Go Get Them Jon Stewart: IRS to Regulate the Tax Preparation Industry

Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The Internal Revenue Service said it will regulate the tax-preparation industry for the first time, requiring companies including H&R Block Inc. and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. to register and pay a fee.

The plan, which IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said will take several years to implement, will require paid tax preparers to pass a competency test and supply an identification number when they file clients’ returns. The rules are intended to stop fraudulent and untrained preparers from scamming the government and consumers, the IRS said.

“It’s vital that we ensure all preparers are ethical, that they provide good service and that they are qualified,” Shulman said in a conference call with reporters. “It adds up to a groundbreaking approach for our nation’s tax system.”

It’s vital that we ensure all preparers are ethical! One can not make this stuff up! Will this be a multiple choice question?

In order to qualify you as an approved tax preparer, we need to determine that you are an ethical individual. Please answer the following (select one that best describes you and take all the time you need as this assessment is not timed):

I AM ETHICAL
a. always when my mom is in the room
b. frequently when my mom is in the room
c. sometimes when my mom is in the room
d. when my mom is in the room until she turns her head
e. I request a lifeline and I would like to call my mom

Way to go Turbo Tax Tim Geithner.