The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) at a glance

Overview

Millions of taxpayers rely on tax professionals to help them understand and meet their federal tax obligations. The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) serves those taxpayers by ensuring that practitioners who represent clients before the IRS and provide them with written advice on federal tax matters, meet the highest standards of professional conduct. Our office promotes propriety and accountability within the tax professional community. The OPR does so through its administration and enforcement of the standards of practice set forth in Treasury Department Circular No. 230, Regulations Governing Practice before the Internal Revenue Service.

What is it we do

The OPR’s role is multi-faceted, involving:

• Interpreting and applying Circular 230 and investigating potential violations of the regulations.
• Addressing practitioner misconduct through appropriate administrative action, including:
  • Resolving cases with non- or quasi-disciplinary outcomes, such as written reprimands and warning letters to practitioners (and to those who attempt to represent taxpayers but are ineligible to practice before the agency).
  • Negotiating and entering into agreements with practitioners who consent to sanctions, which include censure, suspension from practice, disbarment, and monetary penalties; filing formal disciplinary proceedings to impose a sanction; and publishing the resulting decisions and orders.
  • Promoting voluntary compliance through education and outreach with established tax professional and practitioner-centric groups and other public and private stakeholder organizations and associations.
  • Providing clear guidance on legal, ethical, and competency-based rules, requirements, standards, and the like, as conveyed through published decisions, e-News subscription articles, webinars, and other communications and online resources.
  • Collaborating across the IRS to promote awareness of practitioner responsibilities and prohibitions, and the OPR’s oversight, investigatory, and disciplinary authority.

Why does it matter

By encouraging and upholding adherence to the fundamentals of competence, diligence, honesty, and integrity in tax practice, the OPR helps protect taxpayers and their confidence in the federal tax system. The OPR’s work aims to ensure that individuals are compliant in their practice before the IRS, not just with Circular 230, but also the internal revenue laws. We also aim to maintain transparency in our functions and the disciplinary process and to retain the public’s trust in the IRS.

Who is subject to Circular 230

Practitioners are specified and defined in Circular 230. They are:

• Attorneys
• Certified Public Accountants
• Enrolled Agents
• Enrolled Actuaries and Enrolled Retirement Plan Agents

Although they are not designated as “practitioners” in Circular 230 and are not treated fully the same as practitioners, appraisers who provide valuations for federal tax purposes are regulated by the circular and largely subject to its provisions. They are also subject to the sanction of disqualification for violations of those provisions.

Resources

• Office of Professional Responsibility and Circular 230
• Information for tax professionals

Headquarters

Internal Revenue Service
Office of Professional Responsibility
IR Room 7238
1111 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20224

Main Line: 202-317-6897
eFax: 855-814-1722

Management team

• Thomas V. Curtin Jr. – Acting Director
• Elizabeth C. Kastenberg – Senior Manager / Deputy Director
• Stuart D. Murray – Special Counsel to the Director
• Jacqueline M. Bennett – Supervisory Legal Administrative Specialist
• Brent E. Zimmerman – Supervisory Management and Program Analyst