Chicago Tax Preparer Files Suit Against IRS Power Grab

The cost of preparing your taxes could go up this year thanks to new IRS regulations.

Nearly 350,000 independent tax preparers and millions of American taxpayers will be affected by the agency's new unlawful licensing scheme. In addition to paying a yearly registration fee, tax preparers are now required to pass a competency exam, complete an unending string of continuing education courses, and could be subject to mandatory fingerprinting.

Enforcement of these new requirements is expected to cost upward of $354 million.

Who will end up paying for these new regulations? Ultimately, the bill will land at the foot of the taxpayer in the form of higher tax preparation costs. This could be a hard pill to swallow, considering Americans are projected to spend over $400 billion this year to get their taxes done.

Though the IRS claims the rules are needed to weed out "unscrupulous" tax preparers, opponents of the regulations argue they are unconstitutional. The IRS currently does not have congressional approval to impose these rules, nor do they have the authority to grant themselves that power.

That is why Chicago tax preparer Sabina Loving teamed up with the Institute for Justice to file suit against the IRS and their illegal power grab.