NCLC works to advance consumer protections on tax-related issues that harm low-income households, including tax-time financial products, such as tax refund anticipation loans and checks (high-cost loans secured by the taxpayer's expected refund); problems with tax preparation services; and private collection of IRS debts.
Regulation of Paid Tax Preparers
Policy Analysis
Policy Briefs, Reports & Press Releases
- Press Release: Advocates Disappointed Private Debt Collectors Will Begin Collecting Federal Tax Debts, Sept. 29, 2016
- Minefield of Risks: Taxpayers Face Perils from Unregulated Preparers, Lack of Fee Disclosure, and Tax-Time Financial Products, March 2016
- Press Release: National Survey: Strong Support for Reforming Paid Tax Preparer Industry, Jan. 20, 2016
- Report and Press Release: Prepared in Error: Mystery Shoppers in Florida and North Carolina Uncover Serious Tax Preparer Problems, April 9, 2015
- Press Release: Tax Prep Services: Buyer Beware, Jan. 20, 2015
- Riddled Returns: How Errors and Fraud by Paid Tax Preparers Put Consumers at Risk and What States Can Do, March 2014
- Press Release: Tax-Time Problems for Consumers, Jan. 2014
- Report and Press Release: Tax Time 2011: Mystery Shopper Testing in New York and North Carolina Finds Continuing Problems With Tax Preparers
- Report and Press Release: Tax Preparers Out of Compliance: Mystery Shopper Testing Exposes Violations of Refund Anticipation Loan Laws
- Report and Press Release: Tax Preparers Take a Bite out of Refunds: Mystery Shopper Test Exposes Refund Anticipation Loan Abuses in Durham and Philadelphia
Comments, Letters & Testimony
- Advocates' letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance urging support to give the U.S. Treasury the authority to regulate paid trax preparers, April 15, 2016
- Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance regarding "Protecting Taxpayers from Incompetent and Unethical Return Preparers", April 8, 2014
Litigation & Model Law
- Model Tax Preparer Regulation Act
- Brief for Amici Curiae in Support of IRS Tax Preparer Regulation, April 5, 2013; Press release, April 8, 2013
Private Debt Collection of Taxes
- Group letter urging the IRS to establish strong protections for taxpayers, especially low-income taxpayers, affected by the Private Debt Collection program, Aug. 30, 2016
- Group Letter & Press Release Opposing Section 52106 in Senate Highway Trust Fund Bill Mandating IRS to Use Private Debt Collectors, July 24, 2015
- Group letter opposing the language included in the "Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act of 2014," April 28, 2014
- Group letter supporting S. 3887 that would prevent the IRS from using private collection agencies to collect federal taxes, Sept. 2006
- Testimony on "Use of Private Collection Agencies to Improve IRS Debt Collection", May 2003
Refund Anticipation Loans & Checks
Policy Analysis
Policy Briefs, Reports & Press Releases
The National Consumer Law Center and Consumer Federation of America annual reports on tax-time products:- Consumer Advisory: Delays & Risks Await Many Taxpayers, Dec. 2016
- 2016 Press Release and Report: Minefield of Risks: Taxpayers Face Perils from Unregulated Preparers, Lack of Fee Disclosure, and Tax-Time Financial Products, March 2016;
- 2015 Report and Press Release
- 2014 Report and Press Release
- 2013 Report and Press Release
- 2012 Report and Press Release
- 2011 Report and Press Release
- 2010 Report and Press Release
- 2009 Report, Press Release and Appendix
- 2008 Report and Press Release
Archived Reports & Press Releases
- Consumer Advisory: Avoid Tax-Time Refund Products, Jan 17, 2013
- Press Release: Consumer Advocates Praise FDIC Settlement to End RALs from Republic Bank & Trust, Dec. 9, 2011
- Press Release: Advocates Applaud H&R Block for Stopping RALs and Urge Republic, Jackson Hewitt, and Liberty to Also Stop RALs, Sept. 14, 2011
- More archived reports and press releases >>>
Litigation & Model Law
