You May Be a Return Preparer: Using AI Without Violating Sections 7216 and 6713

Vanessa Runtsch will present on a panel for the ABA Tax Section’s Virtual Fall Tax Meeting, titled “You May Be a Return Preparer: Using AI Without Violating Sections 7216 and 6713.”

Tax attorneys may qualify as section 7216 return preparers without signing a return when their advice, drafting, or review amounts to compensated assistance in preparing a federal income-tax
return. The hypothetical: a return preparer consults tax counsel, and counsel uses third-party generative AI to help analyze a reporting position on a completed transaction. The panel would examine when prompts and outputs constitute tax return information; whether the AI provider is merely processing information or making a substantive determination; and when disclosure or use is permitted without consent, requires advance taxpayer consent, or, absent either, creates exposure under sections 6713 and 7216 – a framework for new practitioners to use AI without crossing those lines.