The Government Accountability Office says the IRS does not know how many paid tax preparers leave their identifying information off the returns they prepare for others, or put down a number that is not their own. Its report, published October 15 and publicly released October 16, recommends the IRS fold its ghost preparer work into a comprehensive, coordinated paid preparer strategy.
What a "ghost preparer" is
The IRS uses the term for compensated preparers who do not comply with Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) requirements. According to the Internal Revenue Manual, as GAO reports it, a ghost preparer is someone who fails to include any identifying information or includes a number that is not their PTIN, "such as a PTIN issued to another preparer or a made-up or inactive PTIN." By law anyone paid to prepare a federal tax return must obtain a PTIN from the IRS, and the IRS requires that it be placed in the return's Paid Preparer section. According to the IRS, some are unaware of the PTIN requirement or have allowed their PTIN to expire; some are aware of the rules but avoid signing a return they prepare to circumvent paying for professional software or to hide their lack of a current valid PTIN; others intentionally do not sign returns to avoid scrutiny and accountability. Because they do not identify themselves on the returns they prepare, GAO says, these preparers are "inherently difficult to detect."
What GAO measured
GAO analyzed 44 federal cases — 23 civil, 21 criminal — involving defendants who were sentenced or had judgments against them in federal courts from 2017 through 2025. In 19 of those criminal cases, courts ordered restitution to the IRS, for a total of over $20 million; in three, restitution went to taxpayer victims, for a total of almost $16,000. GAO says these identified cases and figures do not account for all the consequences of ghost preparers, in part because it did not attempt to identify all federal criminal and civil cases involving ghost preparers, and that the list is not generalizable to other ghost preparer cases. Restitution is based on the amounts proven by the government for the specific tax returns that were charged in the indictment, IRS officials said, so "the charged ghost preparer conduct is a fraction of the overall fraud." GAO also reports the IRS does not know how many ghost preparers it has identified, investigated and addressed: the work is fragmented across six offices, and the systems the IRS uses to track ghost preparer cases and outcomes are not connected and have limitations that impede their usefulness. One of those systems, the Return Preparer Database, did not track relevant ghost preparer penalties, such as penalties for failing to sign a return or furnish a valid PTIN, until 2025, IRS officials said; as a result, GAO says, the IRS does not know how many ghost preparer penalties it has enforced.
The recommendations
GAO makes three recommendations to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue: review the quality and usefulness of existing data and identify opportunities to enhance data collecting, sharing and analysis to inform its ghost preparer efforts; incorporate efforts to identify and address ghost preparers within a comprehensive, coordinated paid preparer strategy and identify the resources needed to implement it; and define and document measurable strategic objectives and performance goals for ghost preparer initiatives, including methods and measures to assess the effectiveness of taxpayer outreach. The report says the IRS agreed with all three of GAO's recommendations and described steps it plans to take, or has started taking, in response to each recommendation; the IRS and the Department of Justice also provided technical comments, which GAO incorporated as appropriate.
What a reader can check
The report says the IRS issues guidance and educational materials that help taxpayers choose a qualified paid preparer and identify common red flags, "such as preparers who do not sign returns or provide a PTIN." A taxpayer can submit a complaint against a paid preparer on Form 14157, Return Preparer Complaint. Restitution will not cover everything: GAO reports that a taxpayer's correct tax liability is not a reimbursable loss, because it is an amount the taxpayer legally owed. On that, IRS officials told GAO, the taxpayer may seek penalty relief or file an amended return through normal administrative channels.