18-Hour Annual Filing Season Program Bundle
$99.00
Description
Important Note: This bundle is not designed for Enrolled Agents or California Tax Preparers. EA’s and Exempt California Tax Preparers, please view our List of All Courses to see other course options.
18-Hour Annual Filing Season Program Bundle
This bundle fulfills the continuing education requirement to be eligible for the IRS Annual Filing Season Program Record of Completion for PTIN holders. When purchasing this bundle, your account will be enrolled in the following 6 courses:
- (6 credits) Annual Federal Tax Refresher
- (3 credits) Home Office Deduction
- (3 credits) Keeping Taxpayer Data Secure
- (2 credits) Tax Treatment of Virtual Currency
- (2 credits) IRS Collections & Installment Arrangements
- (2 credits) Ethics
All courses must be completed by December 31, 2024 in order to fulfill the CE requirements for the 2025 AFSP.
Scroll down for more details about each course.
Course 1: Annual Federal Tax Refresher
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.
**AFTR course Final Exam must be successfully passed by midnight 12/31/2024 (local time of the student)
Course 2: Home Office Deduction
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.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
• 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 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 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 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 6: Tax Return Preparer Ethical Issues
This course examines tax preparer conduct standards. It addresses the issues of confidentiality, accuracy, conflict of interest, taxpayer omissions and return of client records. The ethical rules governing these issues are discussed, and tax preparers are presented with real-world scenarios that focus on the ethical issues that may be encountered in their professional activities. A final examination covering the course material is administered. This course is a basic tax level course with no prerequisites, and qualifies for 2 CE credits in the Ethics category.
Learning Objectives
- Recognize the permitted scope of tax return preparer responsibilities;
- Identify the best practices for tax advisers in preparing or assisting in the preparation of a submission to the Internal Revenue Service;
- List the various sanctions that may be imposed for a preparer’s failure to comply with applicable conduct rules.