California Tax Education Council

Why CRTPs Should Participate in the IRS Annual Filing Season Program

Did you know CRTPs are exempt from most of the IRS voluntary Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) requirements?

To participate, CRTPs are only required to have their CTEC renewal registration completed no later than December 31, 2018 (the IRS deadline for AFSP) and sign the Circular 230 form.

Below is a summary of benefits for participating in the program.

Limited Representation Rights

CRTPs who plan to represent clients during IRS examinations must participate in the program to receive limited representation rights. Limited representation rights allow tax preparers to represent clients whose tax returns they prepared and signed, but only before revenue agents, customer service representatives and similar IRS employees, including the Taxpayer Advocate Service.

To have limited practice rights, CRTPs must be an AFSP participant in both the year the tax return was prepared and the year of representation.

Additionally, unless you are an AFSP participant, you cannot use IRS Form 2848 (Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative) for clients.

Listed on IRS Website

AFSP participates will be included on the IRS public directory of tax preparers to help taxpayers search for tax preparers with credentials and qualifications.

To learn more irs.gov/tax- professionals/annual-filing-season- program.

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