It’s the start of a brand-new year and the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) is already advising the general taxpayers through a notice that if they wish to engage someone to attend to their taxation matters this year, they should start consulting a registered Tax Agent or the IRC for assistance. Also, any unregistered tax agents are advised to apply to IRC to legally register as a Tax Agent before they can start providing any taxation services to their clients. These services include Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Registration, Certificate of Compliance (CoC), Lodgement of Tax Returns, Payment of Tax Liabilities, Objections, Stamp Duty, Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) and Advising. The IRC is also advising that taxpayers who wish to appoint a Public Officer, must ensure that he or she is a Director, Secretary or other Officer of the Company or any Attorney or Agent of the company. Unregistered tax agents are reminded by the IRC that under Section 349 of the Income Tax Act (ITA) 1959, they are not allowed to charge fees for providing any taxation services to their clients. The penalty for this offence is a fine of not less than K500 and not exceeding K5, 000. “Section 352 of the ITA also prohibits unregistered tax agents to directly or indirectly describe yourself or advertise in any manner that income tax returns will be prepared by you. The penalty for this offence is a fine of not less than K500 and not exceeding K5, 000,” the IRC stated in the notice. However, the IRC stated that unregistered Tax Agents can only charge accounting fees and not taxation fees. The IRC will not entertain any unauthorized person attending to a taxpayer’s taxation matters.