Regulations under Internal Revenue Code Section 7216, Disclosure or Use of Tax Information by Preparers of Returns, became effective January 1, 2009. This regulation updated previous regulations that had been substantially unchanged since the 1970s and gives taxpayers greater control over their personal tax return information.
The statute limits tax return preparers’ use and disclosure of information obtained during the return preparation process to activities directly related to the preparation of the return. The regulations describe how preparers, with the informed written consent of taxpayers, may use or disclose return information for other purposes. The regulations also describe specific and limited exceptions that allow a preparer (through use of the IRC 7216 consent form) to use or disclose return information without the consent of taxpayers.
TaxSlayer Pro includes consent forms, and if you are offering bank products to your clients you will see them available to be printed and signed by the taxpayer.
If you desire to prepare your own consent forms, see here for IRS information to assist in that process. The Consent to Use and Consent to Disclosure forms in TaxSlayer Pro may not satisfy your legal obligations pursuant to IRC 7216, so we strongly suggest that you use these as examples to guide you in creating your own 7216 disclosures and that you have them reviewed by a lawyer to ensure that they comply with IRC 7216. If you need additional information, contact the IRS Practitioner Hotline at 1.866.860.4259.
Who Needs to Sign the IRC 7216 Consent Form?
If you are offering any services in addition to tax preparation (bank products, audit protection, identity theft monitoring, insurance, investments, etc.), a separate IRC 7216 consent to use form must be signed by each taxpayer prior to you discussing these services or sharing any of their information with another party. This includes ALL clients who apply for a bank product, as well as clients not utilizing a bank product but are utilizing an audit or identity theft service.
If you are offering only tax preparation services to your clients and no bank or other products, the IRC 7216 consent forms are not required and the program will not query you about them or attempt to generate them.
Additional Information:
IRS: Section 7216 Frequently Asked Questions
Desktop: Printing Multiple Consent to Use Forms
TaxSlayer Pro strives to make the information on this page timely and accurate but makes no promise or guarantee about the timeliness, accuracy, or completeness of the contents of this page. This is general information and is not intended to be tax advice. You are encouraged to also review the underlying federal resources and publications.