Checking on CE with IRS

[thomtax]

Does anyone know of a way to check with the IRS to see if companies that are supposed to report to them have actually done so? If not, a person could be left in a bad spot at year's end if someone failed to follow through with the reporting.

LT

[Chief]

Yes

I would like to know how to check on this. You would think ones PTIN account would provide this information. It does not.

[OtisMozzetti]

The situation with Enrolled Agents may be similar. EAs are required to keep their own records of their continuing education, and the IRS can audit those records for a period of several years.

[thomtax]

The situation with Enrolled Agents may be similar. EAs are required to keep their own records of their continuing education, and the IRS can audit those records for a period of several years.

I am an Enrolled Agent. It is my understanding that this year this is no longer the case. The providers are required to submit the hours to the IRS. Online providers have been asking for the PTIN this year to get the proper information sent in.

LT

[erchess]

Agree in part wonder where other is coming from

I completely agree that the CE Providers are keeping records of what people do with them and submitting the info to the IRS. As someone pointed out that is why Providers are asking us for our PTINs. However, I have definitely not concluded from this that I can afford to be lax in keeping up with the certificates providers give me. Furthermore when I renew my EA Credential I expect to still be asked if I did my continuing ed as required. I also have not heard what use the IRS will make of the information from providers. I have a sneaking suspicion that there will not be any large scale effort to match what we say we did with what providers say we did unless there is significant discrepancy between the aggregate data professionals report and the aggregate data from providers. For example if more people report doing CE than get reported by CE Providers I'm sure that would raise a red flag in the IRS. Remember that the IRS is suffering cutbacks and it naturally wants to focus more energy on collecting taxes than on making sure professionals do continuing education. The only way I see that changing is if the IRS finds out there are so many preparers making honest mistakes that its a problem for them in collecting the revenue they are asked to collect.

[dtlee]

I am convinced that they have not thought this through very well.

I called up last week to ask how they are tracking hours for courses I am giving (I am allowed up to 6 hours annually for teaching courses). They told me to just add them in to whatever they already have when I renew. As an enrolled agent who just renewed last year, it will not be until 2014 that I find out if this is still true. I am keeping the handouts and announcements as proof, but beyond that, I intend to have enough training to meet the renewal needs without the extra six credits.

I would really like to have a way to know what they (the IRS) have so I can make sure the CE providers are doing their jobs.