How we research tax professional rules

This centre reads the primary text and says only what that text supports. What follows are the limits we hold ourselves to, so you can judge how far to trust any page here.

How we research this

• We read the statute, the regulation and the official programme material, and we link to the text itself rather than to a summary of it.
• We record what each source was read for and the date we read it, so a stale reading is visible rather than hidden.
• We describe amounts that are adjusted each year instead of printing a figure that quietly goes out of date.
• We state who a provision reaches, because scope is part of the rule.
• We list statuses in the order the regulation lists them, and we do not rank them.
• We treat a rule we have not read as unread, never as absent.
• We do not decide anyone's status, authority or exposure.

We do not decide anyone's status, authority or exposure. Nothing here produces a finding about a person or a firm.

Every source on this page shows the body that issued it and the date we read it. The text behind this centre was last read on 2026-08-24.

A job title is not a legal status

Federal tax law attaches nothing to a job title. It looks at what a person did, whether they were compensated for it, and for practice questions what status the practice rules place them in. A title is a description of work, not a grant of authority.

An identifier is not a permission

An identifier answers the question who is this, for the purpose the rule names. Practice before the IRS, electronic filing participation and preparer status are separate objects with separate requirements, and holding a number for one of them settles nothing about the others.

A scoped rule is not a rule about everyone

Several of these rules are written with a scope: they reach certain persons, certain conduct, or certain returns. The scope is part of the rule, so we state who a provision reaches rather than turning it into a rule about everyone.

State rules, and the edge of what we have read

State rules for paid preparers are their own layer, separate from the federal rules. We only state what we have read in a state's own official text.

California

A registration programme run by a nonprofit council named in the statute, paired with a surety bond and an annual education cycle.

• A paid tax preparer must hold a registration issued by the council, and the registration is subject to renewal every year.
• A tax preparer must maintain a $5,000 surety bond for each individual preparing returns for another person, and may not conduct business without a current bond.
• Sixty hours of qualifying instruction, of which forty-five hours are federal curriculum and fifteen hours are California curriculum.
• Twenty hours of continuing education each year, including fifteen hours of federal and five hours of California taxation.
• Annual renewal in the manner the council prescribes, or the registration expires.
• The council maintains a searchable public registry showing whether each registrant is in compliance with the annual requirements.
• The council may deny an application or discipline a registrant for listed violations, and it is a violation to advertise that the bond implies licensure or state endorsement.

• The chapter is repealed as of January 1, 2028 under § 22259, so its continued existence is a dated fact.
• The bond figure, the hour counts and the registry are all statutory details that change by amendment.

Oregon

A two-tier licensing scheme in which a supervised tax preparer licence and an independent tax consultant licence are separate licences, each with its own examination.

• A person may not prepare, or advise or assist in the preparation of, personal income tax returns for another for valuable consideration unless licensed as a tax consultant; a licensed tax preparer may do so only under supervision.
• A board examination on Oregon and federal personal income tax law is required for the preparer licence, and a more exacting examination is required for the consultant licence.
• At least eighty hours of basic personal income tax law, theory and practice at a board-approved school or educational institution.
• For the consultant licence, at least a cumulative 1,100 hours of qualifying work during at least two of the last five years.
• The applicant must possess a preparer tax identification number issued by the Internal Revenue Service as a condition of the state application.
• A licensed tax preparer works only under the supervision of a tax consultant, an attorney or a licensed accountant, subject to board rules.
• A person may not act as a facilitator of a refund anticipation loan without first being licensed as a tax consultant or tax preparer.

• The ORS 673.610 list does not name persons enrolled to practise before the Internal Revenue Service. Nothing here may be read as an Oregon exemption for federal enrolment.
• Hour and experience figures are statutory details that change by amendment.

Maryland

A board registration keyed to an examination, with a two-year continuing-education cycle and an employee exemption that fails on signature.

• An individual must be registered by the Board before providing individual tax preparation services in the State.
• The applicant must pass a Board examination, which is the examination prepared by the Internal Revenue Service or an equivalent examination the Board determines.
• At least sixteen hours of continuing education every two years as a condition of renewal.
• An examination fee not exceeding the cost of the examination, and a registration fee set by the Board on issuance.
• Renewal is conditioned on the continuing-education requirement.

• Maryland's use of an examination prepared by the Internal Revenue Service does not make the registration a federal credential.
• Hour counts and fees are statutory or board details that change.

New York

Annual registration with the state revenue agency, with a volume threshold that decides fee and coursework consequences, and a separate facilitator registration.

• Unless excluded, a person paid to prepare a substantial portion of any New York State return or report must register with the Department for every calendar year in which they do so.
• Registration issues a New York Tax Preparer Identification Number, which must appear with the preparer's signature on every New York return or report prepared.
• A commercial tax return preparer — defined by return volume in the statute — must complete continuing professional education coursework.
• A commercial tax return preparer pays a $100 registration fee at registration.
• A person who facilitates a refund anticipation loan or check must register as a facilitator, even when excluded from registering as a tax return preparer.
• A registered preparer must post the certificate of registration, a current price list and the Department's consumer bill of rights, and hand each potential client a copy of that publication.
• The Department states a $250 penalty for each calendar year of non-registration and $50 per return for non-payment of the fee, up to $5,000 in a calendar year.
• Registration information, including the business city and state, appears in the state's public registered-preparer database.

• Volume thresholds and fees are dated facts; the threshold decides New York consequences only.
• The Department's registration material is programme material. It may not be used for any federal proposition.

Connecticut

A two-year permit issued by the revenue commissioner covering preparers and refund-loan facilitators, conditioned on a federal identifier and a federal voluntary-programme certificate, with a mandatory written price disclosure.

• Except as exempted, no person may furnish tax preparation services or act as a facilitator, or represent themselves as doing so, without a permit issued by the Commissioner of Revenue Services.
• An applicant must possess a preparer tax identification number issued by the Internal Revenue Service and use it on each return or refund-loan document they sign.
• For a tax preparer permit, the evidence of experience, education or training must include a certificate of completion of the Internal Revenue Service annual filing season programme.
• A $100 initial application fee and a $50 renewal fee.
• A permit expires after two years and is renewed on application with the renewal fee.
• Before providing services the preparer must give a written disclosure with identity and contact details, an estimate of the total charge, and a warranty of secure storage and transmission of the taxpayer's information.
• Facilitator activity requires a permit, and one permit covers a person acting as both preparer and facilitator.
• The Commissioner may deny, suspend or revoke a permit for listed acts, and may impose a civil penalty on a business that employs an unpermitted, non-exempt preparer or facilitator.
• The Commissioner maintains a public registry of the names and principal business addresses of permit holders.

• Conditioning a permit on the annual filing season programme does not make that programme a credential and does not give it any federal practice effect.
• Fees, the permit term and penalty amounts are dated statutory figures.

Texas

The control state. No state registration, licensure or permit requirement for paid personal income tax preparers was located in official Texas primary text, and no official Texas text expressly forecloses one. We record this as not established, which is not the same as saying nothing is required.

• Under the EXPRESS_ONLY doctrine this record asserts nothing about Texas. It records only that a requirement was not located and that absence was not expressly foreclosed either.
• A reader in Texas must not be told there is no requirement. The honest answer is that this layer does not carry a Texas answer.

• Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code, Div. 8, Ch. 14 (§§ 22250–22259) — Tax Preparation ActCalifornia Legislature (official Legislative Information). Read for: California regulates paid tax preparers through a registration programme administered by the California Tax Education Council, defined at § 22251(d) as a single nonprofit organisation. Read on 2026-08-16.
• Or. Rev. Stat. ch. 673, §§ 673.605–673.740 — Tax consultants, tax preparers and registered tax aidesOregon Legislative Assembly (official ORS publication). Read for: ORS 673.615(1) provides that a person may not prepare, or advise or assist in the preparation of, personal income tax returns for another for valuable consideration unless licensed as a tax consultant. Read on 2026-08-16.
• Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. §§ 21-101, 21-102, 21-301 to 21-306, 21-309 — Individual Tax PreparersMaryland General Assembly (official statute text). Read for: Section 21-301 provides that an individual shall be registered by the State Board of Individual Tax Preparers before the individual may provide individual tax preparation services in the State. Read on 2026-08-16.
• N.Y. Tax Law § 32 — Registration of tax return preparersNew York State Legislature (official OpenLegislation statute text). Read for: Section 32 establishes registration of tax return preparers with the Department of Taxation and Finance and defines the terms the registration regime turns on. Read on 2026-08-16.
• Tax preparer and facilitator registration and continuing educationNew York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Read for: Unless excluded, a person paid to prepare a substantial portion of any New York State return or report must register with the Department for every calendar year, and a person who facilitates a refund anticipation loan or check must register as a facilitator. Read on 2026-08-16.
• Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 12-790a to 12-790c — Tax preparers and facilitators; permits; disclosure; disciplineConnecticut General Assembly (official General Statutes). Read for: Section 12-790a(b)(1) provides that, except as exempted, no person shall furnish tax preparation services or act as a facilitator, or represent themselves as doing so, without a tax preparer permit or facilitator permit issued by the Commissioner of Revenue Services. Read on 2026-08-16.

Recorded outcome: per-state pages are not justified, and pages about individual state boards are ruled out entirely.

Where to go next

This is general education for people who work in tax, not legal or tax advice, and not a determination about anyone's status or obligations. Rules change and facts matter. For a decision about your own situation or your own practice, take advice from a licensed professional.