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Continuing Education Requirements For Tax Professionals
Set forth below are the IRS's continuing education requirements for different types of tax professionals. These rules are in effect for 2012. Attorneys and CPAs are not subject to these rules, but are required by state and professional licensing boards to take similar courses to maintain their licenses. In addition, non-signing return preparers supervised by Attorneys CPAs, or Enrolled Agents are exempt from the continuing education requirement as are tax return preparers who do not prepare any Form 1040 series returns.
Enrolled Agents
- 72 hours every three years
- Obtain a minimum of 16 hours per year (2 of which must be on ethics)
Enrolled Retirement Plan Agents
- 72 hours every three years
- Obtain a minimum of 16 hours per year (2 of which must be on ethics)
Registered Tax Return Preparers
- 15 hours per year
- 2 hours of ethics
- 3 hours of federal tax law updates
- 10 hours of other federal tax law
All courses must be obtained from IRS approved Continuing Education Providers.
NSTP is an IRS-approved provider.
First Impression Of Competency Exam Provided By A NSTP Member
One of our members has provided his impression of the IRS's Registered Tax Return Preparer competency exam. As one of the early test takers, his experience is useful as a gauge of what you can expect for the exam. Here is his take on it.
"I took the exam at Prometrics today, even though I am not required to as a CPA. If anyone is looking for early experience or first impressions, I would be glad to provide it… [Here it is.] There was nothing that had to be calculated, that could not be done in your head. It was all multiple choice. I did not find it difficult but it would have been if I was new to the business. I do not believe any of the questions were "tricky" or misleading. Some questions required me to pick a form to meet a situation and if I was not familiar with that form, I had to do research. The 1040 instructions and the Pub 17 were available on line. I finished in about 2 hours with about an hour to spare. Of course, I don't know my score yet but I feel like I did well. My general impression was that it was not anywhere near as hard as the CPA exam (2002) but it was not a give away either. It should insure a reasonable base level of knowledge."
Other Information and Recommendations on taking the Exam
Scores: The first test takers will not find out their score for 60 days-until Prometric analyzes the results and makes final adjustments to the test.
ID, What You Can Take In: You must have a government-issued picture ID. You are expected to take off watches, pens, wallets, keys, etc. and put them in a locked locker. The only thing you can take into the test is yourself and your clothes and the key to the locker. You will be made to turn out your pockets and get scanned by a wand, like at airport security.
The Computer Set-Up and Test Materials: The test is conducted on a computer with a mouse and keyboard but, according to our member, you do not need the keyboard. Our member did not use the scratch paper, pencils or a calculator either. You must be comfortable with using a mouse. Take the preview of the test on the IRS web site to get familiar with how to take the test.
Important –Know Pub 17 and 1040 Instructions: While you have complete access to Pub 17 and the Form 1040 instructions, do not expect to be able to easily flip pages. These are electronic resources and you will have to be familiar with the sections or use the index to find what you need. You should familiarize yourself with the organization of these documents to speed your retrieval of relevant sections.
The IRS has posted a video explaining what to expect on the test day.
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