Annual Federal Tax Refresher (AFTR) Certification 2024

Description

New Date! Live webinars: Tuesday, September 17, 9am-12pm & Thursday, September 19, 9am-12pm
Self-study: Will be available hot off the press when it’s published, sometime mid-June.

The AFTR course is the first step toward IRS certification. The course covers filing season issues and tax law updates. It consists of:

• 6 credit hours of text study (video is available for supplemental and reference use)
• 3-hour, timed open-book comprehension test of 100 questions
• 6 of our 2-credit courses in Fall 2024 (including Ethics, required)

Course topics and test details will be here as soon as the publisher releases them, but here’s the course outline.

You can take the test four times (Test A twice and Test B twice), but you must pass before December 31, 2024. Once you’ve passed the test with a grade of 70% or above, we’ll upload your AFTR credits to the IRS. Dates for Fall 2024 courses will be finalized September 1. Anyone can take this course, however Enrolled Agents will not receive IRS credit. Certified Public Accountants, Attorneys, or anyone considered exempt by the IRS will get credit once they’ve taken the course and passed the test. Before you register, check out the chart to make sure you know where you stand, and give a look over the IRS’s faqs.

Groups larger than 10, contact the tax school here.

Annual Federal Tax Refresher

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 Program Record of Completion. 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

Course Learning Objectives

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;
• Recognize third-party network transaction reporting requirements;
• Describe the Direct File Pilot program;
• Understand the SECURE 2.0 Act requirements applicable to designated Roth account catch-up contributions to employer-sponsored retirement plans for higher paid participants;
• Describe the change in designated Roth account distributions brought about by the SECURE 2.0 Act;
• 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

You will need to take Ethics and 10 credits of the following (all courses are two credits, except Cybersecurity 1 & 2, which are each 1 credit). State DoR courses do not count toward the AFTR.