2025-10-20
Last Thursday the IRS uploaded the latest names and contact details for all tax return preparers with PTINs by state. For all states, the total number of names listed was 783,789. The data includes the professional credentials of the preparers. The biggest category of credentialed preparers is CPAs, representing 202,955 of the preparers. However, more than half of the preparers (463,429) have no credentials. Below is a chart of the breakout of the preparers by credentials. According to the Internal Revenue Manual, SRTP stands for “State Regulated Tax Preparer”.
Companies with the most preparers include H&R Block and the Big 4 accounting firms. Below is a chart of the number of return preparers listed for these companies.
We created a heat map of the number of tax preparers per million people by state. Florida has the most preparers on a per capita basis, and West Virginia has the fewest preparers on a per capita basis.
The PTIN data also indicates whether the tax preparer met the Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP). AFSP is a voluntary continuing education program for non-credentialed preparers who aspire to a higher level of professionalism (see Rev. Proc. 2014-42). Credentialed preparers may also meet the AFSP. There were a total of 71,744 preparers who met the AFSP. Below is a chart breaking out the AFSP preparers by credential.
