Sunday, 12 July 2015

Understand The Basics Of The EA Exam

By Eula Clarke


The department of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been keen in improving revenue collection and improving their services in the recent past. In order to achieve their targets, the oversight of the federal tax returns has greatly improved. This is evidenced by the regulations that all preparers of the paid tax returns use PTIN which is an identification number for egents. In addition to this, one has to pass the EA exam before being licensed and getting the PTIN. The license renewal also requires getting the minimum credit hours of continuing education. All these are designed to ensure that the enrolled agents are fully competent in tax return preparation.

An enrolled agent (EA) is any agent that is authorized as tax practitioner. These are the people that are empowered by the Treasury Department and are able to represent the taxpayers in all the levels of administration, such as the appeals, the collection, or the examination departments in the Internal Revenue Service.

In addition to these, they offer tax consultancy services and help in filing the state and federal returns among several other related services. The Return Preparer Office (RPO) is in charge of overseeing the enrolled agents.

There are only two sure ways of getting the license. In case you have been working for the Internal Revenue Services for a minimum of 5 years in a position involves in interpreting the code, then you qualify to get the license as an approved enrolled agent. The only other alternative that is applicable to most people is to pass the Special Enrolled Exams (SEE) and the subsequent background check. The SEE is a three part exam dealing with individual tax (Part 1), business tax (Part 2), and representation, procedures and practices (Part 3).

There is no stated educational or even experience that is a prerequisite for one to become an enrolled agent; all that is required is for the individual to have a deep knowledge of the relevant tax code and this is only proven by passing the SEE. Once you pass the SEE or have worked for IRS for five years in the relevant department, you earn the enrolled agent license.

Once the license is granted, there are still several conditions to be fulfilled for the license to be renewed. The renewal application form is Form 8554. In it, there are the eligibility criteria for renewal to be granted. The most important one is the requirement that an agent completes 72 credit hours of continuing education (CE) in the 3 year cycles with a minimum of 16 CE every year and 2 additional credit hours in the Ethics every year.

However, for those who are just enrolled and are renewing the license for the first time, they are required to complete the pro-rated CE credit hours before the first renewal. This translates to 2 credit hours per month in addition to 2 credit hours in Ethics every year.

The CE credit only qualifies if it is offered by an approved IRS CE sponsor with a valid program number. Among the courses offered in such a program includes the accounting courses, the tax preparation software and the ethics courses among others. These should be designed to enhance the professional skills of an EA can be offered online as well as in classes.




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