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概述
But its existing duties of diligence, competence and reasonable written advice apply fully when practitioners use AI. A practitioner who relies on AI output is responsible for it as if they had written it themselves. This matters because AI tools can produce fabricated citations and confident errors, and those can lead to professional discipline.
深入探讨
Circular 230 is codified at 31 CFR Part 10. It governs attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled agents and others who practice before the IRS. The Office of Professional Responsibility enforces it. It does not mention artificial intelligence, but several sections map directly onto AI use. Section 10.22 requires due diligence in preparing and filing returns and in determining the accuracy of representations to the IRS and to clients. It allows a practitioner to rely on others' work product only if they used reasonable care in engaging, supervising, training and evaluating that source. Section 10.35 requires competence: the knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation needed for the matter. A practitioner who can't evaluate what an AI tool produced does not meet that standard. Section 10.37 sets standards for written advice. It must rest on reasonable factual and legal assumptions, consider all relevant facts the practitioner knows or should know, relate the law to those facts, and not take into account the chance that a return won't be audited. An AI draft that assumes facts or cites nonexistent authority fails this test unless someone catches it. Section 10.34 sets standards for positions taken on returns. Confidentiality comes from outside Circular 230. Internal Revenue Code sections 7216 and 6713 penalize preparers for unauthorized disclosure or use of tax return information. The FTC Safeguards Rule requires many tax preparers to maintain a written information security plan. Sending client data to an AI vendor raises questions under all of these. There are two misconceptions. The first is that citing an AI tool shifts responsibility; it does not. The second is that Circular 230 covers every preparer. After the Supreme Court's Loving v. IRS decision in 2014, the IRS's authority over unenrolled return preparers' preparation work is limited, although other preparer penalties still apply.
战略影响
风险与安全
灾难性和日常的人工智能危害都取决于谁了解风险以及谁能够采取行动。
更清晰的判决
公众和专业素养决定强有力的安全政策在政治上是否可行。
打破炒作
清晰的解释可以减少炒作、实验室公关和模糊道德剧场的影响。
The Future of Circular 230 and AI for Tax Professionals
Treasury, the IRS and professional bodies may issue guidance that addresses AI directly. Commentators have urged it, but what form it would take is uncertain. Until then, practitioners should expect existing standards to be applied to AI-assisted work, much as courts have applied existing rules to lawyers who filed AI-generated briefs citing fake cases. Firms that build verification, documentation and data-protection controls now will be ready for whatever guidance comes, and they will also reduce their malpractice and discipline risk under current law.
现实世界的实施
An enrolled agent uses an AI tool to draft a client memo on a home office deduction. Before sending it, she checks every code section and regulation it cites against primary sources.
A CPA firm writes a policy that bars staff from pasting client names and Social Security numbers into consumer chatbots. The policy cites confidentiality rules for return information and the firm's written information security plan.
A practitioner asks an AI tool for the tax treatment of a transaction and gets an answer that assumes facts the client never gave. He goes back to the client for the missing facts before advising.
A firm documents how reviewers check AI-drafted research, so it can show reasonable care in supervising the tools and staff whose work it relies on.
风险与防护栏
将存在风险视为科幻小说，同时能力复合。
混淆了表面产品安全与高度自治下的对准。
只给非英语和非专业观众留下低质量的资源。
实施路线图
单独的产品危害、误用和失控/失调风险。
询问哪些证据会改变您对时间表和严重性的看法。
比起营销主张，更喜欢主要来源和具体评估。
确定一条行动路径：职业、政策、资金或技能——而不仅仅是意识。
不断探索
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常见问题
What is Circular 230 and AI for Tax Professionals?
Circular 230, the Treasury regulations governing practice before the IRS, contains no AI-specific rules. But its existing duties of diligence, competence and reasonable written advice apply fully when practitioners use AI. A practitioner who relies on AI output is responsible for it as if they had written it themselves. This matters because AI tools can produce fabricated citations and confident errors, and those can lead to professional discipline.
How does Circular 230 address artificial intelligence specifically?
Circular 230 does not mention AI. Diligence, competence and written-advice standards govern work that uses AI just as they govern any other work.
Under section 10.22, when may a practitioner rely on the work product of another source?
Section 10.22 allows reliance only with reasonable care in engaging, supervising, training and evaluating the source. This is why documenting how AI output is reviewed matters.
Section 10.35 imposes which duty?
Section 10.35 requires the knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation needed for the matter.
An AI draft of written advice assumes facts the client never provided. Under section 10.37, what is the problem?
Section 10.37 requires reasonable factual and legal assumptions and consideration of relevant facts. Unconfirmed facts assumed by a model undermine that.
Which provisions outside Circular 230 penalize preparers for unauthorized disclosure of tax return information?
Sections 7216 and 6713 of the Internal Revenue Code penalize unauthorized disclosure or use of return information. This is relevant when client data is sent to AI vendors.
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