CTEC 27 days left to avoid $55 Penalty
Halloween is just around the […]
Halloween is just around the […]
For Returning Members, as an extra courtesy to you, we created an account for you on the upgraded online learning platform and even inputted all your past year CTEC and IRS information...follow these simple directions to log-in to your account.
This post discusses the Top 5 Reasons your CTEC renewal may not have gone through despite your best efforts. We look at the solutions to our Top 5 Reasons your CTEC registration did not go through.
In this blog post we discuss ways you can prepare for and overcome the CTEC deadline. We go over what happens if you miss the deadline and the remedies available.
In this post we discuss the facts surrounding the CTEC deadline and news about the IRS PTIN hours update. Read further for the details.
By Tim Frye
Throughout the last few years the IRS has been making determined efforts to increase tax preparation standards and regulations. When you consider the importance of the overall tax filing process to America, the tax preparation industry has been surprisingly loosely regulated,. Sixty percent of tax returns are prepared by tax preparers, so this is a large group of people who have a lot of power to pervert the collection process for their or their client's benefits. A few years back, the commissioner of the IRS implemented the new standards for tax preparers starting with requiring all those with PTINs to complete fifteen hours of continuing education, or be disqualified from filing returns in the upcoming season. This provision has been overturned as of 2013, with the IRS no longer requiring tax preparers to complete any federal continuing hours whatsoever. Let's take a look at these events and the consequences this can present for current tax preparers looking to complete their required education.
Most likely if you are visiting a website called RenewCTEC.com, you take your education and registration requirements seriously. Thousands of us every year pay for our 20 hour CTEC course, pay CTEC their registration fee, and then pay the IRS to renew our PTINs. In other words, thousands of us do everything that is required of us in order to do taxes for pay in the State of California.
But you know what? Many other "tax preparers" skip the mandatory education, skip the fees, and still do taxes for money.
What should the rest of us do about these interlopers? Would you report a tax preparer who was doing taxes for fees without valid CTEC registration? Or would you look the other way and "mind your own business"?
More Graduates from CTEC 20 […]
By Tim Frye
Everyone knows that America's national pastime is no longer baseball. And no, it's not the NFL either. It's procrastination. We all do it. So don't feel bad when it's Halloween night this year and as your sliding on your monkey suit and headed out to party, you realize you had to complete your 20 Hour CTEC continuing education requirements by midnight. We are not here to judge, just ever-present to remind you to not be that guy.
If you are tax preparer, and you do not complete your 20 hours of continuing education for CTEC by the October 31st deadline, you can still complete the hours after. There will, however, be an extra $55 CTEC late fee tacked on the regular $25 rate.
California tax preparers must renew their registration with the California Tax Education Council (CTEC) each year. Tax preparers in California who are not registered with CTEC cannot legally prepare tax returns for pay in the State of California and may become subject to fines of up to $5,000 per incident if their CTEC registration expires and is not renewed. CTEC requires two things as a condition of renewing your CTEC registration: you must 1) complete a 20 hour CTEC-approved continuing education tax course and 2) pay a renewal fee to CTEC.
In this blog post, we will tell you exactly how much it costs to renew your CTEC registration and give you a helpful tip to save money on CTEC renewal costs.
For 2012, we have witnessed an important change to the process of the California Tax Education Council (CTEC) with regard to CTEC-registered tax preparers whose registration has been "archived" (a.k.a. expired) due to the lack of completion of the 20 hour CTEC continuing education requirement. For instance, let's say that you were registered as a tax preparer with CTEC for the 2010 fiscal year, but then you did not complete a 20 hour course for 2011, or perhaps your education provider did not report your 20 hours properly to CTEC.
In these situations, CTEC will "archive" the tax preparer registration, meaning that the tax preparer is no longer actually registered with CTEC.
A tax preparer who is not registered with CTEC can face fines from $2,500-$5,000 per tax return prepared without CTEC registration, so this is certainly a very serious issue if your CTEC registration has expired and you are still doing taxes for pay in California. Believe it or not, we have had quite a few calls over the past year on our CTEC phone hotline 310-422-1283 from RenewCTEC.com students who were not aware that their CTEC registration had expired. Unfortunately, many preparers may be operating with expired CTEC registration without their knowledge.
Yikes!
The following notes are from the recent CTEC / IRS Joint Conference for Education Providers held in Sacramento California this past May 16th 2012. The speakers at the conference discussed how the new IRS education requirements will meld with CTEC existing requirements. David Williams from IRS Return Preparer Office was featured speaker - Paul Latter and Tabitha Bolkish in charge of things on the CTEC side.
Date: May 16th, 2012
Location: Sacramento, Ca.
Notes taken by Andy Frye of Pronto Income Tax of California, Inc. (RenewCTEC.com)