CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR ANNUAL FILING SEASON PROGRAM (AFSP) PARTICIPANTS

MY-CPE LLC is approved by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for offering Continuing Education (CE) courses for Tax Professionals. MY-CPE LLC has effectively met the standards set up by the Internal Revenue Service.

What is the Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP)?

The IRS started the Annual Filing Season Program in July 2014. The purpose of the program is to encourage all non-credentialed (not EA/CPA/Attorney) tax preparers to take continuing education (CE) courses so that they are better prepared to work in the tax preparation industry. The AFSP is voluntary, but there are certain benefits to participating, as well as restrictions if you do not participate. The IRS is trying to get legislation passed to allow competency testing and required CE for all tax preparers, and the AFSP is seen as an interim measure to encourage tax education for all tax preparers.

1)    PTIN holders who are required to complete the AFTR course:

• 6-hour Annual Federal Tax Refresher (AFTR) course
• 10 hours of Federal Tax Law
• 2 hours of Federal Ethics

2)    PTIN holders who are exempt from the AFTR course:

• 3 hours of Federal Tax Updates
• 10 hours of Federal Tax Law
• 2 hours of Federal Ethics

PTIN holders who can be classified as exempt from the AFTR Course:

• Anyone who passed the Registered Tax Return Preparer test administered by the IRS between November 2011 and January 2013. 
• Established state-based return preparer program participants currently with testing requirements: Return preparers who are active registrants of the Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners, California Tax Education Council, and/or Maryland State Board of Individual Tax Preparers.
• SEE Part I Test-Passers: Tax practitioners who have passed the Special Enrollment Exam Part I within the past two years.   
• VITA/TCE volunteers: Quality reviewers, instructors, and return preparers with active PTINs.
• Other accredited tax-focused credential-holders: The Accreditation Council for Accountancy and Taxation’s Accredited Business Accountant/Advisor (ABA) and Accredited Tax Preparer (ATP) programs.

CE Reporting: The reporting period for is 1^st January- 31^st December each year.

Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) participants are required to complete 2 hours of Federal Tax Ethics course each reporting period. 

CLICK HERE to view the ethics webinar for AFSP.

Candidates can receive CE credit for completing:

• Continuing education programs approved by IRS (NASBA)
• Identity theft and data security programs that meet CE program requirements focusing on enhancing tax professional awareness of protecting client data, including review of Publications 4557 and/or 4524 safeguards, can qualify for continuing education credit in the federal tax law category.

CLICK HERE to view our CE programs registered with IRS.

Continuing education courses must be Federal tax courses and an ethics course. You must take a 2-hour ethics course each year.  As per the standards defined in Circular 230, allowable course subjects are:

• Federal taxation
• Federal tax related matters, such as accounting, tax preparation software, taxation
• Federal Ethics
• 6-hour Annual Federal Tax Refresher (AFTR) course

However, the primary focus of the course must be Federal tax.

myCPE provides courses that are approved for continuing education credits by IRS. Based on the guidelines issued by these boards regarding Continuing Education Requirements we recommend the programs/ webinars to be suitable for IRS specified in each webinar. However, it will be the responsibility of each attendee to ensure that they are eligible for the Continuing Education Credits based on their occupation/ job profile, knowledge requirement as well as guidelines laid down by their regulatory board before registering for the webinars. CLICK HERE to view the continuing education requirement for AFSP participants on the IRS Website