IRS RTRP CE Requirements

Along with the implementation of tax preparer regulation comes a requirement for Registered Tax Return Preparers to complete annual continuing education (CE). The annual continuing education requirement is 15 hours, including 3 hours of federal tax law updates, 2 hours of ethics, and 10 hours of other federal tax law. The continuing education requirements for Registered Tax Return Preparers do not apply to attorneys, certified public accountants, and enrolled individuals, certain supervised preparers, and individuals who do not prepare Form 1040 series returns.

The continuing education begins in 2012. Individuals who are Registered Tax Return Preparers, and those who have provisional PTINs but have until December 31, 2013 to pass the test, will need to obtain 15 hours of continuing education courses from IRS approved providers during calendar year 2012 and each subsequent year.

Preparers must retain the following records for four years following the date of renewal:

• The name of the CE Provider organization;
• The location of the program;
• The title of the program, approval number received for the program, and copy of the program content;
• Written outlines, course syllabi, textbook, and/or electronic materials provided or required for the program;
• The date(s) attended;
• The credit hours claimed;
• The name(s) of the instructor(s), discussion leader(s), or speaker(s), if appropriate; and
• The certificate of completion and/or signed statement of the hours of attendance obtained from the continuing education provider.

In addition, records must be maintained by the CE Provider to verify the participants who attended and completed the program for a period of four years following completion of the program. Tax professionals taking CE courses should expect the provider to request their first and last name, as well as their PTIN number in order to comply with reporting requirements.

IRS Enrolled Agent CE Requirements

Minimum 16 hours annually, 72 hours every 3 years. FFA recommends taking 24 hours annually to meet 3 year IRS requirements.

NAEA: 30 hours annually.

Enrolled Agents are required to take 72 hours of continuing education during the 3-year enrollment cycle, and at least 16 hours for each respective year to maintain their EA license. These 16 hours must include at least 2 hours of enrolled agent ethics or professional conduct education. The continuing education requirements are pro-rated if enrollment occurs in the middle of an enrollment cycle, at a rate of 2 hours required education for each month or part of a month enrolled.

All continuing education programs are measured in terms of contact hours. A contact hour is 50 minutes of continuous participation in a program. The IRS only grants a tax enrolled agent credit for a full contact hour, i.e., 50 minutes or multiples thereof.

Qualifying tax CE programs must meet certain standards. A qualified sponsor must run all CE programs. They must require attendance and must issue a certificate of attendance. The instructor's background, experience, education, and training should be appropriate for the subject matter. The course must provide a written outline, textbook, or suitable electronic educational materials. Self-study courses (including on-line, correspondence and taped program courses) do meet this standard if they require registration by the participant, provide a means of measuring completion such as a written test, provide an EA certification of successful completion of said test, and provide a written outline, textbook or acceptable electronic substitutes.

NAEA member requirements exceed the IRS standards for continuing education. NAEA members / associates must complete 30 hours of continuing education each year. For more information on this requirement please visit NAEA.org.

California CTEC CE Requirements

Starting January 1, 2012 CTEC continuing education requirements hours changed from 12 hours federal, 4 hours state, 2 hours of ethics and 2 hours federal and/or state to 15 hours federal and 5 hours state.

The 15 hour annual requirement consists of 10 hours of federal tax law topics, three hours of tax law updates and two hours of ethics and/or professional conduct. Preparers must obtain the courses from IRS/CTEC approved providers.

Fast Forward Academy offers the most innovative CE platform on the market and we are constantly making it better.

• EASE OF USE - the system is extremely user-friendly and intuitive.
• FREE Content to try before you buy
• FREE PDFs with the purchase of any online course
• Entertaining, Valuable & Credible Continuing Education.
• Courses are written and reviewed by EAs, CPAs, MBAs, and professional editors.
• Track the status of your CE requirements
• View course test results and reports
• Save and exit a course anytime and resume where you left off
• Printable certificates of completion - Also verified with the IRS & contains our course IRS OPR numbers.