Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Occupational regulation of many professions has grown in magnitude and complexity in the past fifty years. Statutes relating to occupational regulation are often implemented by state legislatures without sufficient quantitative analysis. Prior studies have analyzed the need for regulation to protect consumers. Some research has been published which addresses the differences in the quality of services offered by regulated and unregulated professions. Due to lack of data, the effect of state regulation on commercial income tax preparers has not been quantified. Recently data from the 1979 cycle of the Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program (TCMP) has been made available by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These data provided the opportunity for analysis relating to questions of quality of services offered by commercial income tax preparers. The analysis evaluated differences in error rates or amounts between returns prepared in a highly regulated state--Oregon, a state with minimum regulation--California, and the remaining forty-eight unregulated states. Items were chosen from the tax returns to evaluate the integrity and competency of the tax preparer, the effect of continuing education, and the accumulated effect of the totals of income, adjustments, and deductions. Descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, and non-parametric methods were used to test the hypotheses. Descriptive measures indicated that Oregon's error rates were among the lowest while California's errors were among the highest in the country. Cluster analysis grouped Oregon with states in the midwest while California grouped with other states in the sunbelt. The non-parametric tests indicated that Oregon's error rates and amounts were statistically smaller than the unregulated states. When Oregon was compared to the clustered states or to other states in the Northwest, the differences were not significant. When the samples from California were compared to those from the unregulated states, it was evident that the error rates were substantially higher in California. When California's errors were considered relative to the states from the sunbelt, the results were similar. The final comparison was made relative to levels of regulation. The errors on the returns from California were significantly larger than those from Oregon in all areas tested.

In South Africa the boundaries of the common law principle of legal professional privilege in tax matters is unclear. Common law legal professional privilege in South Africa and in other jurisdictions has been a right available only to clients of attorneys. In 2015, amendments were enacted in section 42A of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act. These amendments set out further requirements that need to be satisfied for a taxpayer to claim his right to legal professional privilege over particular communications. The amendment does not feature any recognition of the extension of legal professional privilege for which all non-attorney tax practitioners have been lobbying for since the enactment of the Tax Administration Act. The stance taken by SARS in its non-response to the pleas for extension of legal professional privilege have both Constitutional and administrative consequences: constitutional consequences in the form of the infringement of the non-attorney tax practitioner’s right to equality and the taxpayer’s right to privacy: administrative consequences arise in the form of an infringement of an individual’s right to fair administrative justice under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act. Foreign jurisdictions have been considered to determine whether South African is operating in line with international standards relating to legal professional privilege. Although, not every foreign jurisdiction examined for the purpose of this study, has implemented an extension of legal professional privilege, they have still ruled on the matter, or implemented an alternative solution, for example, a accountant concession for accountants. On this basis it is submitted that South Africa must implement a new provision within the Tax Administration Act defining the extension of legal professional privilege by law.

Cheung Chun Yiu. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-69). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction and Literature Review / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- Literature review --- p.4 / Chapter 2 --- "Model of tax compliance, with strategic involvement of tax practitioner" / Chapter 1. --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.8 / Chapter 1.2 --- A brief review game theoretical tax compliance model --- p.9 / Chapter 2. --- The Model --- p.16 / Chapter 3. --- Equilibrium conditions --- p.22 / Chapter 4. --- Conclusion --- p.29 / Chapter 3 --- "A further analysis of the model of tax compliance, with strategic involvement of tax practitioner" / Chapter 1. --- Further analysis with a defined form cost function --- p.30 / Chapter 2. --- Different level of participation of tax practitioner --- p.41 / Chapter 3. --- "Different level of the marginal cost/benefit of ""disparity"" between taxpayer and practitioner" --- p.45 / Chapter 4. --- Conclusion --- p.48 / Chapter 4 --- "Model of tax compliance,tax practitioner as an information provider" / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.50 / Chapter 2. --- Basic model for tax compliance --- p.51 / Chapter 3. --- Model for tax compliance with tax practitioner --- p.58 / Chapter 4. --- Professional fee policy --- p.64 / Chapter 5 --- Conclusion --- p.66 / Reference --- p.68

The purpose of this research was to examine the role of accountants as information providers in the federal tax process. The concepts of role theory were used as a theoretical basis for the study. A review of the literature revealed that the primary recipients of accountants' input are the staff of the tax-writing committees, the personal staff of the members of these committees, and personnel in the Treasury Department. These groups together with accounting practitioners and accounting educators were the target population of the study. A questionnaire was designed to obtain respondents' perceptions regarding the actual (what is) and desired (what should be) input of the accounting profession in the federal tax process. Questionnaires were mailed to a sample of the aforementioned groups, and, in addition, the researcher interviewed sixteen respondents. Hypotheses regarding differences among groups and satisfaction within groups were formulated and tested using the Kruskal-Wallis One Way Analysis of Variance, Mann-Whitney U, and Wilcoxon Matched Pairs tests. The results of the tests indicate that all three groups (government personnel, practitioners, and educators) desire a greater frequency of participation by the accounting profession in all segments (formulative, legislative, and interpretative) of the federal tax process. Government personnel indicate a desire for a lower level of participation than that desired by practitioners and academicians. However, each group is dissatisfied with the current frequency of input. Both government personnel and practitioners believe the interpretative segment should be the area of greatest emphasis by accountants. Academicians expressed the opinion that the formulative segment should receive primary emphasis. The data clearly show the AICPA is the accounting body that each group believes should provide the bulk of the input in every segment of the federal tax process. Informational qualities of the accountants' presentation were also examined. Accountants' input was perceived to be deficient in fourteen of the fifteen traits tested. Comments made on the returned questionnaires and in the personal interviews support the conclusions drawn from the statistical analysis. / Ph. D.

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The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of interactions with IRS employees on tax practitioners' attitudes toward the IRS. The mission of the IRS is to inspire the highest degree of public confidence as it collects the proper amount of tax revenues at the least cost to the public. The IRS believes it must project a favorable image to tax practitioners in order to foster a high level of support for its mission. Prior surveys of tax practitioners found that practitioners have generally unfavorable attitudes toward the IRS and its employees. This study examined whether the unfavorable attitudes result from interactions with IRS employees, and provides empirical evidence of the effects of interactions with IRS employees on tax practitioners' attitudes toward the IRS.

Taxpayers who hire tax professionals to assist with tax matters have a choice as to which type of tax professional to hire. This study looks at the choice between hiring a tax accountant or a tax attorney. Stephenson (2010) identifies four constructs that explain a taxpayer’s motivation to hire a tax professional—legal compliance, time savings, money savings, and a protection from/avoidance of the Internal Revenue Service. A taxpayer may be motivated by one or more of these demand constructs. Further, the context of the advice—whether given in a planning or compliance setting—may influence the choice of a specific type of practitioner. Taxpayers also perceive certain professional features of the practitioner as being associated with either an accountant or an attorney. In a 2 x 1 between subjects research design, I investigate these issues by exploring how the perceived characteristics of the accounting and legal professions and the tax context differentially influence the demand for one of these professionals. I hypothesize that taxpayers who demand a tax professional because of legal compliance or time savings are more likely to hire an accountant. Taxpayers who demand the services of a tax professional because of money savings or a protection from/avoidance of the Internal Revenue Service are more likely to hire an attorney. Additionally, I hypothesize that taxpayers in a planning context are more likely to hire an attorney while taxpayers in a compliance setting are more likely to hire an accountant. In a hierarchal regression, the variable for accuracy was significant in a simple regression of the four Stephenson constructs. In a second tier of the regression, accuracy was again significant as were certain covariates. In the final tier of the regression, no independent variable was significant but certain covariates were significant including client advocacy which was highly significant. The results do demonstrate that taxpayers perceive professional differences between a tax accountant and a tax attorney. Many of the results and the rationales underlying the hypotheses seem to be in the right direction as far as showing the expected demand for a specific tax professional. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection