California 20 Hour Tax Preparer CE Updates

California tax preparers can satisfy their 20-hour continuing education requirement with this package. We include 15 hours on federal topics, and five hours on California topics.

The following topics are covered in this package:

• Ethics for Tax Advisers; Review of Circular 230 (2 Hours of Ethics)
• Other Taxes and Payments (3 Hours of Tax Updates)
• Federal Filing Status (3 Hours of Tax Law)
• Gross Income, Capital Exchanges, and Property Basics (7 Hours Tax Updates)
• California Tax Law (5 Hours of California Tax Law)

Our first class presents a thorough review of Treasury Department Circular 230. The course opens by establishing a general understanding of both Circular 230 and ethics as a whole. The subsequent topics comprise the bulk of the course, beginning with the ethical duties and best practices outlined in Circular 230. Here, practitioners learn the specific behavior and practices required for an ethical career. Other important topics in our ethics course are penalties for violations, the rules of disciplinary proceedings, and the enforcement of a decision regarding a violation. Overall, this course is a complete review of Circular 230 and the important requirements.

The second section contains important federal tax updates for 2024, and reviews important information on other taxes and payments. This lesson covers a variety of tax situations and tax payments that you might encounter as a tax preparer, such as the Alternative Minimum Tax, age-related tax implications, estimated taxes and excess FICA.

The next course focuses on federal filing status. In order to choose the correct filing status for clients, it’s necessary to understand what a person must do to qualify for each filing status and how the filing status will affect the person’s taxes, we will do a deep dive on this topic.

The following class covers gross income, capital exchanges, and property basis. This class provides 7 hours of Tax Law, and hits on the topics of recording and reporting tip income, investment income, the sale and exchange of capital assets, taxable and nontaxable exchanges, and reporting the sale of a home.

Finally, we have our California portion, including an overview of federal tax changes which affect current-year tax returns, and how California does or does not conform to them. This course covers the ongoing federal government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including a detailed discussion of the CARES Act. Other important subjects that will be discussed include, California Health Insurance Penalty information, and AB5 info, cannabis tax law, tax benefits specific to military personnel, the varied requirements to claim California tax credits, and tax-favored plans, such as IRAs, Roth IRAs, and 401(k)s.

Throughout the course are in-text questions, to test knowledge. After each major topic there are exams, to ensure retention of the information learned in the course.

Course ID(s): 6258-CE-0010

Approved By: Tax Education Council (CTEC)