MyCEcentral offers online self-study continuing professional education for tax preparers and other financial professionals.
What We Offer
All courses and exams are professionally prepared and tested. We provide:
Why Choose Us
Continuing education courses are available in the following areas:
You can click on our course library to see a brief summary of available courses.
Thinking of Participating?
IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Continuing Education
Be a part of the AFSP
- Meets all the Continuing Education Requirements for the IRS Annual Filing Season Program
- Instant Grading, Certificates, and PDF Course Materials
- All-Inclusive Price – No Additional Fees for Exams or Certificates of Completion.
Note: All AFSP courses must be completed by 12/31/23. Next year’s course will be available Summer 2024.
See if you are exempt from needing to take and pass the AFTR course?
What is the AFSP?
The IRS Annual Filing Season Program is a voluntary program designed to identify tax preparers who have received IRS recognition for obtaining additional knowledge and skills to improve their tax knowledge and filing competency.
The Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) is a voluntary program designed to encourage non-credentialed tax return preparers to participate in continuing education (CE) courses. Non-credentialed return preparers can elect to voluntarily demonstrate completion of basic 1040 filing season tax preparation and other tax law training through continuing education.
Return preparers who complete the requirements for the Annual Filing Season Program will be issued a Record of Completion that they can display and use to differentiate themselves in the marketplace if desired. Preparers who participate are also included in a public database on IRS.gov that taxpayers use when searching for qualified tax return preparers. The Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications only includes attorneys, certified public accountants (CPAs), enrolled agents, enrolled retirement plan agents (ERPAs), enrolled actuaries, and individuals who have received an Annual Filing Season Program – Record of Completion.
To obtain an Annual Filing Season Program – Record of Completion a return preparer must obtain 18 hours of continuing education from an IRS-approved CE Provider. The hours must include a 6 credit hour Annual Federal Tax Refresher course (AFTR) that covers filing season issues and tax law updates. The AFTR course must include a knowledge-based comprehension test administered at the conclusion of the course by the CE Provider.
Completing the AFSP may affect your ability to represent clients before the IRS. As an AFSP participant who obtains a Record of Completion, you will have limited representation rights before the IRS for clients whose returns you prepared and signed after December 31, 2015. PTIN holders without an AFSP – Record of Completion or without other professional credentials will not be able to represent clients before the IRS in any matters for returns prepared and signed after December 31, 2015. PTIN holders without an Annual Filing Season Program – Record of Completion or other professional credential are now ONLY permitted to prepare tax returns.
You do not need to submit proof of completion to the IRS, this is done by MyCECentral, the continuing education provider. Following the completion of the Continuing Education requirements and renewal of PTIN for the upcoming year, eligible return preparers will receive an email from the IRS. The email will provide instructions for logging into your PTIN account and completing the process. Among the final steps will be a required consent to adhere to specific practice obligations outlined in Subpart B and section 10.51 of Treasury Department Circular No. 230PDF. Following successful completion of these steps, you will be issued an Annual Filing Season Program – Record of Completion.
CE Requirements
Depending on whether you are exempt from the AFTR, you must take 15 or 18 hours of continuing education to obtain the IRS AFSP Record of Completion. MyCECentral is an IRS-Approved CE Provider (ID # NBOAN).
Unenrolled tax preparers are required to complete continuing education each year in order to be eligible for the IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Record of Completion. Continuing education courses must be completed by December 31 of the year prior to the filing season for which the Record of Completion will be valid. For example, continuing education for the 2024 filing season (January 1 to April 15, 2024) must be completed by December 31, 2023.
Continuing education requirements are as follows:
- PTIN holders who are required to complete the AFTR course:
- 6 hour Annual Federal Tax Refresher (AFTR) course
- 10 hours Federal Tax Law
- 2 hours Ethics
- PTIN holders who are exempt from the AFTR course:
- 3 hours Federal Tax Updates
- 10 hours Federal Tax Law
- 2 hours Ethics
If You’re Thinking of Becoming an AFSP participant, here’s how
Becoming an AFSP participant and obtaining an IRS Annual Filing Season Program Record of Completion requires that you take the following steps:
- Click on Are you Exempt? to determine if you are exempt from the need to complete the 6-hour AFTR course.
- Buy our AFTR-Exempt Package for $60.00 or our AFTR Package for $75.00
- Download the text for each of the required courses and take the final exams
We will:
- Immediately grade your exams (You may download the Certificate of Completion after passing each exam with at least 70%)
- Report your CE credits to the IRS
The IRS will:
Taxpros@ptin.irs.gov will then send an email to your online secure mailbox with instructions on how to consent to the Circular 230 practice requirements and receive your certificate. Tax return preparers without an online PTIN account will receive a letter with instructions for completing the application process and obtaining their certificates.
Although some tax preparers (described below) don’t need to complete the 6-hour Annual Federal Tax Refresher (AFTR) course to qualify for the Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Record of Completion, they still need to complete 15 hours of approved continuing education to qualify for the program.
Return preparers who can obtain the AFTR – Record of Completion—without taking the AFTR course are:
- Anyone who passed the Registered Tax Return Preparer test administered by the IRS between November 2011 and January 2013
- Established state-based return preparer program participants currently with testing requirements—
- Return preparers who are active registrants of the Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners,
- Return preparers who are active registrants of the California Tax Education Council, and/or
- Return preparers who are active registrants of the Maryland State Board of Individual Tax Preparers
- SEE Part I Test-Passers: Tax practitioners who have passed the Special Enrollment Exam Part I within the past two years
- VITA volunteers: Quality reviewers and instructors with active PTINs
- Other accredited tax-focused credential-holders: The Accreditation Council for Accountancy and Taxation’s Accredited Business Accountant/Advisor (ABA) and Accredited Tax Preparer (ATP) programs
To view detailed requirement descriptions for all preparer categories, please click here.
NOTE: The Annual Filing Season Program is for unenrolled preparers, therefore attorneys, certified public accountants (CPA), enrolled agents (EA), enrolled retirement plan agents (ERPA), and enrolled actuaries do not need to take continuing education for this program.