§7701(a)(36) states, in part, "[t]he term “tax return preparer” means any person who prepares for compensation, or who employs one or more persons to prepare for compensation, any return of tax imposed by this title or any claim for refund of tax imposed by this title. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the preparation of a substantial portion of a return or claim for refund shall be treated as if it were the preparation of such return or claim for refund.".

If you are not preparing your own ("self-prepared") return and do not meet the conditions outlined under the subsection, you are not a paid preparer.  Nevertheless, if you try to e-file a return as nonpaid preparer, you may run into problems and the return may not be accepted because of diagnostic programming issues as others have observed.  The workaround would be to sign the return as a paid preparer although it is not technically correct and some may worry about the potential liability for signing the return as such.  Another alternative would be to have whoever you prepare the return for file it on paper.