Another tier of our Preparer Compliance Program is pre-filing season educational visits to preparers, known as Knock and Talk visits. A Revenue Agent or Stakeholder Liaison employee and criminal investigator or IRS employees, on their own, visit preparers who prepared returns with certain tax benefits, such as the earned income credit (EITC), child tax credit (CTC), including the additional child tax credit (ACTC), credit for other dependents (ODC), American opportunity credit (AOTC) and/or the head of household (HOH) filing status, that may have a high chance of errors. The goal is to help preparers understand and avoid errors. See Preparer Compliance-Focused and Tiered for information on other parts of our program.
Preparers selected for these visits will receive Letter 6223 (Knock and Talk Visit Introduction)PDF requesting the preparer call the IRS employee by a certain date to set up an appointment for the visit. This visit is voluntary. Once the visit is confirmed, the IRS employee will send Letter 6224 (Knock and Talk Visit Confirmation)PDF to inform the preparer of the agreed upon date and what the preparer will need to have available for the visit.
Although these visits are optional, it is highly recommended that preparers take advantage of this educational opportunity. Other preparers in your office may benefit from the information shared by the IRS employee. All are welcome to attend.
During these outreach and education visits, IRS employees:
- Talk about the errors on the clients returns;
- Offer tips and tools for improving accuracy;
- Answer any questions; and
- Explain the potential costs of not improving accuracy. Read more about Consequences of Failing to Meet your Due Diligence Requirements here.
Knock and talk visits don't result in penalties, but we continue to monitor the returns the preparer files. If a preparer's returns showing certain tax benefits do not appear to improve, we may conduct a due diligence visit in the future. Read more about due diligence audits.
Additional Resources
- Consequences of Failing to Meet Your Due Diligence Requirements
- Preparer Compliance - Focused and Tiered
Return to main Preparer Compliance Page