Criminal bacground requirements

My gut feeling is that you will be allowed to prepare and eFile returns as long as you are compliant with the tax laws. If your felony is for tax fraud and such, then you are screwed. Create an account at

and do the PTIN sign up. On that page they say these are the things you will need:

BEGIN QUOTE

Social Security Number Personal information (name, mailing address, date of birth) Business information (name, mailing address, telephone number) Previous year's individual tax return (name, address, filing status)* Explanations for felony convictions (if any)** Explanations for problems with your U.S. federal tax obligations (if any)** Credit or debit card for the user application fee If applicable, your supervisor's PTIN (view Notice 2011-6 for more information) If applicable, U.S. professional certification information (CPA, attorney, enrolled agent, enrolled actuary, enrolled retirement plan agent, state regulated tax preparer credential, certified acceptance agent) including certification number, jurisdiction of issuance and expiration date.

END QUOTE

Note they talk of fel BEGIN QUOTE

"2533,00.html Phase 3: Pass a Suitability Check

After you submit your application and related documents, the IRS will conduct a suitability check on the firm and each person listed on your application as either a principal or responsible official. This may include: a credit check; a tax compliance check; a criminal background check; and a check for prior non-compliance with IRS e-file requirements. Once approved, you will get an acceptance letter from the IRS with your Electronic Filing Identification Number (EFIN).

END QUOTE

So this prior record might show up in the EFIN application, but I doubt it would cause any problems.

The only thing I can think of is that the law requires you to report all of your income, and I doubt the illegal income from years ago was ever reported, so technically this means you were not compliant with tax laws. FYI, deductions associated with an illegal activity are not allowed. So this means federal, social security, medicare, state income tax should have been paid. But this all seems quite moot.

My gut feeling is that you will be allowed to prepare and eFile returns as long as you are compliant with the tax laws. If your felony is for tax fraud and such, then you are screwed. Create an account at

and do the PTIN sign up. On that page they say these are the things you will need: [...] Note they talk of felony and not of misdemeanor. [...] ============ Misdemeanors older than 10 years are not even asked about. They are disregarded. It appears that felonies older than 10 years are also not asked about.

PTIN and EFIN requirements are different. For EFIN the old misdemeanors might matter.

The OP says he has a misdemeanor conviction, not a felony.

The OP says he has a misdemeanor conviction, not a felony. ========= IF the IRS doesn't care about old felonies, they are certainly not going to care about old misdemeanors.