Elizabeth Beastrom, the President of Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals at Thomson Reuters, reacts to IRS Professional Responsibility Office's new guidance regarding Circular 230 duties and AI which makes clear that practitioners remain fully accountant for all AI-assisted work. Due Diligence, data confidentiality, and professional judgment obligations don't pause just because an AI-based tool generated the output.
This guidance serves as a regulatory signal that lines up closely with what Thomson Reuters has been tracking in its own research. Thomson Reuters' 2026 Future of Professionals Report indicates that 41% of professionals using AI at work still don't have access to tools built specifically for professional-grade work, and 47% report that they feel the final responsibility for AI-assisted errors lies with each individual practitioner.
In her commentary on the IRS guidance, Elizabeth Beastrom said, "The IRS guidance is a timely reminder that not all AI is used in the same way, and it cannot be held to a single standard. In tax and accounting, where outputs shape regulatory filings, financial disclosures, and client advice, ‘almost right’ falls short — and Circular 230 has always reflected that. Professional obligations don’t change because the tool does. Thomson Reuters defines this higher bar as Fiduciary-Grade AI — the standard for how AI should perform in high-stakes professions, and the standard we build to. As AI moves deeper into regulated work, the defining question is no longer whether a system can generate an answer, but whether a practitioner can verify it, and stand behind it. Our own Future of Professionals data shows that 41% of professionals using AI at work still don't have access to tools built specifically for professional-grade work — that's the gap the profession needs to close, and it's exactly the gap this guidance is asking firms to think seriously about."
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