Who is allowed to do US taxes: PTIN, EA, CPA, attorney, and what they charge
Ask who does taxes in America and the answer comes back “CPAs”. It is the wrong answer, or at least a quarter of the right one. A CPA is a state accounting licence, not a permit to file returns; the IRS’s own tax credential is the Enrolled Agent; attorneys are the third of the three with full rights before the IRS; and more than half the country’s paid preparers hold no credential at all, quite legally, because a court took that power away from the IRS in 2014. This chapter is the map of that profession: the four tiers, what each may actually do, how each is made, what each is on the hook for, what they charge their clients in a year, and which of them a practice run from Pakistan can staff or become.
Anyone with a Preparer Tax Identification Number — $18.75 a year, no exam — may prepare and sign US tax returns for money, a consequence of Loving v. IRS in 2014; more than 800,000 people hold one and paid preparers file over 85 million individual returns a year. What a credential buys is the right to represent a client before the IRS, and only three carry it in full: Certified Public Accountants (a state licence, about 653,000 of them), Enrolled Agents (the IRS’s own tax-only credential, about 65,000, earned by a three-part exam with no citizenship or residency test) and attorneys. Transmitting the return is a separate permission again — an EFIN, held by a firm, not a person. On price: a straightforward Form 1040 runs $185 to $280 depending on who signs it, a small company’s return $500 to $2,500, CPA time $150 to $450 an hour, and a small business that buys bookkeeping as well as returns spends $1,500 to $6,500 a year, or $5,400 to $11,000 once there is payroll. For a Pakistani practice the conclusion of chapter 7 holds and sharpens: hire unlicensed staff to do the work, earn the EA to sign it, and keep a US firm with an EFIN to send it.
12.1The rule that surprises everyone
There is no federal licence to prepare a US tax return. The IRS tried to create one — the Registered Tax Return Preparer regime of 2011, with a competency exam and continuing education — and in Loving v. IRS the D.C. Circuit held in 2014 that it had no statutory authority to do so. The IRS dropped its appeals. What survived is a single administrative requirement: anyone who prepares a federal return for compensation must hold a PTIN, a Preparer Tax Identification Number, and write it on every return they sign.
| The PTIN | Detail |
|---|---|
| Cost | $18.75 a year for 2026 — $10 to the IRS and $8.75 to its contractor |
| Requirements | Identity, a tax-compliant record, and a fee. No exam, no degree, no experience |
| Renewal | Every year, by 31 December, for the following filing season |
| How many hold one | More than 800,000 |
| Available to a non-US person? | Yes — without a Social Security number, by Form W-12 with Form 8946 and notarised identity documents. Chapter 7 Plate 7.4 has the detail |
The scale of the unregulated part is not marginal. Paid preparers file over 85 million individual returns a year, more than half of all individual returns, and the majority of those preparers are what the IRS calls unenrolled: no credential, no test, no continuing education requirement. The tax profession America actually has is a licensed minority sitting on top of a very large unlicensed trade.
12.2The four tiers
| Tier | What it is | Who grants it | May prepare and sign | May represent before the IRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unenrolled preparer | A PTIN and nothing else: the storefront preparer, the bookkeeper who also does the 1040, the seasonal staff of a chain | nobody — the PTIN is a registration, not a licence | yes | no |
| AFSP participant | An unenrolled preparer who does 18 hours of continuing education a year voluntarily | IRS, as a Record of Completion | yes | limited — examinations only, and only on returns they prepared and signed |
| Enrolled Agent | The IRS’s own credential, tax only, earned by examination | IRS | yes | unlimited |
| CPA | A state accounting licence covering audit, attest, accounting and tax — many CPAs never touch a return | a state board of accountancy | yes | unlimited |
| Attorney | Admitted to a state bar; tax specialists often hold an LLM in taxation | a state supreme court or bar | yes | unlimited |
12.3What “representation rights” actually means
This is the distinction the word “CPA” hides. Preparing a return is clerical work anyone may sell. Standing between a client and the IRS — arguing an audit, negotiating a payment plan, signing a power of attorney — is practice before the IRS, governed by Treasury Circular 230, and it is restricted.
| The act | Unenrolled | AFSP | EA, CPA, attorney |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare and sign a return for a fee | yes | yes | yes |
| Receive a client’s tax information from the IRS (Form 8821) | yes | yes | yes |
| Hold a power of attorney and speak for the client (Form 2848) | no | limited | yes |
| Represent in an examination (audit) | no | only returns they signed | yes |
| Represent before IRS Appeals or Collection | no | no | yes |
| The §7525 confidentiality privilege in civil tax matters | no | no | EA and CPA, civil only; attorneys have the wider attorney-client privilege |
| Litigate in the US Tax Court | no | no | attorneys, and any non-attorney who passes the Tax Court’s own admission exam (a USTCP) |
The last line is the profession’s well-kept secret: the Tax Court does not restrict admission by licence. A non-attorney — usually an EA or a CPA — who passes the Court’s written examination, clears character and fitness and is sponsored by two members of its bar may litigate there. There are only a few hundred such practitioners.
12.4The CPA: a state licence, mostly about audit
The CPA is the credential the public knows, and the one whose scope is most often misdescribed. It is granted by one of fifty-five state and territorial boards, not by the IRS, and its exclusive privilege is attest: only a CPA may issue an audit or review opinion on financial statements. Tax is a service many CPAs happen to sell, not the thing the licence is for.
| Step | What it takes in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Education | Historically 150 semester hours — a bachelor’s degree plus about a year. Since the AICPA and NASBA amended the Uniform Accountancy Act in May 2025, states have been adding a second route: a bachelor’s degree of 120 hours plus two years of verified experience. Ohio, Virginia, Georgia and Maryland are among those already offering it |
| Examination | Four sections under the 2024 “CPA Evolution” format: three Core — Auditing (AUD), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), Regulation (REG) — plus one Discipline of the candidate’s choice: Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR), Information Systems and Controls (ISC) or Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP). All four within a rolling 30-month window in most states |
| Experience | Generally one year under a licensed CPA (two in the new 120-hour route) |
| Ethics | A separate ethics examination in most states |
| Upkeep | Typically 40 hours of CPE a year, set by the state board, plus the licence fee |
| How many | 653,408 actively licensed CPAs across 53 reporting jurisdictions as of 28 August 2025 — and a well-documented shortage, which is why the 150-hour rule is being unpicked |
| Open to a Pakistani resident? | in principle — some boards license non-residents and non-citizens, and the exam is offered internationally, but education must be evaluated as US-equivalent and the experience must be supervised by a licensed CPA. It is the long road |
12.5The Enrolled Agent: the IRS’s own credential
An Enrolled Agent is admitted to practice by the IRS itself, and the enrolment is federal — it is not tied to a state, and it does not expire when its holder moves. Its subject is tax and nothing else, which is exactly the subject in question. For a practice outside the United States it is the credential that matters, because nothing in the rules asks where its holder lives or what passport they carry.
| Step | What it takes in 2026 | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| PTIN | First, and every year thereafter | 18.75 |
| Special Enrolment Examination, part 1 | Individuals | 350 |
| Part 2 | Businesses — the hardest of the three by reputation | 350 |
| Part 3 | Representation, practice and procedure | 350 |
| The window | All three parts within three years of passing the first | — |
| The vendor | PSI Services from 1 March 2026, replacing Prometric; scheduling for the 2026 cycle opened on 1 May with testing from 1 July | — |
| Enrolment | Form 23, plus a tax-compliance and suitability check | 140 |
| Upkeep | 72 hours of continuing education per three-year cycle, at least 16 a year, of which 2 must be ethics | CE fees |
| Total to become one | Excluding study materials, which run a few hundred dollars more | 1,209 |
| How many | 64,522 active enrolled agents as of December 2025 — one for every ten CPAs | — |
| Open to a Pakistani resident? | yes — no citizenship or residency test appears anywhere in the rules, and international candidates sit the exam by arrangement with the vendor | — |
Roughly $1,200 and three examinations buy the same rights before the IRS that a CPA licence buys after 150 credit hours, an experience year and four examinations — for tax work, which is the only work in question. For anyone building a US tax practice from outside the United States, the Enrolled Agent credential is not the consolation prize; it is the correct instrument, and the cheapest serious qualification in the whole of this book.
12.6The attorney, and when a client actually needs one
Tax attorneys are the smallest and most expensive tier, and most small-business work never touches them. What they hold that the others do not is the full attorney-client privilege — the §7525 privilege an EA or CPA enjoys covers civil tax advice only, and evaporates in a criminal investigation or a case about a tax shelter. The rule of thumb: an EA or CPA for everything routine, an attorney when the matter could become a crime, a lawsuit, or a document that will be argued over years later.
| Situation | Who |
|---|---|
| Annual returns, payroll filings, sales tax, bookkeeping | Unenrolled preparer or bookkeeper, supervised |
| An audit, an appeal, a payment plan, a penalty abatement | EA or CPA |
| Choosing an entity, a shareholder agreement, an acquisition | Attorney, with the EA or CPA on the numbers |
| Unreported foreign accounts, suspected fraud, a summons, a criminal referral | Attorney first — before anyone else sees the file |
| Litigation in the Tax Court | Attorney, or a USTCP |
12.7The unlicensed majority, and the programme built for them
After Loving, the IRS built a voluntary substitute. The Annual Filing Season Program gives an unenrolled preparer a Record of Completion, a listing in the IRS’s public directory of preparers, and limited representation rights — in exchange for continuing education and an agreement to be bound by the practice rules of Circular 230.
| The AFSP | Detail |
|---|---|
| Hours | 18 a year: a 6-hour Annual Federal Tax Refresher course with a comprehension test, 10 hours of other federal tax law, 2 hours of ethics |
| Deadline | Midnight on 31 December for the following filing season |
| Also required | An active PTIN and consent to Circular 230 subpart B |
| What it buys | Limited representation before examiners on returns the holder prepared and signed — and a place in the public directory, which is the marketing half of the deal |
| What it does not buy | Appeals, Collection, or any right on a return someone else signed |
Below even that sits the largest workforce in the industry and the one a Pakistani firm can actually hire: bookkeepers, who hold no federal credential at all. Their certifications — QuickBooks ProAdvisor, the AIPB and NACPB programmes — are private and confer no rights. That is not a defect. Bookkeeping is the work; the credential is only needed at the moment a return is signed or the IRS is telephoned.
12.8Which number does what
Four different identifiers get confused in every conversation about this, and the confusion is expensive because they are granted on different terms. Chapter 7 section 6 works through the transmission side; this is the summary.
| Number | Belongs to | Permits | Test for getting one |
|---|---|---|---|
| PTIN | a person | preparing returns for a fee | a fee and a clean tax record |
| EFIN | a firm | transmitting returns through IRS e-file as an Authorized e-file Provider | every principal must be a US citizen or lawful permanent resident, fingerprinted or credentialed — the wall a Pakistani practice cannot climb |
| CAF number | a representative | indexing the powers of attorney (Form 2848) and authorisations (8821) a representative holds | issued on the first filing; no credential needed for 8821 |
| TCC | a filer of information returns | filing 1099s through IRIS | an e-Services identity check, up to 45 days |
| 94x PIN | an employer | signing its own payroll returns electronically | an application through software; the IRS posts the PIN |
| Reporting Agent (Form 8655) | a payroll firm | filing and depositing employment taxes under its own credentials | an authorisation signed by the employer — this is what QuickBooks Payroll is |
12.9What they charge
Prices vary by geography more than by anything else, but the shape is consistent: the return itself is priced per form, the advice is priced per hour, and the bookkeeping is priced per month. The three add up to what a business actually spends in a year.
| Per return | Typical fee | Source and note |
|---|---|---|
| Form 1040, straightforward, by an unenrolled preparer | 185 | NATP’s 2025 fee study, base return with Schedules 1–3 |
| The same, by an Enrolled Agent | 228 | the same study |
| The same, by a CPA | 280 | the same study — a 51% premium over the unenrolled preparer for identical work |
| Schedule C added to a 1040 | ~245 | NSA survey, adjusted for inflation |
| Form 1065, a partnership | ~938 | the same |
| Form 1120-S, an S corporation | ~1,123 | the same |
| A small company’s return, all in | 500–2,500 | the working range quoted by US firms in 2026 |
| Form 5472 with a pro forma 1120 for a foreign-owned LLC | 150–400 | chapter 11’s reader; annual bundles with a registered agent start around $599 |
| Per hour | 2026 rate | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeper | 30–80 | often sold as a monthly package instead |
| Staff accountant in a CPA firm | 75–175 | the person who actually does the work |
| CPA | 150–450 | most US firms bill in this band |
| Partner, major metro | 300–800 | |
| Enrolled Agent | at or just under CPA rates | for representation work the market prices the right, not the letters |
| Audit or collection representation | 150–500 | hourly, occasionally a fixed fee per stage |
| Tax attorney | above partner rates | and worth it exactly when section 12.6’s last two rows apply |
| Per month | 2026 fee | What is in it |
|---|---|---|
| Basic bookkeeping | from 300 | categorising, reconciling, a monthly report pack |
| Bookkeeping with payroll and reporting | 500–2,500 | the common small-business package |
| Controller-level service | 3,000–6,000+ | for a company with staff and inventory |
| Payroll processing alone | 50–150 | plus a few dollars per employee |
| The client | What they buy | Low | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelancer Schedule C, keeps their own books | Form 1040 | 220 | 280 |
| Schedule C | 245 | 245 | |
| One state return | 50 | 150 | |
| A year | 515 | 675 | |
| One-person S corporation with payroll, as chapter 7 section 2 describes | Bookkeeping, monthly | 3,600 | 7,200 |
| Payroll processing, monthly | 600 | 1,800 | |
| Form 1120-S | 900 | 1,500 | |
| The owner’s Form 1040 | 300 | 500 | |
| A year | 5,400 | 11,000 | |
| Foreign-owned single-member LLC chapter 11’s Pakistani reader | Form 5472 and pro forma 1120 | 150 | 400 |
| Bookkeeping, if bought | 0 | 3,600 | |
| A year | 150 | 4,000 |
Three things move a price inside those bands. Who signs: the same 1040 is $185 unenrolled and $280 by a CPA. The state of the books: a preparer handed a shoebox charges for the bookkeeping first, and that is where a surprise bill comes from. Whether anything is in dispute: an audit turns a fixed-fee client into an hourly one at $150 to $500 an hour, and that single difference is why representation rights are worth paying a credential for.
12.10What a preparer is on the hook for
The absence of a licence is not an absence of liability. The penalties fall on the preparer personally, they are per return, and they are indexed for inflation.
| Rule | What triggers it | 2026 amount |
|---|---|---|
| §6694(a) | An unreasonable position that understates the tax | 1,000 or 50% of the fee, whichever is greater |
| §6694(b) | Wilful understatement or reckless disregard of the rules | 5,000 or 75% of the fee |
| §6695(a)–(e) | Failing to sign, to give the client a copy, to keep a copy, to show the PTIN | 65 per failure, capped around 33,000 |
| §6695(g) | Failing the due-diligence requirements on the earned income credit, child credit, education credit or head-of-household status — documented on Form 8867 | 665 per failure, no cap |
| §7216 | Disclosing or using return information without the client’s consent — the rule that governs offshoring, and the one chapter 7 section 6 works through | criminal |
| Circular 230 | Incompetence, disreputable conduct, conflicts, contingent fees | censure, suspension, disbarment from practice |
| The e-file mandate | A preparer who expects to file 11 or more individual returns in a year must e-file them | — |
12.11The states that regulate anyway
Federal law leaves preparers unlicensed; a handful of states do not.
| State | What it requires | Reaches a preparer outside the state? |
|---|---|---|
| Oregon | The only true licence: a Licensed Tax Preparer works under a Licensed Tax Consultant, with examinations and a state board | yes, for Oregon returns |
| California | CTEC registration: 60 hours of education, a $5,000 surety bond, 20 hours of continuing education a year | no — it applies to preparers working inside California |
| New York | Annual registration, $100 once a preparer files ten or more returns, with continuing education — and it reaches preparers “within and outside” the state | yes |
| Maryland | Registration with an examination or proof of experience | yes, for Maryland returns |
| Connecticut | A $100 permit every two years, above ten Connecticut returns | yes |
| Illinois | The PTIN on every Illinois return; no education requirement | — |
12.12What this means for a practice run from Pakistan
Put chapter 7’s constraint next to this chapter’s prices and the staffing model writes itself.
| Role | Credential needed | Where it can sit | What the US market pays for it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeping, reconciliations, payroll data, workpapers | none | Pakistan | $300–$2,500 a month, per client |
| Preparing the return | PTIN — obtainable from Pakistan | Pakistan | inside the per-return fees of section 12.9 |
| Signing as paid preparer | PTIN; a credential if the client will ever be represented | Pakistan | the difference between $185 and $280 on a 1040 |
| Representing the client at an audit | EA — obtainable from Pakistan for about $1,200 | Pakistan | $150–$500 an hour |
| Transmitting the return | EFIN — not obtainable: its principals must be US persons | the United States | the reason a US signing partner stays in the arrangement |
| Audit and attest opinions | CPA licence | the United States | not our market |
Two consequences follow for the product this book is about. First, the deliverable that matters is a clean set of workpapers in the form’s own order — the Tax Summary of chapter 7 enhancement 1 — because that is what an offshore team hands to whoever signs and transmits. Second, the §7216 consent is not paperwork to be skipped: sending a US client’s return information abroad without it is a criminal matter, and the consent language is prescribed.
CPAs are not the people who do US taxes — they are one of three credentials with full rights before the IRS, sitting above an enormous legal trade of unlicensed preparers; the credential that actually fits a tax practice, costs about $1,200 and asks nothing about your nationality is the Enrolled Agent.
12.13Glossary of acronyms
| Acronym | Stands for | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| AFSP | Annual Filing Season Program | The IRS’s voluntary programme for unenrolled preparers: 18 hours of CE a year for a Record of Completion, a directory listing and limited representation rights. |
| AFTR | Annual Federal Tax Refresher | The 6-hour course, with a comprehension test, at the centre of the AFSP. |
| AICPA | American Institute of Certified Public Accountants | The profession’s national body; writes the CPA Exam with NASBA and maintains the Uniform Accountancy Act. |
| AIPB / NACPB | American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers / National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers | Private bookkeeping certifications; no legal rights attach to either. |
| AUD, FAR, REG | Auditing and Attestation; Financial Accounting and Reporting; Regulation | The three Core sections of the CPA Exam. REG is the tax one. |
| BAR, ISC, TCP | Business Analysis and Reporting; Information Systems and Controls; Tax Compliance and Planning | The three Discipline sections; a candidate passes exactly one. |
| CAF | Centralized Authorization File | The IRS index of powers of attorney and information authorisations; a representative’s CAF number identifies them on Forms 2848 and 8821. |
| CE / CPE | Continuing education / continuing professional education | The annual upkeep: 72 hours per three-year cycle for an EA, typically 40 hours a year for a CPA, 18 for an AFSP participant. |
| Circular 230 | Treasury Department Circular No. 230 | The rules of practice before the IRS: who may represent, what conduct is sanctionable, and the penalties for breach. |
| CPA | Certified Public Accountant | A state licence covering accounting, audit and tax; the only credential that may issue an audit or review opinion. |
| CTEC | California Tax Education Council | Registers preparers working inside California: 60 hours of education, a $5,000 bond, 20 hours of CE a year. |
| EA | Enrolled Agent | The IRS’s own tax credential, earned by the three-part SEE; unlimited representation rights; no citizenship or residency requirement. |
| EFIN | Electronic Filing Identification Number | A firm’s permission to transmit returns through IRS e-file. Every principal must be a US citizen or lawful permanent resident. |
| ERO | Electronic Return Originator | The kind of Authorized IRS e-file Provider that originates a return for transmission — in practice, the signing firm. |
| ERPA | Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent | A federal credential with representation rights limited to retirement-plan matters. |
| LLM | Master of Laws | The postgraduate law degree, in taxation, that most specialist tax attorneys hold. |
| NASBA | National Association of State Boards of Accountancy | Coordinates the CPA Exam and keeps the licensee database from which the 653,408 figure comes. |
| NATP / NSA | National Association of Tax Professionals / National Society of Accountants | Membership bodies whose periodic fee studies are the source of the prices in section 12.9. |
| PTIN | Preparer Tax Identification Number | $18.75 a year; required of anyone preparing federal returns for compensation; available without a Social Security number. |
| RTRP | Registered Tax Return Preparer | The licence regime the IRS created in 2011 and lost in Loving v. IRS in 2014. It no longer exists. |
| SEE | Special Enrollment Examination | The three-part Enrolled Agent examination: individuals, businesses, representation. $350 a part in 2026, delivered by PSI. |
| TCC | Transmitter Control Code | The credential for filing 1099s through the IRS’s IRIS system. |
| USTCP | US Tax Court Practitioner | A non-attorney admitted to litigate in the Tax Court by passing its own written examination. |
| VITA / TCE | Volunteer Income Tax Assistance / Tax Counseling for the Elderly | IRS-sponsored programmes whose trained volunteers prepare simple returns free of charge. |
| §6694, §6695 | Preparer penalty sections of the Internal Revenue Code | Understatement penalties and the per-failure administrative ones, including the $665 due-diligence penalty. |
| §7216 | Internal Revenue Code section 7216 | Makes unauthorised disclosure of return information a crime; the source of the written consent required before work goes offshore. |
| §7525 | Internal Revenue Code section 7525 | The confidentiality privilege for federally authorised tax practitioners — civil matters only, and narrower than the attorney-client privilege. |
12.14Sources
IRS pages for the credentials, the programme and the penalties; NASBA and the AICPA for CPA licensure; the courts for Loving; the NATP and NSA fee studies and current US firm quotations for the prices in section 12.9, which are ranges, not quotations.
- IRS, PTIN requirements for tax return preparers; IRS reminds tax pros to renew PTINs for the 2026 tax season; PTIN fee FAQ — irs.gov/tax-professionals/ptin-requirements-for-tax-return-preparers · irs.gov/newsroom/irs-reminds-tax-pros-to-renew-ptins-for-the-2026-tax-season
- Loving v. IRS, 742 F.3d 1013 (D.C. Cir. 2014); IRS statement on the ruling; Journal of Accountancy and Accounting Today reports — caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-dc-circuit/1657003.html · irs.gov/newsroom/irs-statement-on-court-ruling-related-to-return-preparers
- IRS, Annual filing season program and its FAQ; General requirements for the AFSP record of completion — irs.gov/tax-professionals/annual-filing-season-program
- IRS, Become an enrolled agent; Enrolled agents: frequently asked questions; Active enrolled agents and the Freedom of Information Act; Federal Register, Enrolled Agent Special Enrollment Examination user fee update (20 April 2026) — irs.gov/tax-professionals/enrolled-agents/become-an-enrolled-agent · federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/20/2026-07681
- NASBA, How many CPAs? (653,408 as of 28 August 2025); AICPA and NASBA on the Uniform Accountancy Act amendment of May 2025 and the CPA Competency-Based Experience Pathway; Accounting Today and CFO Dive on state adoptions — nasba.org/licensure/howmanycpas/
- NASBA, CPA Exam — Core and Discipline structure and the 30-month window — nasba.org/exams/cpaexam/
- United States Tax Court, Guidance for practitioners and the non-attorney admissions examination — ustaxcourt.gov/practitioners/ · exam.ustaxcourt.gov
- Treasury Department Circular No. 230; IRS, Understanding tax return preparer credentials and qualifications; the IRS Directory of federal tax return preparers with credentials and select qualifications — irs.gov/tax-professionals
- IRS, IRM 20.1.6 Preparer and promoter penalties; Rev. Proc. 2025-32 for the 2026 inflation-adjusted amounts, including the §6695(g) due-diligence penalty of $665 — irs.gov/irm/part20/irm_20-001-006 · irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf
- NATP 2025 fee study, as reported; National Society of Accountants Income and fees survey, inflation-adjusted; TaxDome, Accounting Today and US firm price guides for 2026 hourly and monthly ranges — connect.nsacct.org/nsacctwww/knowledgecenter/income-fees-survey
- Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners; California CTEC; New York State Department of Taxation and Finance preparer registration; Maryland Board of Individual Tax Preparers; Connecticut Department of Revenue Services — oregon.gov/obtp · ctec.org · tax.ny.gov/tp/reg/tpreg.htm