If you are searching for representation before the IRS you should certainly do your homework to find the correct practitioner. It makes sense – everyone researches through Yelp or Google reviews which restaurants are the best, so why not do some research on the representative?
The IRS now offers a convenient way to check the disciplinary history of representatives. The agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) now elicits a lookup chart in an Excel spreadsheet that shows censures of practitioners for Circular 230 misconduct, as well as suspensions and disbarments.
Circular 230 outlines requirements, duties, restrictions, and disciplinary causes of action for professionals who want to practice before the IRS.
Before this release individuals had to wade through announcements of discipline published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin on IRS.gov.
The document attached above contains 25 years of more than 3,000 misdeeds – censures, suspensions, disbarments, and assorted practice restrictions, such as permanent injunctions and denials of limited practice to unenrolled tax return preparers due to misconduct.