A revenue agent asks who is speaking for the taxpayer. The answer turns on two separate questions: what you are doing, and what you are credentialed to do.
Before you can say who may speak for a taxpayer, you need to know what constitutes practice before the IRS. Treasury Department Circular No. 230 (31 CFR Part 10) is the set of rules that governs practice before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It draws its authority from 31 USC 330, the statute that lets Treasury regulate the representatives who appear for taxpayers.
Section 10.2(a)(4) of Circular 230 defines what constitutes practice before the IRS. It covers:
- All matters connected with a presentation to the IRS relating to a taxpayer's rights, privileges, or liabilities under laws the IRS administers.
- Preparing and filing necessary documents with the IRS for a taxpayer.
- Corresponding and communicating with the IRS on a taxpayer's behalf.
- Giving written advice about any entity, plan, or arrangement that has a potential for tax avoidance or evasion.
Common mistakes
- Treating a PTIN as a practice right. A preparer who holds only a PTIN has zero representation authority for a return prepared after 2015, not limited authority. The number identifies the preparer; it does not give anyone the right to represent.
- Letting AFSP reach Appeals or collection. A Record of Completion never gets a preparer past revenue agents, customer service representatives, and the Taxpayer Advocate Service. Revenue officers, who handle collection, and Appeals officers are off limits.
- Covering only one year with the Record of Completion. Both the year the return was prepared and the year of representation need coverage. A 2026 record alone does not let the preparer represent on a 2023 return.
Bottom line
- Practice means advocacy, correspondence, filings, and covered written advice for a taxpayer; bare return preparation and furnishing requested information are not practice.
- Attorneys, CPAs, and enrolled agents hold unlimited administrative representation rights; enrolled actuaries and ERPAs are subject-matter limited.
- AFSP participants represent only before revenue agents, customer service representatives, and the Taxpayer Advocate Service, only on returns they prepared and signed, and only with Records of Completion for both the preparation year and the representation year.
- Section 10.7 relationships (self, spouse, parent, child, sibling, officer, general partner, full-time employee, fiduciary, government employee) permit representation without a credential.
Exam shortcut
Run every representation stem through three gates in order: Activity, Status, Authority. If the activity is bare preparation or handing over requested records, stop, no practice, no credential needed. If it is advocacy, ask what the person holds, then ask whether Form 2848 covers the year and the matter. Stem signals to catch instantly. The words "Appeals officer" or "revenue officer" kill any AFSP answer choice.
The full lesson (about 3,897 words, 26 min read) adds 2 worked examples, all 6 common mistakes, a self-check, free in the app.
Learning objectives
- 1A
- 1B
- 1C
- 2
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