NAEA Fights to Protect and Defend Your EA Credential

NAEA is fighting to protect and defend the livelihood and rights of enrolled agents to provide services to U.S. taxpayers wherever they may be located, within or outside the United States. The State of Minnesota, under Statute 332B, requires enrolled agents who provide debt settlement services to pay costly and burdensome state registration fees and to disclose detailed taxpayer information to the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

Debt settlement services are defined as “offering to provide advice or offering to act or acting as an intermediary between a debtor and the federal government, state government, or their political subdivisions to delay payment of delinquent taxes owed, establish a payment plan for delinquent taxes owed, or obtain a settlement for less than the full amount of delinquent taxes owed.” The statute exempts attorneys not exclusively representing taxpayers before the IRS, but does not exempt CPAs and EAs. The statute does not apply to tax preparation, unless the tax preparation work involves a non-filer with a balance due debt. Under those circumstances, assisting the taxpayer will likely trigger an enforcement action by Minnesota.

Enrolled agents are licensed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The EA credential is a national credential, NOT a state credential subject to the whims of state legislatures.

Why Minnesota Statute 332B is a Problem for All Enrolled Agents

  • Statute 332B requires any EA, anywhere, representing even a single taxpayer based in Minnesota, to comply with burdensome state registration requirements (i.e., pay a $1,000 initial registration fee, pay a $250 annual renewal fee, incur the expense of posting a $5,000 security bond).
  • Statute 332B empowers the Minnesota State Department of Commerce to set the level and means for payment of enrolled agent fees.
  • Statute 332B requires EAs to provide the Minnesota State Department of Commerce with detailed taxpayer information, contrary to Circular 230 and the Internal Revenue Code.

UPDATE: A BIG Win for EA’s in Minnesota: MN Senate Passes Legislation Amending Statute 332B
On Tuesday, May 10, 2022, the Minnesota Senate, by a vote of 64-0 passed SF 1391, NAEA’s legislation exempting “enrolled agents” and “enrolled agent firms” from the restrictive debt settlement service provider regulations in Statute 332B.

On Sunday, May 22, 2022, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed legislation that was unanimously approved exempting EAs and EA firms from Statute 332B. Learn about the EA and the circumstances that lead to this legislative by reading Catch-22: My Nightmare with Minnesota Statute 332B.

We would not have been able to achieve this success without the support of our members and affiliates who so generously supported our advocacy efforts through contributions of $59,625 to the Minnesota Defense Fund.

Wherever there are enrolled agents, NAEA, its affiliates, and members will continue to be there to defend the profession and the interests of the taxpayers we serve.