J.K. Harris & Co, the country's biggest tax-resolution firm, is under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) criminal investigation division and the Treasury inspector general's office. Agents from both groups raided J.K. Harris headquarters on July 27 with a subpoena for thousands of documents signed by the company's founder, John Harris, that give him the right to represent taxpayers before the IRS. One of the main issues of the investigation concerns whether Harris surrendered his right to represent taxpayers when he modified the status of his CPA certificate in North Carolina from "active" to "inactive." Harris maintains that he changed his status to avoid a variety of restrictions on advertising enforced by North Carolina's boards of accountancy, but he thought being inactive would still allow him to represent clients nationwide against the IRS. The investigation's focus is wider than just Harris, as the firm's business practices are also being probed.