EA license renewal

[JCH]

Wondering if anyone else out there experienced the same delays processing Form 8554 for your EA license renewal this year. I did mine online and paid back on December 11th. I never received my new license. I finally got through to the enrollment office today. The person I talked to was clueless. I've had some really good and helpful experiences with customer service resolving tax issues on the Pract. Priority Hotline, but this was the worst experience renewing my license in the last 10 years. Curious to know if anyone else has had similar issues with renewal.

[Y2KEA]

Finally got mine

I had the same issue. I emailed OPR around 4/10 & after a week or so they said that issuance of the new cards was delayed & enrollment had been extended to 4/30/2010.
A week later I got my new card. So you should get it any day. I suggest you email OPR & ask what's up. Be sure to include your enrollment #.

[Lion]

Delays

23 April 2010
TAX ADMINISTRATION NEWS
OPR Experiences Additional Delays in Processing/Mailing EA Renewals
NAEA’s Senior Director, Government Relations during the past week has spoken
to OPR officials about current year Form 8554 (Application for Renewal of
Enrollment to Practice Before the Internal Revenue Service) processing. The
Detroit office ran into mechanical trouble as it was attempting to meet its initial
March 31 processing and mailing deadline. We are now assured that all
renewals, except those sent to National Office for review, have indeed been
processed and mailed. New cards should be in enrolled agents’ hands by April
30.
The GR team has received a few questions from members who have received
the letter indicating that their Form 8554 has been sent to OPR staff in
Washington, DC for review. Should you have received the letter, do not panic—
you will still be permitted to practice after March 31. In the majority of cases,
applications are sent to DC to review practitioner tax compliance. Detroit staff
cannot read transcripts, and as a result the applications are shipped to DC. Even
if OPR believes an EA is noncompliant (e.g., failed to file a Form 941 or has an
outstanding balance due), the EA will receive a follow-up letter indicating the
issue and allowing for the EA to remedy the noncompliance. During this entire
process, the EA remains in active status.
If you did not receive notice that your renewal had been forwarded to the
National Office for further review and do not receive your new enrollment card
by April 30, please contact OPR (either by phone or e-mail) and also let NAEA
know.
NAEA appreciates the
support of its advertisers
Those of you with any concerns about your EA card or who have received a
letter may of course call NAEA to chat with a member of the GR team. (Reprint
from April 16, 2010 E@lert)

[Y2KEA]

Found the email from OPR

All renewal applications received by the cycle ending date of 3/31/2010 have been processed. We are currently printing and mailing out cards. You should receive your card by April 30, 2010. We have extended your EA expiration date from March 31, 2010 to April 30, 2010. This temporary extension is to allow time for all EA's to receive their card in the mail.
If you do not receive your card by April 30, please contact our office at that time.

[S T]

For Those EA's that need this info

NAEA released a bulletin today on EA renewals, so hope this assists anyone that needed to renew and has not received their new Card

TAX ADMINISTRATION NEWS

More News on EA Renewals
In response to concerns from members about current year Form 8554 (Application for Renewal of Enrollment to Practice Before the Internal Revenue Service) processing, specifically concerns related to missing EA cards, here's the skinny from OPR's Detroit Enrolled Practitioner Program (EPP) office: All renewals that were timely submitted were processed by mid-April. New cards should have been in enrolled agents' hands by April 30. EPP processed roughly 13,000 renewals, of which roughly 1,000-1,200 have been stamped "return to sender" (and yes, Elvis is singing in E@lert's head right now). There are a variety of reasons for the returns: some EAs move during the renewal cycle, some zip codes are incorrect, and some addresses are incorrect.

What should you do if you still don't have your card (and haven't received a letter indicating your Form 8554 has been sent to OPR staff in Washington, DC for review)? EPP will re-issue (or re-send you returned mail). Send your name, EA number, current address and current phone number via one (and ONLY one) of the following:

epp@irs.gov (e-mail)
313 234-1622 (fax)
313 234-1280 (phone)
Sending your request via multiple channels duplicates efforts in Detroit and slows processing for you (and everyone else). Please don't make the work in Detroit unnecessarily difficult!

As an aside, if you received the letter indicating that your Form 8554 has been sent to OPR staff in Washington, DC for review, then more time will be necessary and you should follow the advice printed in earlier E@lerts. First, do not panic—you will still be permitted to practice after March 31. In the majority of cases, applications are sent to DC to review practitioner tax compliance. Detroit staff cannot read transcripts, and as a result the applications are shipped to DC. Even if OPR believes an EA is noncompliant (e.g., failed to file a Form 941 or has an outstanding balance due), the EA will receive a follow up letter indicating the issue and allowing the EA to remedy the noncompliance. During this entire process, the EA remains in active status.

Also of interest to EAs, your new number does not lead with the year of your expiration. Instead, the number leads with three zeros, then your five-digit EA number, and closes with "—EA."

Sandy

[JCH]

Finally received my renewal card in the mail today, exactly 5 months to the day I submitted my application for renewal. Per the 8554 instructions, I applied and paid online "For faster processing and convenience...". Wow, I'm so glad I didn't apply on paper and deal with that slow and inconvenient process.

[Jiggers]

EA renewals

And how is the IRS going to be able to handle all of the Preparer Registrations coming up if they can't handle just the EA's?

Sounds like a large problem and log-jam in the works.

[S T]

So What do we do

Maybe submit early? Don't know - Mine (EA) is up for renwal in 2011

I have never in the past received my renewal card on time and always after the renewal date, no matter if I submitted the absolute instance I receive the notice, or filed a week or two later.



Maybe they could implement an online print out and confirmation of the renewal - what a concept, My insurance license and other licenses do that for me.

Sandy