AICPA urges changes to Senate Finance Committee tax shelter bill. (tax info).

The AICPA has urged lawmakers to make changes to a bill intended to curb tax shelter abuse. The bill, S. 2498, introduced May 10, and passed by the Senate Finance Committee in mid-June, has moved on a fast track since it was scored as a revenue raiser and could be used to help pay for a revenue-losing bill that would allow taxpayers claiming a standard deduction to also deduct limited charitable contributions.

The Institute's written comments on the bill reiterate concerns raised by the AICPA in telephone meetings with staff at the Finance Committee and Department of Treasury. Of particular interest to members may be our views on the sections of S. 2498 that affect both clients and CPAs as practitioners, and that go beyond the problems associated with abusive tax shelters.

For example, the AICPA opposes language in S. 2498 that would raise the standard for a preparer to sign (or advise on) a tax return, from the present "realistic possibility" position to a "more likely than not" one, if an item is not disclosed. Aside from the obvious policy implications of such a change, the Institute said, this standard could result in the collapse of the E-filing system (because that system is not yet set up to accept many disclosure forms) and would overburden the IRS exam function because of the huge number of additional disclosures that would be filed each year.

The AICPA also opposes language in the bill that would give Treasury new authority to censure practitioners and impose monetary sanctions on individual practitioners and their firms for any Circular 230 violation, not just those related to tax shelters. The broad language, the AICPA said, would put CPAs at risk of losing their licenses--for activities unconnected to tax shelters. Instead, the Institute urged that any statutory expansion of sanctions under Circular 230 be limited to practitioner activities that involve tax shelters, and not be extended to encompass firms.