Is the federa government requiring that a CPA do the taxes for all small businesses?

Not that I know of, and I work in a large public accounting firm. While I haven't done my required tax update this year (yet), I'm sure I would've heard about that somewhere through the CPA grapevine.

I have many clients that prepare their own taxes with just a little help from our firm. Many small businesses are sole proprietorships, and schedule Cs aren't all THAT complicated. Owners often do what they can, then ask for help with anything more complicated, then finish on their own. I highly doubt the IRS would mandate that all small businesses be required to go to a CPA for the whole thing.

On another note- there are a lot of EAs out there who'd be out of a lot of work were this the case.

There are enough CPA's, but to answer you question like the person before... It's not a requirement.

This has never been a requirement. Still, it is not normally a job for your basic H&R Block type preparer.

There is no such requirement. In all but three states there are no requirements at all to prepare income tax returns.