ETHICS Presented by: Melinda Garvin, EA Melinda Garvin, EA Melinda is the Founder, President and Co- Owner of Foos-Garvin Accounting, Inc., a full-service, small-town practice serving the needs of 2000 clients. She has 25+ years of experience as a tax practitioner. Foos-Garvin Accounting, Inc. and Melinda are members of Better Business Bureau, National Association of Tax Professionals and National Association of Enrolled Agents. Since 2007, Melinda has been an instructor for National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP) and served for several years on the Ohio NATP Chapter Board as the Education Director. Melinda has also been a presenter at the IRS Nationwide Tax Forums and instructed various tax classes for Ohio State University, Ohio State Bar Association and local organizations. In 2012, to encourage tax professionals in office best practices, she authored the manual Audit Proof the Tax Office and has recently published a second manual called Best Practices for the Tax Office. Melinda has a strong aspiration to support the tax professional s many sides of interactions with clients, IRS and the always needed education. 1
Before We Begin Polling Questions At least 5 out of 6 Submit questions of your own using Questions/Chat on the Control Panel CPE Certificate Note: Your experience will be enhanced if you refer to the text in Chapter 1 of the manual you received during the live seminar. Tax return preparers must exercise Due Diligence in preparing returns that claim the Child Tax Credit and the American Opportunity Tax Credit. PATH ACT PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM TAX HIKES ACT OF 2015 2
Due Diligence Due Diligence 12/14/2016 If the return includes an EITC, ACTC or American Opportunities Tax Credit, the entire refund will be held until February 15, in accordance with the PATH Act. IRS says the actual refund would be about February 27th. Sign Here? 3
POLLING QUESTION # 1 Requirements Must file Form 8867 Knowledge of Preparer Incomplete Inconsistent Incorrect MUST MAKE INQUIRIES Record Retention Retain Form 8867 and supporting documentation for 3 years 4
www.eitc.irs.gov/tax-preparer-toolkit/main 12/14/2016 5
Engagement Letters Key Components New Items When do you get signatures Sample Letter POLLING QUESTION #2 6
Conflict of Interest POLLING QUESTION #3 7
Legal and Ethical Requirements SAFEGUARDING TAXPAYER DATA (IDENTITY THEFT) has become such a lucrative business that criminals are leaving the drug dealing trade it s easier and safer to scam the IRS than it is to sell drugs. House Subcommittee on Government Operations, Examining the Skyrocketing Problem of Identity Theft Related to Tax Fraud 8
Legal Requirements 7216 Gramm-Leach Bliley Act Federal Trade Commission Pub 1345 POLLING QUESTION #4 9
The Summit partners recently expanded their ongoing public awareness campaign by launching the Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself campaign. As part of this initiative, the partners will issue weekly security awareness tax tips through January aimed at tax professionals. SECURITY SUMMIT 10
Passwords POLLING QUESTION #5 11
Phishing 12
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Your PTIN is being stolen 12/14/2016 Portals Email is not secure or GLB compliant Portal is great tool if you get one that is GLB compliant 14
POLLING QUESTION #6 Data Breach Coverage CYBER INSURANCE 15
IRS Publication 4557 www.ftc.gov 3 1 IRS PONDERING UPDATING CIRCULAR 230 Watch for updates coming! The Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council (IRSAC) issued its 2016 Public Report. In that report, IRSAC made two recommendations relating to the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). IRSAC recommended that the Commissioner request Congress to enact legislation expressly affirming the Treasury Department s authority under 31 USC 330 to establish and enforce professional standards for paid tax return preparers and broadly define tax practice. IRSAC also made a series of recommendations for revisions to Treasury Circular 230, to delete obsolete references, provide authority to address some topics currently contained in Circular 230 through revenue procedures or other administrative guidance, add references to appraisers and delete outdated language. OPR Director Stephen Whitlock thanked IRSAC for its thorough analysis of these issues, and committed to work with the IRS, Treasury and tax professional groups to determine whether additional topics should be addressed in a revision of Circular 230. 16
Thank you for attending! 17