NAEA

PTIN Application Now Available

The wait is over! The PTIN application is now live at www.irs.gov/taxpros. Please keep in mind that this registration is required of every paid preparer who prepares all or substantially all of a tax return—even those who currently have PTINs.

The new, annual PTIN user fee is $64.25. Of interest to enrolled agents, the IRS website states that IRS is recalculating the $125 enrolled agent renewal fee and a reduced fee amount will be announced in the future. NAEA has vigorously advocated for a reasonable offset to this additional fee and will, of course, continue to do so.

According to an IRS news release:

  • If you currentlly have a PTIN, you will generally be reassigned the same number.
  • Receipt of a PTIN will be immediate after successful online registration.
  • If you don't have a Social Security number, you'll need to complete a paper form (Form W-12) and an additional form (either a Form 8945 or 8946). These forms are available online.
  • Should you require any technical support, call 1-877-613-PTIN (7846).

The Service has attempted to address the myriad questions surrounding the new PTIN application with an overview  and an updated series of FAQs. Should you have any questions, NAEA advises you to consult the FAQs, which address a variety of places where one could run into trouble.

A word of caution: neither the refreshed PTIN (for those of you with existing PTINs), nor new PTIN (for those of you who don't have one now) is required until after January 1, 2011. IRS is not awarding gold stars, brownie points, or get out of audit free cards for those who march through the online function today. Programs of this sort, even though they are tested, often reveal glitches in the first few days, so you may want to wait until any kinks are ironed out. For instance, a number of members informed NAEA that CAF numbers do not fit into the field provided for it. (A subsequent conversation with IRS National Office indicates that until the vendor can fix this issue, those wishing to complete the online application may do so by leaving the CAF field blank.)

NAEA will continue to provide updates on the return preparer oversight program in E@lert. In addition, you may want to join the NAEA Facebook Group and/or follow us on Twitter,where we also provide breaking news. Look out for this Friday's E@lert, where we plan to provide a more detailed analysis of the FAQs (both what was said and what wasn't said) as well as the PTIN user fee regulations, which were finalized today.