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In T.D. 9903, the IRS issued final regulations reinstituting fees for obtaining and renewing preparer tax identification numbers (PTINs) for tax return preparers in 2021. The new fee is $21 plus a $14.95 fee paid directly to a third party for processing applications and renewals. The fee was $33 before a district court held in 2017 that the IRS was not authorized to charge a fee for PTINs and issued an injunction to bar it from doing so (see Steele, 260 F. Supp. 3d 52 (D.D.C. 2017)).

A valid PTIN must be obtained by anyone who prepares or substantially helps prepare a federal tax return or claim for refund for compensation. The PTIN system provides tax return preparers an identifying number that is not a Social Security number to include on tax returns.

When the government appealed the Steele decision to the D.C. Circuit, the appeals court held that the IRS has authority to charge a user fee for PTINs, paving the way for the agency to reinstate a fee for obtaining and renewing a PTIN (Montrois, 916 F.3d 1056 (D.C. Cir. 2019)). However, the D.C. Circuit remanded the case to the District Court for the District of Columbia to determine if the amount of the fee unreasonably exceeded the costs to the IRS to issue and maintain PTINs. The case is still on remand, and the IRS has not been charging a fee in the interim.