Is a New Willfulness Standard at Play in Circular 230 Hearings?

Richard J. Sapinski was quoted in this article about “The possibility that practitioners and the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) could soon be facing application of a new willfulness standard in litigation of alleged Circular 230 ethical violations has some in the tax community debating the standard’s prospects and accompanying changes.” According to the article, “At least one practitioner thinks moving away from the Cheek standard wouldn’t be problematic. Richard J. Sapinski of Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. in Newark, N.J., told Tax Analysts that ‘the civil and criminal standards on willfulness are really the same once applied.’”