US IRS asks judge to let tax return preparer regulation proceed

Jan 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service asked a judge to reconsider his earlier order, issued last week, that shut down a new IRS program for registering and training tax return preparers.

With up to 700,000 tax preparers potentially affected, the agency on Wednesday asked U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge James Boasberg for a 30-day suspension of a permanent injunction he issued previously against the IRS program.

The IRS on Tuesday rescinded the registration and testing requirements for preparers that it had begun imposing under the program. It was launched in 2011 to regulate the preparer industry for the first time and to crack down on abuses of taxpayers' sensitive financial information.

Warning of "substantial disruption to tax administration" from the sudden shut-down of the program, the agency said it plans to formally appeal the judge's injunction within 30 day.