The IRS requires all individuals who are compensated for preparing, or assisting in the preparation of, all or substantially all of a tax return or claimforrefund of tax to have a PTIN.
Most commonly, a federal income taxclaimforrefund is generally seized when you subsequently file a joint return with a spouse that owes federal income taxes.
The CPA who represented the taxpayers in the examination should have filed a protective claim of refundfortax paid on the lease receipts, but by the time I got involved in the matter the statute of limitations on filing such a claimforrefund had long since expired.