Marketplace›About the data
Public records · how listings are made
Every listing starts from a public record. Here is what we use, how often it changes, and how to correct or remove a listing, including your own name.
The IRS list of tax return preparers. The IRS publishes, state by state, the public record of preparers who hold a PTIN (Preparer Tax Identification Number) together with a professional credential (CPA, enrolled agent, attorney) or an Annual Filing Season Program record. It is the information behind the IRS Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers, released as a Freedom of Information Act extract that the IRS updates about twice a year. It gives the name, credential and business address. We leave out attorney-only records and national chains.
Google Maps business listings. We match each practice to its Google Maps listing for the phone number, address, opening hours, rating and review count. A few listings are tax practices found on Google Maps with no matching IRS record; those carry no IRS badge.
The firm's own website. Where a firm has a website, we read its home page and up to three obvious pages (about, contact, services), respecting robots.txt, and keep only what the firm says about itself: the services it names, the languages it advertises, a contact email and how long it has been in business. We do not write bios or taglines for firms.
Being listed means a practice appears in these public records, nothing more. TaxScout does not rate, vet or recommend listed firms. An unclaimed listing means the firm has not signed up with TaxScout and has not reviewed what its listing says. Always confirm a preparer's credentials yourself before you hire them.
Every week we check whether the IRS has published a new extract. When it has, we match the new records against Google Maps again, add new practices and update unclaimed listings. The same weekly run tidies names, removes duplicates and re-reads firm websites not checked in the last 90 days.
Every month we re-check a batch of listings against their Google Maps page, oldest-checked first, for rating, review count, phone, website and whether the business is still open. A business that Google Maps shows as permanently closed is taken off the directory.
Listings a firm has claimed are never overwritten by these updates: the firm keeps its own details.
Open your firm's page and choose Claim this listing. Claiming is free and lets you correct your details and add your services and hours. If you only want something fixed and don't want an account, use the correction form.
Anyone can ask us to remove their name from a listing or to take a whole listing off the directory, with no account needed. Use the removal form (also linked as “Remove it” on unclaimed listings, and as “Remove my information” at the bottom of every directory page). We act on every request within 2 business days and confirm by email. We keep a short note of the request so the next IRS update does not put the listing or your name back.
We do not sell personal data. Our privacy policy explains what we collect and why. Questions about this directory or its data: support@taxscout.ai.
Last reviewed 2026-10-26.