Enrolled Agent Continuing Education
This is a summary of the required enrolled agent continuing education. To satisfy your continuing education, please go to Enrolled Agent Continuing Tax Education courses page.
Enrolled Agent Continuing Education Homepage
An enrolled agent who applied during an enrollment cycle needs to satisfy a full 72-hour enrolled agent continuing education credit hours. So if his or her initial enrollment occurs during an enrollment cycle, he or she is required to complete 2 hours of qualifying enrolled agent continuing education hours per month and 2 hours of ethics per year. When the enrollment cycle begins, the enrolled agent is required to complete a full 72-hour enrolled agent continuing education credit requirement. To illustrate, if the enrolled agent enroll in year 2 of an enrollment cycle in May, he or she is required to complete 2 hours of qualifying enrolled agent continuing education for each month. This enrolled agent continuing education is in addition to completing 2 hours of ethics or professional conduct enrolled agent continuing education hours for each year. The enrolled agent continuing education result comes out to be 40 hours of enrolled agent continuing education hours with 4 hours of ethics hours for the enrollment cycle.
If the enrolled agent enrolled in year 3 of an enrollment cycle in the month of
November and his or her social security number ends with a five, the enrolled
agent must complete a minimum of 72 hours of enrolled agent continuing education
hours. The enrolled agent is required to complete four enrolled agent continuing education (CPE) hours for November and December of the 3rd year. Two of these
enrolled agent continuing education hours must be completed in Ethics courses.
The enrolled agent continuing education renewal cycle 2011-2014 will be required
to complete a minimum of 72-hours of enrolled agent continuing education which
covers 3 calendar years. A minimum of 16 hours of enrolled agent continuing
education must be completed during each enrollment year of an enrollment cycle.
The enrolled agent must complete a minimum of 2 enrolled agent continuing
education credit hours on ethics.
If the enrolled agent enrolled
in year 2 of an enrollment cycle in the month of March and his or her social
security number ends with a seven, the enrolled agent continuing education
credit hours to be completed are 44 credit hours before December 31,
2011. The next renewal cycle of the enrolled agent beginning 2012-2015, the
enrolled agent will be required to complete a minimum of 72 hours of enrolled
agent continuing education.
If the enrolled agent enrolled in year 1 of an enrollment cycle in the month of
January and his or her social security number ends in one, the enrolled agent
continuing education credit hours that he or she must complete are a total of 72
enrolled agent continuing education credit hours before December 31, 2012. Remember that a minimum of 16 hours of
enrolled agent continuing education credit hours, of which 2 hours must be on
ethics, must be completed during each enrollment year of an enrollment cycle.
If the enrolled agent is unable to complete the minimum enrolled agent continuing education credit hours required during an enrollment cycle, due to extenuating circumstances, the enrolled agent must refer to Circular 230 to determine if the enrolled agent meets the qualifications to request a waiver of enrolled agent continuing education requirements.
The recordkeeping requirements
for RTRPs, EAs, Enrolled agent continuing education, and ERPAs is four years. The
records regarding enrolled agent continuing education ncludes the
following:
1. The name of the enrolled agent continuing education (CE) Provider organization;
2. The location of the enrolled agent continuing education program;
3. The title of the enrolled agent continuing education program, approval number received for the program, and copy of
the program content;
4. Written enrolled agent continuing education outlines, course syllabi, textbook, and/or electronic materials
provided or required for the program;
5. The date(s) attended;
6. The enrolled agent continuing education credit hours claimed;
7. The name(s) of the instructor(s), discussion leader(s), or enrolled agent
continuing education speaker(s), if
appropriate; and
8. The certificate of completion and/or signed statement of the hours of
attendance obtained from the enrolled agent continuing education provider.
The enrolled agent would know
that he or she is taking approved enrolled agent continuing education for an
IRS-approved provider by checking the IRS public listing of enrolled agent continuing education
providers. Approved enrolled agent continuing education providers usually show the "IRS Approved Continuing
Education Provider" logo. All providers possess a Provider Number from the IRS.
Our enrolled agent continuing education Provider Number is
CCWXA. This
enrolled agent continuing education
provider number is always
provided in the certificate that we issue our enrolled agent when he or she
completes the
enrolled agent continuing education
with us.
The enrolled agent does not need to send his or her enrolled agent continuing
education certificates of completion
to the IRS. Any enrolled agent continuing education programs completed by the
enrolled agent are reported to the IRS by us. All enrolled agent continuing
education and other
preparer information will eventually be available for the enrolled agent and
other preparers to view later on in 2013. The enrolled agent continuing
education will be available through the
enrolled agent and tax preparer PTIN account online.
The enrolled agent taking the enrolled agent continuing education can ensure
that he or she will receive credit for the enrolled agent continuing education
programs by making certain of a few things. First, with us the individual
completing our enrolled agent continuing education can be assured that they are
attending a program for an approved IRS enrolled agent continuing education provider. Our
Provider number is CCWXA. Secondly, the individual completing the enrolled agent
continuing education should be sure to give us the correct PTIN that starts with
a P. Additionally, the enrolled agent continuing education candidate should make
sure that his or her name is spelled correctly. Finally, beginning in mid-2013, the enrolled agent can check their
enrolled agent continuing education completion by going to their online PTIN account to see a
display of the 2013 enrolled agent continuing education programs reported by us to the IRS.
This is not true for the enrolled agent continuing education completed in 2012
because the IRS is allowing PTIN holders to self-attest to meeting the 2012
enrolled agent continuing education requirement.
The only enrolled agent continuing education that an enrolled agent can count
towards the federal tax law requirement are hours in federal law topics.
Excess hours for enrolled agent continuing education in ethics and federal tax law updates are in their own category.
The IRS enrolled agent continuing education requirement for the enrolled agent have 3 categories: Federal tax law, ethics, and tax law updates.