We are in full GRIND MODE over here at Pronto Tax School. With multiple Member Service Reps on the clock from 7am – 11pm, we are not messing around when it comes to helping California tax professionals renew your CTEC tax preparer registration. As is our tradition, we will be working until midnight October 31st to make sure every tax pro avoids this $55 late fee.
However, please do yourself and us a favor, and get started now rather than waiting until the absolute last minute! 🙂
In this article, want to share some quick CTEC deadline facts and also give you an update on the IRS PTIN Hours Reporting System which has been offline for a couple months now.
CTEC Deadline Facts
Quick CTEC deadline facts for you:
- CTEC uses a “fiscal year” of November 1 – October 31. If you don’t renew by October 31st, then, your registration is considered expired until you do renew.
- CTEC “on time renewal” Deadline is October 31st at midnight Pacific Time
- You need to not only complete your course by that time, we need to report your hours to CTEC, and then you need to jump onto www.ctec.org and actually renew your registration
- You can be fined up to $5,000 if you’re found to be doing tax returns for money without active CTEC registration
- Late fee from CTEC if you don’t complete your course and renew your registration by October 31st is $55
- You CAN still renew your CTEC registration after October 31st, all the way up to January 15th of the upcoming year. If you don’t renew by January 15 then you have to do the 60 hour tax course all over again. CTEC does not make exceptions to this rule.
- We report hours every night, 7 nights per week, and we report hours by the hour on October 31st as we approach the deadline
- WE are responsible for reporting your hours (assuming you take our course, of course), and YOU are responsible for renewing your registration at www.ctec.org
- Repeat: we take absolutely no responsibility for your actual CTEC registration. Every year there are a few people who try to blame us because they didn’t register on time and had to pay the late fee. Please don’t take this the wrong way but if you don’t register on time, it’s no one’s fault but your own, period. YOU and YOU ALONE have the ability and responsibility to go onto www.ctec.org before the deadline and renew your registration. If you don’t see your hours there, contact our email support right away for assistance!
IRS Hours Reporting System Update
As you may already know, the IRS changed the vendor they were using to manage the federal continuing education hours. This resulted in a system outage for the past couple months. They had predicted that the IRS hours reporting system would be back online in October but now November looks more likely.
Things to know:
- We are “holding” everyone who graduated from the course until IRS reopens the system, at which time we will report everyone, do not worry we are keeping a list
- As with any new system, we expect some glitches here and there, so please be patient. Although we have not seen the IRS system yet, we can tell you that last year the IRS system was not nearly as instantaneous with the hours reporting as CTEC’s system
- The outage of the IRS Hours Reporting System does not affect your ability to renew your PTIN, you can do that online
- You do need to go back into your PTIN account once the hours system reopens so that you can get your AFSP credential lined up, if you want that credential you need to do a couple extra steps inside your PTIN account
- All versions of our course satisfy both CTEC and IRS hours (two birds, one stone)
- Same as with CTEC, you are 100% responsible for your AFSP credential, your IRS hours, and everything related to your registration with IRS. We work very, very hard to report every single person who comes through our system but sometimes Members provide us with an incorrect name, incorrect PTIN, etc., or . There is a simple solution that prevents anyone from ever not getting their hours: get into your PTIN account before the December 31 education deadline and if you don’t see your hours there contact our support!
Crunch Time, Officially
OK that’s what we have for you today, I gotta get back to work now, if you haven’t already done so please start your CTEC and IRS course now to make sure you avoid late fees and expiration.
