PTIN user fees for 2026

The Federal Register is scheduled tomorrow to publish the IRS notice of PTIN user fees for 2026.  It will say the "amount of the user fee as $10 per application or application for renewal, plus an $8.75 fee per application or application for renewal payable directly to a third-party contractor."  There are 14 pages of history and legislation disclosing how the IRS arrived at the new number.

The "big" news is a reduction in the PTIN user fee to $10 from $11.  (Start planning now on how to use this windfall. 😀)

It’s sad that Congress enacts a law calling for this PTIN charge but Congress enacts no appropriation that enables the Treasury department to find the many tax preparers who, despite collecting fees to prepare tax returns that require a PTIN, omit this and prepare fraudulent returns.