Can a practitioner ignore unreported cash income?

No. A practitioner should not advise a taxpayer to omit taxable cash receipts or prepare a return that knowingly leaves them out.

For EA purposes, the issue has two layers:

• Tax law: business cash receipts are part of gross income unless a specific exclusion applies.
• Practice standards: enrolled practitioners are subject to federal conduct rules when practicing before the IRS.

If a client says, "I only report the payments that produced forms," the practitioner should slow down, ask for complete records, and explain that forms are evidence, not the boundary of taxable income.