Circular 230, professional rules of conduct, Internal Revenue Code compliance rules, and taxpayer and preparer penalties all combine into a lot of information for practitioners to be familiar with. This presentation explains key rules of conduct relevant to tax practitioners, as well as the most commonly encountered federal tax penalty provisions, in the form of a checklist to help ensure ethical compliance in all aspects of one's tax practice. The checklist approach will help you see which rules are relevant in the various day-to-day activities in which practitioners engage and how to be compliant.
Examples of commonly encountered ethical dilemmas and how to address them, how to identify and deal with client expectations, and tips for avoiding problems will be covered in the explanation of the ethics checklist. In addition, selected current developments from the courts, Congress, and IRS including the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) will be presented.
Publication Date: June 2021
Designed For
Enrolled Agents, CPAs, and other practitioners looking to either meet their professional ethics continuing education requirements or for an opportunity to review rules of conduct relevant to tax practice.
Topics Covered
- Ethics Review
- 7”Part Tax Practice Ethics Checklist
- What Interview Question Do You Suggest to Gauge Ethical Foundation?
- Circular 230
- Uses of the checklists
- References
Learning Objectives
- Recognize key rules of conduct relevant to tax practice and how to be compliant
- Identify challenges facing Tax Practitioners
- Identify how Circular 230 applies
- Recognize specific consideration for the checklist as it relates to duties to your profession
- Describe AICPA Rules of Professional Conduct
- Recognize and apply parts of the Ethics Checklist
- Identify the highest level in the standards ordering
Level
Basic
Instructional Method
Self-Study
NASBA Field of Study
Regulatory Ethics (2 hours)
Program Prerequisites
None
Advance Preparation
None
Instructor
Annette Nellen
Annette Nellen, CPA, CGMA, Esq., is a professor in and director of San Jose State University's graduate tax program (MST), teaching courses in tax research, accounting methods, property transactions, advanced individual taxation, employment tax, ethics, leadership, and tax policy.
Annette chairs the AICPA Digital Assets Tax Task Force and serves on the AICPA Disaster Relief Tax Task Force. She formerly served on the AICPA Tax Executive Committee, including 2.5 years as chair. She was the lead author of the AICPA tax policy concept statement #1, Guiding Principles of Good Tax Policy: A Framework for Evaluating Tax Proposals (2001, updated 2017), still in use today. Annette is also active with the tax sections of the ABA, CalCPA and California Lawyers Association. Annette is the recipient of the 2013 Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award given by the Tax Division of the AICPA, the highest award given by the accounting profession in the area of taxation. In 2019, Annette was the recipient of the CLA’s Benjamin F. Miller Award for outstanding achievement and contribution in the field of state and local taxation law. Annette was included in Accounting Today's 2024 List of the Most Influential People in Accounting.
Annette is a regular contributor to Tax Notes State, authoring a column called Moving Forward? She is the author of Bloomberg BNA Tax Portfolio #533, Amortization of Intangibles. She is co-author and co-editor of four tax textbooks from Cengage. Annette has testified before the House Ways & Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee, California Assembly Revenue & Taxation Committee, and tax reform commissions and committees on various aspects of federal and state tax reform. She maintains the 21st Century Taxation website and blog (www.21stcenturytaxation.com). Prior to joining SJSU in 1990, Annette was with Ernst & Young and the IRS.