EA Enrollment Year: An enrollment year is defined as the period of January 1st through December 31st each year of an enrollment cycle.
PTINs must be renewed every enrollment year.

EA Renewal Cycle: is every 3 years based on last digit of EA's tax identification number (TIN) or Social Security Number (SSN).

Current Renewals:

• TIN or SSNs ending in: 0, 1, 2, or 3 – Enrollment cycle ends March 31, 2022.
• TIN or SSNs ending in: 4, 5, or 6 – Enrollment cycle ends March 31, 2023.
• TIN or SSNs ending in: 7, 8, 9, or no SSN – Enrollment cycle ends March 31, 2021.

Renewals must be filed with the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) between November 1st of the prior and January 31st of the year the next enrollment cycle begins, the renewal is effective on April 1st of that year.

• Renew online at Pay.gov (put 8554 in the search box)
• Renew on paper using Form 8554

Online PTIN Renewal

Effective July 15, 2020: The IRS will begin charging an annual PTIN renewal fee for 2021 renewals. Tax return preparers must pay this fee to apply for or renew their Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN).
PTIN Fee Information

Enrolled Agents who applied during an enrollment cycle are required to complete 2 hours of CPE per month enrolled, including 2 hours of Ethics per year.

• For example, If an agent is enrolled in year 2 of an enrollment cycle in May, they are required to complete 2 hours of qualifying education credits for each month (May (2), June (2), July (2), August (2)…etc. until the end of the enrollment year(s); in addition to completing 2 hours of ethics or professional conduct credits for each year. Your result would be, 40 hours of CE credits with 4 hours of ethics credits for the enrollment cycle.

Please refer to the attached CPE credit chart for additional information about calculating required CPE hours.

Enrolled Agents who have re-taken and passed the Special Enrollment Examination since their last renewal are only required to take 16 hours of CPE, including 2 hours of ethics, during the last year of their enrollment cycle.

Excess hours earned in a CPE cycle may not be carried forward to a subsequent enrollment cycle.

Courses cannot be taken for credit more than once in a 3-year enrollment cycle.

WebCE courses are IRS-approved self-study.

Self-Study Requirements: Students should read the course material prior to taking the final exam.

The final exam is open-book. Students may refer to the course material as often as needed. If the final exam is not passed on the first attempt, students have an unlimited number of retakes.

Self-Study Final Exam: 70%

WebCE reports course completions to IRS PTIN accounts electronically every business day. You can view your CPE completions by logging into your PTIN account.

WebCE provides online printable certificates of completion. Certificates of completion will be available to print online immediately after the final exam is passed. Enrolled Agents should keep all certificates of completion for a minimum of 4 years for auditing purposes.