The Office of Professional Responsibility's (OPR) disciplinary look-up contains searchable information regarding censures of practitioners and suspensions and disbarments from practice before the IRS, as well as disqualifications of appraisers, for Circular 230 misconduct.
Except for the look-up, members of the public can only learn that a practitioner was sanctioned by reviewing each of the announcements of discipline published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) on IRS.gov, or by using a commercial subscription service (such as Tax Notes Today) that reports instances of Circular 230 disciplinary sanctions. With the look-up, the OPR has compiled the same, condensed information into a searchable Excel spreadsheet file.
The look-up contains basic information on over 3,000 OPR censures, suspensions, disbarments, and miscellaneous restrictions on practice, such as permanent injunctions and denials of unenrolled tax return preparers to engage in limited practice. The list covers the last 25 years, which aligns with the OPR's record-retention requirement.
The document is updated to add new entries when a disciplinary announcement is published in the IRB. The OPR also updates the document to reflect reinstatements to practice after the end of a practitioner's suspension or disbarment from practice, and to remove data related to a disciplinary sanction or other restriction once the date it was imposed passes the 25-year mark.
The document provides each individual's last name, first name, and middle initial (if applicable); city and state at the time the sanction or other restriction was imposed; practitioner or other designation as of the same time (e.g., "Attorney," "CPA," and "Enrolled Agent"); type of disciplinary sanction or restriction; effective date; and any ending date, including when a practitioner was reinstated to practice. The spreadsheet is searchable using the "Sort & Filter" and "Find & Select" features.
To report any issues, concerns, or problems that you may experience using the look-up, please contact the OPR by eFax at 855-814-1722 or by mail at:
Internal Revenue Service
Office of Professional Responsibility
IR Room 7238
1111 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20224