AFSP Valid Courses

The IRS regulates the voluntary Annual Filing Season Program tax preparers (AFSPs) and specifies what types of courses are acceptable for continuing education credit in the Treasury Department Circular 230.  The Circular 230 subject matter description is:

“Qualifying continuing education . . . designed to enhance professional knowledge in Federal taxation or Federal tax related matters (programs comprised of current subject matter in Federal taxation or Federal tax related matters, including accounting, tax return preparation software, taxation or ethics); and

Be a qualiftying continuing education program consistent with the Internal Revenue Code and effective tax administration.”

The IRS considers a course to be “Federal tax related” if at least 75% of the material relates to Federal tax.  In other words, accounting courses with a passing reference to tax matters will NOT qualify.  In fact, very few accounting courses qualify and none of the FunCPE accounting courses qualify.

Management courses such as “How to improve your tax practice” usually will NOT qualify, because they focus on office practices and such.

The only Federal tax course offered by FunCPE that will not qualify for AFSP is “Preparing the 1040–Review + Update” course.  This course is based on the same outline of the Annual Federal Tax Refresher (AFTR) course, and the IRS specifically prohibits additional courses based on this outline for AFSP tax preparers.  It is clearly marked that it is not valid for AFSP preparers.

Many CPE providers such as FunCPE offer courses to a variety of professionals such as

  • AFSP Tax Preparers,
  • Enrolled Agents,
  • Certified Public Accountants and
  • Many other financial professionals.

As a result, some of the courses offered are only valid for certain professions.

All FunCPE courses indicate which professionals can take our courses for credit.  In the unlikely event you take a course that is not valid for your professional credit, congratulate yourself for learning something new cool and contact us for a full refund.  We don’t want you to pay for a course that you can’t use for your license renewal!

Tax Courses

All FunCPE Tax courses are accepted for AFSP credit.

Except “Preparing the 1040–Review + Update” course because it is the same material as the Annual Federal Tax Refresher (AFTR) course.

Ethics Courses

All FunCPE Ethics courses are accepted for AFSP credit.

There are currently three ethics courses to choose from.

Management & Accounting Courses

None of the FunCPE Management or Accounting courses qualify for AFSP or EA credit.