Home Office Deduction (25)

Course Materials:

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IRS Program Number: YH9W1-T-00163-25-S
CTEC Program Number: 6243-CE-00053
CE Credits: 3 hours
Category: Federal Tax Law
Delivery Type: Online Self-Study
Exam Questions: 15

Course Syllabus

Course Description

Each year the U.S. Census Bureau publishes what it refers to as nonemployer statistics that may provide information about the increased importance of the business use of taxpayers’ homes. A “nonemployer,” for purposes of the statistics, is defined as a business that has no paid employees, has annual business receipts of at least $1,000 and is subject to federal income taxes. These nonemployers may be organized as corporations, partnerships or sole proprietorships. Because they have no paid employees, nonemployers are more likely than others to operate their businesses from their homes and seek a home office tax deduction.

The data supplied on nonemployers show a generally increasing number of these businesses, from a total of 19.5 million in 2004 to 26.5 million in 2018. Although they have no paid employees, they account for significant receipts. In 2004 they produced receipts of $887 billion; by 2018, those receipts had grown to $1.3 trillion. Clearly, the likelihood that any tax return preparer will be required to prepare a taxpayer’s tax return with a home office deduction is significant and is becoming more likely each year. This is a basic tax course with no prerequisites, and qualifies for 3 CE credits in the IRS Federal Tax Law category.

 

Learning Objectives

  • Apply the home-office deduction qualification rules;
  • Identify the types of home office use to which the exclusive use requirement does not apply;
  • Describe the various types of taxpayer expenses that may be used to support a deduction for business use of a home;
  • Apply the rules applicable to the simplified method of figuring the home-office deduction;
  • Identify the tax forms on which a home-office deduction should be taken; and
  • Recognize the recordkeeping requirements applicable to documents supporting a taxpayer’s home-office deduction.

Course Assignments

  • Study each Chapter
  • Answer review questions at the end of each chapter
  • Pass the Final Exam with a score of 70 percent or better

Final Exam and Certification
The final exam consists of 15 multiple-choice questions on the information covered in the course materials. To receive credit for this course, you must click on the Exam below to initiate the exam. A passing score of 70 percent or better will receive course credit and a Certificate of Completion.

Tax Treatment of Virtual Currency (25)

Course Materials:

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IRS Program Number: YH9W1-T-00164-25-S
CTEC Program Number: 6243-CE-00054
CE Credits: 2 hours
Category: Federal Tax Law
Delivery Type: Online Self-Study
Exam Questions: 10

Course Syllabus

Course Description
According to a survey done by the Pew Research Center whose results were published in November 2021, 16% of Americans indicated they personally have invested in, traded or otherwise used virtual currency . Additionally, the number of people investing in or engaging in transactions involving virtual currency continue to increase. These statistics strongly suggest that tax preparers must be aware of the nature of virtual currency and its tax treatment. It’s to provide that awareness that Tax Treatment of Virtual Currency was written. This is a basic tax course with no prerequisites, and qualifies for 2 CE credits in the IRS Federal Tax Law category.

 

Learning Objectives

  •  recognize the methods of obtaining and storing virtual currency
  •  describe how transactions involving virtual currency work
  •  understand the basic nature of blockchains
  • apply the existing U.S. tax laws to virtual currency transactions
  •  identify when and where to report taxable virtual currency events and transactions

Course Assignments

  • Study each Chapter
  • Answer review questions at the end of each chapter
  • Pass the Final Exam with a score of 70 percent or better

Final Exam and Certification
The final exam consists of 10 multiple-choice questions on the information covered in the course materials. To receive credit for this course, you must click on the Exam below to initiate the exam. A passing score of 70 percent or better will receive course credit and a Certificate of Completion.

Annual Federal Tax Refresher (25)

The IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) is a voluntary program for tax return preparers. It aims to recognize the efforts of non-credentialed return preparers who aspire to a higher level of professionalism. By achieving this AFSP Record of Completion, though not required by the IRS, you will have the privilege of having your name listed on the IRS Federal Directory of Tax Preparers if you choose to.

This course is not designed for Enrolled Agents. If you are an enrolled agent and purchased this course, please contact us so we can refund or exchange this course for you.

The course below is the 6-hour Annual Federal Tax Refresher Course (AFTR), which is just part of the overall Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP). If you wish to obtain the full AFSP, additional courses may be required depending on if you are an Exempt or Non-Exempt preparer, and whether you completed any other IRS approved tax courses through other schools. More information about the Annual Filing Season Program, Exempt and Non-Exempt preparers, and CE Requirements can be found through the following IRS links:

Annual Filing Season Program
Requirements for Exempt Individuals
Annual Filing Season CE Requirements

How and when will I get my Record of Completion?

After PTIN renewal season begins in October, a Record of Completion will be generated to you once all requirements have been met, including renewal of your PTIN for the upcoming year and consent to the Circular 230 obligations.

If you have an online PTIN account, you will receive an email from taxpros@ptin.irs.gov with instructions on how to sign the Circular 230 consent and receive your certificate in your online secure mailbox. (Note: The mailbox only sends messages. It doesn’t accept or process messages.)

If you don’t have an online PTIN account, you will receive a letter with instructions for completing the application process and obtaining your certificate.

You must have a PTIN in order to receive IRS credit for this course.


Course Details

IRS Program Number: YH9W1-A-00157-25-S
CE Credits: 6 hours – (Reminder this course does not provide CE credits for Enrolled Agents)
IRS Category: Annual Federal Tax Refresher
Delivery Type: Online Self-Study
Exam: 100 Question, 3-hour Timed Exam (Only 4 attempts are allowed for this exam)

**AFTR course Final Exam must be successfully passed by midnight 12/31/2025 (local time of the student)

Course Syllabus

Course Description

Each year, various limits affecting income tax return preparation and tax planning are affected by inflation-related changes. In addition, new tax laws come into being that may significantly affect taxpayers’ income tax liability. This course will examine many of those changes.
The Annual Federal Tax Refresher course is designed to meet the requirements of the IRS Annual Filing Season Certificate program. It discusses new tax law and recent updates for the upcoming filing season, provides a general tax review, and examines important rules governing tax return preparer ethics, practices and procedures. This is a basic tax course with no prerequisites, and qualifies for 6 CE credits in the IRS Annual Federal Tax Refresher category.

In organizing this course, the term “domain” is used in place of the more common “chapter” to more closely follow the language of the IRS Annual Federal Tax Refresher course outline.

Upon completion of this course, a tax return preparer should be able to:

  • Apply the inflation-adjusted and other limits to the proper preparation of taxpayers’ income tax returns;
  • Calculate taxpayers’ additional tax liability resulting from the Medicare tax, net investment income tax and individual shared responsibility payment;
  • Recognize the federal income tax filing statuses and the criteria for their use;
  • Identify the types of income that must be recognized;
  • Apply the tax rules to the various credits and adjustments to income available to taxpayers;
  • Recognize the penalties that may be imposed on a preparer for failing to meet ethical and practice standards in preparing tax returns; and
  • Identify the duties and restrictions imposed on tax preparers under Circular 230.

Course Assignments

  • Study all 3 Domains
  • Pass the Final Exam with a score of 70 percent or better
  • Answer a short voluntary Course Evaluation

Course Materials

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  • Note: Due to IRS Requirements, a “Preview” of the Final Exam for this course cannot be provided to students.

Final Exam Portal – Please Click Below

IRS Collections & Installment Arrangements (25)

Course Materials:

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IRS Program Number: YH9W1-T-00158-25-S
CTEC Program Number: 6243-CE-00048
CE Credits: 2 hours
Category: Federal Tax Law
Delivery Type: Online Self-Study
Exam Questions: 10

Course Syllabus

Course Description

Although, the IRS suspended the automatic mailing of collection notices routinely sent when a taxpayer owes federal tax on February 5, 2022 to give the IRS an opportunity to clear its processing backlogs, use of such automatic mailings is likely to recur and, meanwhile, other IRS delinquent collection activities continue unabated. Statistics for fiscal year 2021, show the IRS ending inventory with a balance of assessed tax, penalties and interest exceeding $133.4 trillion, enforcement activity involving more than 500,000 taxpayers, and 3.8 million taxpayers paying tax liabilities under installment agreements.

With IRS collection clearly continuing and likely to ramp up in the future, chances that any tax professional will need to be conversant with IRS collection activities and the methods available to challenge them is increasing. It is to that end this course addressing IRS collections is addressed. This is a basic tax course with no prerequisites, and qualifies for 2 CE credits in the IRS Federal Tax Law category.

After completing this course, students should be able to:

• Identify the rights specified in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights;
• Describe the maximum period of time the IRS may collect taxes due from a taxpayer;
• List the tax payment alternatives available to a taxpayer;
• Recognize the IRS decisions that may be challenged by a taxpayer; and
• Compare the Collection Due Process and Collection Appeals Program.

 

Course Assignments

  • Study each Chapter
  • Answer review questions at the end of each chapter
  • Pass the Final Exam with a score of 70 percent or better

Final Exam and Certification
The final exam consists of 10 multiple-choice questions on the information covered in the course materials. To receive credit for this course, you must click on the Exam below to initiate the exam. A passing score of 70 percent or better will receive course credit and a Certificate of Completion.

Keeping Taxpayer Data Secure (25)

Course Materials:

  • Download Course Materials    <–To Download this file to your computer, Right-click the link and chose “Save File As”

 

IRS Program Number: YH9W1-T-00159-25-S
CTEC Program Number: 6243-CE-00049
CE Credits: 3 hours
Category: Federal Tax Law
Delivery Type: Online Self-Study
Exam Questions: 15

Course Syllabus

Course Description
The annual global cost of cybercrime is high and getting higher all the time. In fact, cyber criminals reap a windfall from their activities that is likely to be in the trillions. Almost all of that cybercrime began with—and continues to start with—a social engineering concept known as “phishing.”
Certain business organizations, among which are those referred to as “financial institutions,” are charged by the FTC with taking particular steps to protect their customers’ financial information. Included in the category of financial institutions are professional tax preparers. Professional tax preparers normally maintain a significant amount of taxpayer information in various files—electronic and paper—that would be a treasure trove for cyber criminals.
In this course, tax preparers are introduced to the problem of cybercrime and its costs, offered methods that can be expected to reduce the chances of becoming a cybercrime victim, and informed of proper steps to take if they do become victims of cybercrime. This course is a basic tax level course with no prerequisites, and qualifies for 3 CE credits in IRS Federal Tax Law.

 

Learning Objectives

  • Recognize the pervasiveness of cybercrime;
  • Identify the potential costs of experiencing a data breach;
  • Understand the best practices that may be implemented to protect a tax preparer from cybercrime; and
  • List the responsibilities of a tax preparer who has experienced a taxpayer data breach.

 

Course Assignments

  • Study each Chapter
  • Answer review questions at the end of each chapter
  • Pass the Final Exam with a score of 70 percent or better

 

Final Exam and Certification
The final exam consists of 15 multiple-choice questions on the information covered in the course materials. To receive credit for this course, you must click on the Exam below to initiate the exam. A passing score of 70 percent or better will receive course credit and a Certificate of Completion.

 

Navigating Form 1040 Schedule C (25)

 

Course Materials:

 

IRS Program Number: YH9W1-T-00160-25-S
CTEC Course Number: 6243-CE-00050
CE Credits: 3 hours
IRS Category: Federal Tax Law
Delivery Type: Online Self-Study
Exam Questions: 15

Course Syllabus

Course Description

There is little doubt in the minds of many observers that the world of work—an environment in which a legion of wage earners commute to an employer’s office or worksite to toil from 9 to 5—is changing, and that impression is bolstered by recent studies. Among those studies is a Gallup report titled “The Gig Economy and Alternative Work Arrangements.” The changing nature of work for many taxpayers is likely to have an effect on tax preparers’ need to prepare Schedule C.

The gig economy, an economy characterized by multiple types of alternative work arrangements including independent contractors, online platform workers, contract firm workers, on-call workers, and temporary workers, engages 36% of U.S. workers. Gallup, in its report, also estimates that 29% of all workers in the U.S. have an alternative work arrangement as their primary job.

Whether the strength of the gig economy is due to the flexibility and freedom it affords, the fewer limits on income it exerts compared to being a wage earner or results from some other advantage it offers, it seems clear that, barring a cataclysmic event affecting the economy, the gig economy is here to stay and intent on growing larger with each year. With that growth is the likely growth of tax preparers’ need to be familiar with preparation of Schedule C. This course is a basic tax level course with no prerequisites, and qualifies for 3 CE credits in IRS Federal Tax Law.

 

Course Learning Objectives
Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to:

  • Identify the types of income reported on Schedule C;
  • Determine proprietors’ installment sale income when using the installment method;
  • Describe the business expenses deductible on Schedule C;
  • List the differences between a business and a hobby; and
  • Apply the rules governing the deduction for business use of a taxpayer’s home.

 

Final Exam and Certification
The final exam consists of 10 multiple-choice questions on the information covered in the course materials. To receive credit for this course, you must click on the Exam below to initiate the exam. A passing score of 70 percent or better will receive course credit and a Certificate of Completion.

Practice before the IRS (25)

 

Course Materials:

 

IRS Program Number: YH9W1-T-00161-25-S
CTEC Course Number: 6243-CE-00051
CE Credits: 2 hours
IRS Category: Federal Tax Law
Delivery Type: Online Self-Study
Exam Questions: 10

Course Syllabus

Course Description

Despite predictably frequent calls for simplifying the U.S. Tax Code, it becomes increasingly complex over time. At its more than 3% annual growth in size since 1945, it is projected to exceed 100,000 pages in the near term. Because of the enormity of the Code and its complexity, taxpayers often seek the assistance of knowledgeable professionals to represent them with respect to tax and other matters before the IRS. However, the ability to represent a client before the IRS is, with certain exceptions, extremely limited. This course will look at the important subject of client representation before the IRS. Practice before the IRS addresses the nature of practice before the IRS, identifies those permitted to engage in such practice and examines the power of attorney under which a taxpayer authorizes another to engage in it on his or her behalf. This course is a basic tax level course with no prerequisites, and qualifies for 2 CE credits in IRS Federal Tax Law.

Upon completion of this course, a student should be able to:

Define “practice before the Internal Revenue Service”;
Recognize the general scope of permitted enrolled agent practice responsibilities;
Identify the extent of practice privileges possessed by individuals permitted to practice before the IRS;
Describe the nature and function of a tax power of attorney and identify the acts that may be performed for a client under it; and
Understand how to withdraw from and revoke an existing tax power of attorney.

Course Assignments

  • Study each Chapter
  • Answer review questions at the end of each chapter
  • Pass the Final Exam with a score of 70 percent or better

Final Exam and Certification
The final exam consists of 10 multiple-choice questions on the information covered in the course materials. To receive credit for this course, you must click on the Exam below to initiate the exam. A passing score of 70 percent or better will receive course credit and a Certificate of Completion.

The Income Tax Return (25)

 

Course Materials:

 

IRS Program Number: YH9W1-T-00137-24-S
CE Credits: 2 hours
IRS Category: Federal Tax Law
Delivery Type: Online Self-Study
Exam Questions: 10

Course Syllabus

Course Description
This self-study courses discusses important tax changes for 2024 tax returns and basic information on the tax system. It also discusses the requirements for filing a tax return and which filing status to choose. Though this basic tax course does not require any prerequisites, its recommended target audience is for existing Enrolled Agents, however anyone may take this course. This course provides 2 CE credits in the IRS Federal Tax Law category.

 

Learning Objectives

  • Recall important tax changes to be used for 2024 tax returns.
  • Recognize the length of the automatic extension provided by filing Form 4868.
  • Recognize the various filing statuses and who is eligible to use them.
  • Recall the various requirements for a qualifying relative.
  • Identify the purpose of estimated taxes.

Course Assignments

  • Study each Chapter
  • Answer review questions at the end of each chapter
  • Pass the Final Exam with a score of 70 percent or better

Final Exam and Certification
The final exam consists of 10 multiple-choice questions on the information covered in the course materials. To receive credit for this course, you must click on the Exam below to initiate the exam. A passing score of 70 percent or better will receive course credit and a Certificate of Completion.

Income (25)

 

Course Materials:

 

IRS Program Number: YH9W1-T-00151-25-S
CE Credits: 5 hours
IRS Category: Federal Tax Law
Delivery Type: Online Self-Study
Exam Questions: 25

Course Syllabus

Course Description
This self-study course discusses various types of income and will explain which income is and is not taxed. Though this basic tax course does not require any prerequisites, its recommended target audience is for existing Enrolled Agents, however anyone may take this course. This course provides 5 CE credits in the IRS Federal Tax Law category.

 

Learning Objectives

  • Recall what types of compensation are included as income for tax purposes.
  • Recognize what tips should be included in income for tax purposes.
  • Recall the proper tax treatment for various types of interest.
  • Identify the proper treatment of various types of dividends.
  • Recognize the proper treatment of rental property income and expenses for tax purposes.
  • Identify various requirements regarding retirement plan taxation.
  • Recognize key taxation thresholds related to social security income.
  • Identify the taxability of various types of other income.

Course Assignments

  • Study each Chapter
  • Answer review questions at the end of each chapter
  • Pass the Final Exam with a score of 70 percent or better

Final Exam and Certification
The final exam consists of 25 multiple-choice questions on the information covered in the course materials. To receive credit for this course, you must click on the Exam below to initiate the exam. A passing score of 70 percent or better will receive course credit and a Certificate of Completion.

Capital Gains and Losses (25)

 

Course Materials:

 

IRS Program Number: YH9W1-T-00152-25-S
CE Credits: 2 hours
IRS Category: Federal Tax Law
Delivery Type: Online Self-Study
Exam Questions: 10

Course Syllabus

Course Description
This self-study course discusses investment gains and losses, including how to figure your basis in property. A gain from selling or trading stocks, bonds, or other investment property may be taxed or it may be tax free, at least in part. A loss may or may not be deductible. These chapters also discuss gains from selling property you personally use – including the special rules for selling your home. Though this basic tax course does not require any prerequisites, its recommended target audience is for existing Enrolled Agents, however anyone may take this course. This course provides 2 CE credits in the IRS Federal Tax Law category.

Learning Objectives

  • Identify the factors to consider in calculating the basis of property.
  • Recognize the taxability of the sale of personal use property.
  • Identify the special tax rules related to selling your home.
  • Recall the capital gain rates for the current year.

Course Assignments

  • Study each Chapter
  • Answer review questions at the end of each chapter
  • Pass the Final Exam with a score of 70 percent or better

Final Exam and Certification
The final exam consists of 10 multiple-choice questions on the information covered in the course materials. To receive credit for this course, you must click on the Exam below to initiate the exam. A passing score of 70 percent or better will receive course credit and a Certificate of Completion.