"More likely than not" provision equalizing tax reporting standards included in rescue plan signed into law Oct. 3.

When the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 became law on Oct. 3, the AICPA won a significant victory for its members and taxpayers. Tax reporting standards for certain undisclosed transactions were equalized, retroactively, for tax practitioners and taxpayers as a result of a provision in the financial rescue plan signed by President George W. Bush. The AICPA had been fighting to equalize the tax return reporting standards, generally at the "substantial authority" level, since May 2007 when

Congress passed a law that raised the tax return reporting standard for preparers to a higher level than taxpayers...