If you hold an Enrolled Agent or CPA license, you will be required to take a certain number of "continuing professional education" hours of coursework. As a CPA you'll need 80 hours every two years. As an Enrolled agent you'll need 70 hours every three years. The courses you take will have to be approved by the authorities that regulate your license.
If you are not taking courses to maintain your license, you should still pursue education and training. Education is directly related to your earning potential.
You don't have to spend a lot of money. There are plenty of books and websites you can read to improve your knowledge and abilities for very little money. Heck if you just read the free IRS publications you'll be way ahead of most tax preparers. It's not that hard to put yourself at the front of the pack and at the top of the earnings scale.
The two major tax materials publishers, CCH and Thomson Reuters, offer some of the best technical references, written in fairly plain language. You should consider investing in some of their reference materials that are specific to your area of practice, whether that is preparing Form 1040 or Form 1120.
Plan to take your courses in the off-season and try to take some live seminars on occasion. They are more expensive than self-study courses, but they give you the chance to interact with other professionals and also offer the chance to ask questions of the instructor. Most of the instructors in classes I've taken are extremely knowledgeable. In one 1040 update class I was taking, several times during class the instructor's assistant approached the lecturn to give him notes about what was happening in Congress at that moment concerning legislation that would affect all of us that season.
Here are some sources for education for tax return preparers:
- National Association of Tax Professionals
- American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
- Your state institute of Certified Public Accountants
- H and R Block
- Western CPE
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