Protecting Taxpayers from Ghost Preparers Act

This legislation, known as the "Protecting Taxpayers from Ghost Preparers Act," aims to enhance accountability for tax return preparers and protect taxpayers from fraud. It expands the definition of a "return" under the Internal Revenue Code to include any document purporting to be a tax return or related request, thereby broadening the scope for applying tax return preparer penalties to improperly altered documents, particularly those prepared by "ghost preparers." A significant provision of the bill amends the statute of limitations for assessing tax in cases of fraud, specifying that the unlimited period applies only when the fraudulent intent originates with the taxpayer , not solely with a preparer. This change is designed to shield taxpayers who are victims of preparer fraud from indefinite liability. Additionally, the bill includes a technical amendment to correct a subsection numbering in the Internal Revenue Code related to disaster-related deadline extensions.