EA Credentials

[Armando Beaujolais]

Does anybody know about the new rules for EA CPEs? What's the requirement for ethics?

[Bees Knees]

EA ethics

Circular 230 says: "A minimum of 16 hours of continuing education credit, including 2 hours of ethics or professional conduct, must be completed in each year of an enrollment cycle."

Circular 230 goes on to describe the type of conduct that would make us not be ethical:

"'10.51 Incompetence and disreputable conduct.

Incompetence and disreputable conduct for which a practitioner may be
censured, suspended or disbarred from practice before the Internal Revenue Service
includes, but is not limited to--

(a) Conviction of any criminal offense under the revenue laws of the United
States;

(b) Conviction of any criminal offense involving dishonesty or breach of trust;

(c) Conviction of any felony under Federal or State law for which the conduct
involved renders the practitioner unfit to practice before the Internal Revenue Service;

(d) Giving false or misleading information, or participating in any way in the giving
of false or misleading information to the Department of the Treasury or any officer or
employee thereof, or to any tribunal authorized to pass upon Federal tax matters, in
connection with any matter pending or likely to be pending before them, knowing such
information to be false or misleading. Facts or other matters contained in testimony,
Federal tax returns, financial statements, applications for enrollment, affidavits,
declarations, or any other document or statement, written or oral, are included in the
term information.

(e) Solicitation of employment as prohibited under '10.30, the use of false or
misleading representations with intent to deceive a client or prospective client in order
to procure employment, or intimating that the practitioner is able improperly to obtain
special consideration or action from the Internal Revenue Service or officer or
employee thereof.

(f) Willfully failing to make a Federal tax return in violation of the revenue laws of
the United States, willfully evading, attempting to evade, or participating in any way in
evading or attempting to evade any assessment or payment of any Federal tax, or
knowingly counseling or suggesting to a client or prospective client an illegal plan to
evade Federal taxes or payment thereof.

(g) Misappropriation of, or failure properly and promptly to remit funds received
from a client for the purpose of payment of taxes or other obligations due the United
States.

(h) Directly or indirectly attempting to influence, or offering or agreeing to attempt
to influence, the official action of any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue
Service by the use of threats, false accusations, duress or coercion, by the offer of any
special inducement or promise of advantage or by the bestowing of any gift, favor or
thing of value.

(i) Disbarment or suspension from practice as an attorney, certified public
accountant, public accountant, or actuary by any duly constituted authority of any State,
territory, possession of the United States, including a Commonwealth, or the District of
Columbia, any Federal court of record or any Federal agency, body or board.

(j) Knowingly aiding and abetting another person to practice before the Internal
Revenue Service during a period of suspension, disbarment, or ineligibility of such other
person.

(k) Contemptuous conduct in connection with practice before the Internal
Revenue Service, including the use of abusive language, making false accusations and
statements, knowing them to be false, or circulating or publishing malicious or libelous
matter.

(l) Giving a false opinion, knowingly, recklessly, or through gross incompetence,
including an opinion which is intentionally or recklessly misleading, or engaging in a
pattern of providing incompetent opinions on questions arising under the Federal tax
laws. False opinions described in this paragraph (l) include those which reflect or result
from a knowing misstatement of fact or law, from an assertion of a position known to be
unwarranted under existing law, from counseling or assisting in conduct known to be
illegal or fraudulent, from concealing matters required by law to be revealed, or from consciously disregarding information indicating that material facts expressed in the tax
opinion or offering material are false or misleading. For purposes of this paragraph (l),
reckless conduct is a highly unreasonable omission or misrepresentation involving an
extreme departure from the standards of ordinary care that a practitioner should
observe under the circumstances. A pattern of conduct is a factor that will be taken into
account in determining whether a practitioner acted knowingly, recklessly, or through
gross incompetence. Gross incompetence includes conduct that reflects gross
indifference, preparation which is grossly inadequate under the circumstances, and a
consistent failure to perform obligations to the client."

[Brad Imsdahl]

Ethics

It seems sad that a professional has to be required to go to school every year and pay to have some speaker say he can't commit a felony, or use abusive language during an audit, or steal money from a client. Do you really think being required to take 2 CPE credits each year is going to prevent some jerk from stealing money from a little old lady?

[S T]

2 hours annually

Also, that we will probably have to take the same 2 hour course over and over again.

How many of the CPE providers are going to upgrade a 2 hour course on Ethics so that we take a different test each calendar year.

Sandy

[Bjorn]

Ethics

Brad hit it on the head. Too often our good friends with bureaucratic jobs simply need to write more rules to justify a hefty salary, good pension, and other generous fringe benefits. These rules often come out of that one in a million situation.

Let's have more government in my life.

[Unregistered]

My EA letter suggested I take 2 hours of Ethics each year, but said my Ethics requirement does not begin until 2006. Don't have the letter at home to quote from. Check your letter to see what is required for you.