Form 14157, the Return Preparer Complaint, is the IRS form you use to report a paid tax preparer for misconduct such as refund theft, inflated deductions, refusing to sign the return, or filing without your permission. You download it from IRS.gov, describe what happened, attach copies of what you have, and send it to the Return Preparer Office by mail or fax. Filing it puts the preparer under IRS review, but it does not by itself correct your tax account or return money to you — that takes a separate form and, often, an amended return.
What Counts as Reportable Preparer Misconduct
The form itself lays out the categories, and they are broader than most people assume. You do not have to prove anything happened. The IRS investigates based on what you describe.
- Refund theft: the preparer routed all or part of your federal refund into an account that was not yours, or the return actually filed showed different direct deposit information than the copy you were given.
- False items on the return: fictitious deductions, expenses, income, or withholding added without your knowledge, or original documents altered to change the numbers.
- E-file violations: filing your return electronically without your signature on Form 8879, filing off a pay stub instead of your W-2, or using software settings that make a paid return look self-prepared.
- General misconduct: refusing to give you a copy of the return, keeping your original records, falsely claiming a credential, taking your money and never filing, or billing for work never done.
- PTIN issues: leaving the Preparer Tax Identification Number off the return, or using someone else’s PTIN.
That last category covers what the IRS calls “ghost” preparers. A paid preparer who won’t sign and won’t provide a PTIN is trying to stay off the record, and the IRS treats it as a signal that other things are probably wrong too.1Internal Revenue Service. Form 14157 – Return Preparer Complaint
When You Also Need Form 14157-A
Form 14157 reports the preparer. It does not ask the IRS to change anything on your tax account. If the misconduct actually affected your account — a Form 1040 filed without your knowledge, information altered on your return without telling you, or your refund taken in whole or in part — you need Form 14157-A, the Tax Return Preparer Fraud or Misconduct Affidavit, on top of Form 14157.2Internal Revenue Service. Form 14157-A – Tax Return Preparer Fraud or Misconduct Affidavit
The two forms go in together. Form 14157-A supplements the complaint by telling the IRS you want your account corrected, not just the preparer reviewed. If you already received an IRS notice about a return you didn’t file, put a copy of that notice in the envelope and send everything to the address on the notice instead of the standard submission address.3Internal Revenue Service. Make a Complaint About a Tax Return Preparer
What to Gather Before You Fill It Out
Specific information moves a complaint forward. Vague information usually doesn’t. Get everything you can find on the preparer: full name, business name, address, phone number. If you have their PTIN, Employer Identification Number, or Electronic Filing Identification Number, put those on the form. Identifying numbers let the IRS match your complaint to the right individual, which matters when the preparer works under a firm name shared with others.3Internal Revenue Service. Make a Complaint About a Tax Return Preparer
The complaint itself asks for the tax years and forms involved, plus a written description of what happened — dates, locations, and what the preparer did or didn’t do. Attach copies of the return the preparer gave you, any fee agreement or receipt, and any communications with the preparer. Keep your originals. Send only copies.
How to Submit Form 14157
Download the current version from IRS.gov, complete it, and sign and date it. Your signature attests that what you’ve written is true to the best of your knowledge. Two ways to send it:
- By mail: Internal Revenue Service, Attn: Return Preparer Office, 401 W. Peachtree Street NW, Mail Stop 421-D, Atlanta, GA 30308.
- By fax: 855-889-7957.
If you’re responding to an IRS notice about a suspicious return, ignore both of the above and send the complaint and supporting documents to the address printed on the notice.3Internal Revenue Service. Make a Complaint About a Tax Return Preparer
There is no published deadline for filing Form 14157. Sooner is better anyway, because evidence gets colder and other clients may still be sitting in that preparer’s waiting room.
What the IRS Does With Your Complaint
The Return Preparer Office reviews each complaint and decides whether to investigate. Credible allegations typically lead to contact with the preparer and a look at their practice. Depending on what surfaces, the case may stay in the Return Preparer Office or move to the Office of Professional Responsibility, which handles discipline of credentialed practitioners under Circular 230.4Internal Revenue Service. Office of Professional Responsibility and Circular 230
Set expectations here: the IRS will not report back to you. Return information is confidential under Internal Revenue Code Section 6103, and that confidentiality extends to what the IRS does with a preparer it investigates. You may never learn whether the preparer was warned, fined, suspended, or referred for prosecution.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6103 – Confidentiality and Disclosure of Returns and Return Information
What the Preparer Can Face
Consequences run from small per-return fines to federal prison, depending on whether the conduct was careless, reckless, or criminal.
Circular 230 Sanctions
Circular 230 covers attorneys, CPAs, enrolled agents, and other practitioners who represent taxpayers before the IRS. If the Office of Professional Responsibility finds a violation, it can issue a public censure, suspend the practitioner from practice before the IRS, disbar them permanently, or impose a monetary penalty up to the gross income the practitioner earned from the misconduct.6Internal Revenue Service. OPR – Frequently Asked Questions
Financial Penalties Under the Code
Preparers who aren’t credentialed practitioners still face penalties under the Internal Revenue Code. Two tiers apply based on intent. Under IRC 6694(a), a preparer who understates your tax liability by taking a position without a reasonable basis owes $1,000 or 50% of the income earned from that return, whichever is greater. Under IRC 6694(b), if the understatement came from willful, reckless, or intentional disregard of the rules, the penalty is $5,000 or 75% of the preparer’s income from the return, whichever is greater. These figures are set by statute and do not adjust for inflation.7Internal Revenue Service. Tax Preparer Penalties
A separate set of penalties under IRC 6695 covers procedural failures — not signing the return, not giving you a copy, not including a PTIN. For returns filed in calendar year 2025, each violation is $60 with an annual cap of $31,500 per category. Negotiating a taxpayer’s refund check runs $635 per occurrence, with no annual cap, and the same $635 applies to each due diligence failure on benefits like the Earned Income Credit.7Internal Revenue Service. Tax Preparer Penalties
Criminal Charges
The worst cases become felonies. Under IRC 7206, willfully aiding in preparing a materially false or fraudulent return can bring up to 3 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $100,000, or $500,000 for a corporation.8GovInfo. 26 U.S.C. 7206 – Fraud and False Statements Criminal referrals are uncommon and tend to target preparers running fraud schemes across many clients.
Fixing Your Own Tax Account
Reporting the preparer is one track. Repairing what happened to you is another, and they run independently. Interest and penalties on an incorrect return keep accruing while the IRS looks at the preparer, so don’t wait for the investigation before dealing with your own return.
If Form 14157-A is in play, that form itself asks the IRS to change your account. If you authorized the return and just need errors corrected, file Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, for each affected year.
When a preparer files a return using your Social Security number without permission, the situation is also tax-related identity theft. If you can’t e-file because a return already exists under your SSN, or you’re getting IRS notices about a return you didn’t submit, file Form 14039, Identity Theft Affidavit. The IRS will work to verify your identity, clear the fraudulent return, and set your account to issue an Identity Protection PIN each year going forward.9Internal Revenue Service. When to File an Identity Theft Affidavit
Don’t Confuse Form 14157 With Other IRS Reports
Form 14157 is only for paid tax return preparer misconduct. To report someone for tax violations of their own — unreported income, false deductions on their own returns, failure to file — the correct form is Form 3949-A, Information Referral.10Internal Revenue Service. Report Tax Fraud, a Scam or Law Violation For information about large-scale tax underpayments where you want to claim a financial award, the IRS Whistleblower Program uses Form 211, but its mandatory award structure only kicks in when the amounts in dispute exceed $2 million, so it rarely fits a client harmed by a single preparer.11Internal Revenue Service. Whistleblower Office