iBank Webinars

[AZ-Tax]

Do any of you receive their emails regarding CPE webinar's? Here is the latest one: IRS and iBank Next Webinar: FREE March 5, 2013 at 10 am - 11am (PST). The topic is "Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets (Form 8938)" (1 CPE Credit). iBank will charge $14.95 fee to process your CPE Certificate, store it in your secure online iBank Vault for 4 years and submit your documentation to the IRS on your behalf.

So is this an actual IRS sponsored Webinar and if so why can we watch directly from the IRS like the previous ones for which we waited a couple weeks for our certificate and not have to pay any fee? I checked the IRS website and NO upcoming webinars.

[Koss]

iBank

I got the same e-mail.

I don't think it is an IRS sponsored program. I looked at the links, and their website. There is no mention of any relationship with the IRS, other than the fact that the program is approved for CE credit by the IRS.

If I am correct that there is no other relationship, then the e-mail itself is definitely misleading, with the phrase "IRS and iBank Next Webinar."

But note that the subject line of the e-mail says "IRS-CPE Webinar with iBank"

If you challenge them, you're probably going to hear that all it means is that their CE is approved by the IRS for enrolled agents.

Before all the new rules came out, organizations that offered CE for enrolled agents were referred to as "sponsors," and they had "sponsor numbers." There was no difference in the relationship. The organization was the sponsor--not the IRS. The IRS simply recognized the organization for purposes of CE.

Under the new regs, the term sponsor is no longer used. Organizations that offer CE are now referred to as CE providers.

I don't think the IRS is offering any webinars right now.

BMK

[Koss]

Further Thoughts

Now that I've looked at the e-mail again, I find it very misleading for a different reason.

It begins by saying that the webinar is free, and then says

iBank will charge $14.95 fee to process your CPE Certificate, store it in your secure online iBank Vault for 4 years and submit your documentation to the IRS on your behalf.

They do have the right to charge a fee to "process your CPE certificate." But at least in theory, someone who does not need the CE credit could still take the webinar for without paying the fee. I would be curious to know if that option exists.

What really rubs me the wrong way is the assertion that iBank will "submit your documentation to the IRS on your behalf."

That's a load of bu****it.

I work with three different nonprofit orgs that are approved as IRS CE providers.

The provider organization is required to report CE hours to the IRS. They are not reported "on behalf" of an enrolled agent. An enrolled agent has no obligation to send any "documentation" to the IRS after taking CE hours. The reporting requirement applies to the provider.

What would happen if I told them that I wanted to "submit" my own "documentation"?

I'm not required to submit anything to the IRS. And even if I do, that doesn't relieve the provider of its obligation to report the CE hours to the IRS.

$14.95 for a one hour webinar is not a bad price. But the way it is presented is extremely deceptive. The webinar is not free.

BMK