Members from the National Independent Tax Preparers Association worked together to help in proposing new amendments for Alabama Senate Bill 201. A Senate Bill recently introduced.  NITPA and it's growing base of CPA's, Enrolled Agents, Software Distributors and Independently owned Tax Offices worked together to help enhance current legislation being proposed in Alabama.  In addition to strengthening the penalties and regulations originally requested.  NITPA members also proposed a new Scholarship Fund to enhance educational opportunities for areas where the largest amounts of EITC are funded.  EITC known as Earned Income Tax Credits are part of the nations largest anti-poverty program.  If passed the newly formed Senate Bill would help expand the sanctions, regulated federal oversights and needed qualifications for entering & operating in the Tax Preparer Industry.  The legislation has drawn a lot of attention from national news media and other outlets who at first figured Tax Preparers would be totally against any such legislation.  The industry, already subject to ten federal laws, has been under attack in Alabama since a non profit group began singling it out with interest and political motivation that would have allowed them to tax & penalize the same independent business owners they were in the process of running out of business.  The attack on the industry came from a perpetuated undercover investigation which only looked at .003% of the preparers in the state.  The group running the investigation claimed that all 13 of the offices they encountered were unable to complete the Tax Returns correctly.  After reviewing the groups own findings completed during the investigation our own team of CPA's and Tax Preparers completed some of the same returns and actually found that in most cases some if not most of the 13 offices investigated, actually complete the returns correctly.  "The non profit group behind the investigation set out to commit fraud as if they were a consumer looking to abuse the system.  While completing the required paperwork needed to process and key punch the return, the students posing as tax payers, then began telling the Tax Preparers different answers than what they'd originally placed on the paperwork.  The likelyhood of 13 out of 13 offices getting the wrong or incorrect returns is highly unlikely unless of course your trying to get the wrong answers than all you have to do is give the wrong input. 

Many of these offices in Alabama were wrongfully accused and some if not most have sufferred great loss from incorrect statements being made by the news media.  It is unclear as to which direction some or all of those businesses will take when it comes time for them to clear their name and reputation.  For additional information on the Alabama Tax Preparer issue and investigation please click here.