Methodology
Source of record
Every preparer listing on TaxProProof comes from the IRS Consolidated PTIN List (Freedom of Information Act extract). This is the authoritative federal list of every paid tax return preparer in the United States and its territories — anyone who prepares a federal return for compensation is required to hold a PTIN and appear in this file.
We do not scrape private sites, aggregate reviews, or purchase directory data. The national source is public government data, released under FOIA, and re-released here in browseable form.
Field-by-field mapping
| Displayed field | Source column | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | First_NAME + LAST_NAME | Title-cased for display. |
| Credential / focus | PROFESSION + AFSP_Indicator | Highest-authority class first (attorney > CPA > EA > ERPA > CAA > state-regulated > AFSP > PTIN-only). |
| Firm / DBA | DBA | Empty when the IRS record has none; shown as "Independent". |
| Address | BUS_ADDR_* + BUS_ST_CODE + BUS_ADDR_ZIP | Business address on file with the IRS. |
| Phone / website | BUS_PHNE_NBR / WEBSITE | Only shown when non-empty in the IRS record. |
| Map pin location | GeoNames US ZIP centroid (fallback) + Census Batch Geocoder (upgrade) | Public-domain gazetteer + free federal geocoder. Never Mapbox or paid geocoding APIs. |
What we deliberately do not publish
- License status. We do not verify whether a credential is currently active. The IRS directory and state boards are the sources of truth.
- Disciplinary records. We do not republish complaints, sanctions, or disciplinary actions. Links go to the authoritative state board on every profile.
- Trust scores or rankings. There is no defensible free way to score preparer quality, so we do not publish invented scores.
- Years practicing. The IRS PTIN file does not include registration dates, so this field would always be a placeholder. We simply don't display it.
- Endorsements or recommendations. We are not a lead-generation service and we do not sell placement.
Indexing policy
Individual preparer profile pages are marked noindex, follow. There are hundreds of thousands of them, and any individual profile is thin content by design (a re-presentation of one row from a public file). They remain reachable via the on-site search and city directories, but we do not ask Google to index them. Only the hub pages — homepage, methodology, credential explainers, guides, state hubs, city directories, and firm pages — are indexable.
Refresh cadence
The IRS updates the Consolidated PTIN List approximately every six months. We rebuild the site from a fresh FOIA extract when the IRS publishes an update. Because the source is a snapshot, individual records may be a few months behind the live IRS directory — please verify at the IRS before hiring.
Corrections and removal requests
If information about you is incorrect or you want your listing removed, see the contact page. We honor takedown requests within 72 hours.