Important 2012 Changes to the CTEC Re-Registration Process if Your CTEC Registration Has Been “Archived”

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 our 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!

What to Do If Your CTEC Registration Has Expired; Rules Have Changed

In 2011, the solution to this problem was that the preparer had to take a 60 hour CTEC-approved basic income tax course all over again–essentially “starting from scratch” as a new preparer. 

For 2012, however, CTEC is allowing the preparer with expired CTEC registration to simply take two 20 hour courses: one 20 hour course for 2011, and then one for 2012.

We have been able to help several students “catch up” like this on their continuing education by taking both our 2011 and 2012 CTEC continuing education courses.

Moreover, it is generally true that our 20 hour CTEC course, which is focused on updating an existing tax preparer, is best suited for someone that already has some experience in the tax business. Whereas our 60 hour Basic course is designed for new beginner tax preparers.

Anyways, this is a change to CTEC processes that we want to share with all CTEC-registered tax preparers who may be facing this dilemma of expired CTEC registration and aren’t sure how to go about remedying that problem. For 2012, the solution is to call our hotline at 310-422-1283 and order both the 2011 and 2012 versions of our 20 hour course. In contrast with last year, when a tax preparer with archived registration had to re-take the whole 60 hour basic income tax course, this new solution from CTEC seems quite reasonable and easy to complete.

Contact CTEC Directly and Ask About Your Particular Situation Before Taking Action

Before taking action on this matter, we would advise you to contact CTEC directly at (877) 850-2832 and inquire about the status of your particular CTEC registration. This way, you will know what you need to do to get your CTEC registration back up and running. Be aware that nothing in this article should be construed as advice about your personal situation, as Pronto Tax School cannot be held responsible for your CTEC registration status or lack thereof; this is just general information based upon our experience as a CTEC education provider.

For example, let’s say that you missed two years of CTEC-required 20 hour continuing education, rather than just missing one year. In this case, CTEC will likely make you take the 60 hour basic income tax course again. But you will only know for sure if you contact CTEC, give them your CTEC number, and have them check their records and tell you directly what you need to do to get current on your CTEC registration so that you can do taxes for pay in California without fear or being fined $2,500-$5,000 per incident.

Whether you need two 20 hour courses or one 60 hour course, we have an affordable and convenient solution for you if you call 310-422-1283.

Hope this article helps someone out there know what to do if archived / expired CTEC registration is a problem for you. And thank you as always for visiting! If you have any information about this situation that could be helpful to our fellow CTEC-registered tax preparers, please share it with us.