#NewsandInformation #IntheNews #IRS
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