This is such a good point. The EIC has always been a thorn in my side. I'm a CPA not a social worker. Don't get me started on the fraud and bleeding $$$$ for a program that could/should merit being moved to a social service function. I'M OUT AFTER LAST YEAR. I will not renew my PTIN. I partially blame Congress for not allowing the service to test potential preparers for competency. The trash needs to be taken out. And to the person that said how many new EA's are entering the force. Good luck to you! You have never been trained/worked in a manual environment. You rely, way too much, on the software. Often never understanding the calculations or drilling down to grasp the details. If you folks want to be a quality practitioner, thinking is not optional. If it's just going to be keying data into tax software and assuming everything is correct and more importantly optimized, then your service is clerical. The IRS and the client will suffer when the quality folks are driven out of the field(individual income tax). That's not a if, but when.