Attention, tax preparers: The federal government is watching you.

The IRS and the Treasury Department have, according to this release, “expanded the tax return preparer penalty and heightened the standards of conduct that must be met by tax return preparers in order to avoid that penalty.”

The new rules are outlined in IRS Notice 2008-13. The notice also calls for feedback from tax preparers.

The new rules are only interim regulations, which will remain in effect until “a planned overhaul of the tax return preparer penalty regime” is completed.

“The plan to take a fresh look at the preparer penalty regulations will be a top priority for us in 2008,” said IRS Chief Counsel Don Korb. “Our goal is to complete our work on the overhaul of these rules by the end of 2008.”

Are you familiar with the planned overhaul? What are your thoughts?