Studying for and passing the exam can be a daunting task, but it need not be an impossible one. Approach it in an organized and focused manner. Introduction An enrolled agent is an individual who is licensed to represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the IRS.

• Irs Enrolled Agent Exam

This privilege is reserved only for attorneys, CPAs, certain former IRS employees, and any other individual who passes the Special Enrollment Examination (SEE). Passing this exam is a significant step on the ladder to success and is an invaluable boost to one’s career and self-esteem. However, studying for and passing the exam can be a daunting task, but it need not be an impossible one.

This article includes 24 tips for calming your nerves and approaching the exam in an organized and focused manner. But, when all is said and done, there is a direct correlation between your motivation and your score on the exam, and no set of study tips can substitute for adequate preparation. The SEE, commonly referred to as the EA Exam, was administered by the IRS until 2005, at which time Thomson Prometric was selected as the exam vendor.

Irs Enrolled Agent Exam

The first exam under the new on-demand, three-part, computerized format was given in October 2006. The SEE is now a closed exam; test questions under the on-demand format are no longer available to the public, although copies of all questions for the open-exam period of 1999-2005 are available on the IRS website. The examination is designed to demonstrate technical competence in tax matters for purposes of representing taxpayers before the IRS. The revised exam consists of the following three parts:. Part 1 – Individuals. Part 2 – Businesses. Part 3 – Representation, Practice, and Procedure Each part of the examination consists of 100 multiple-choice questions.

The length of each part is 3.5 hours, plus an additional half-hour required for a computer tutorial and survey. Questions are in three possible formats: (1) direct questions; (2) incomplete sentences; and (3) “all of the following except” narratives. All three types of questions are in a multiple-choice format, with four possible answers for each question. Each part of the exam may be taken separately and on different dates.

Applicants passing a part of the exam may carry over a passing score for up to two years from the date of passing that part. Thus, a two-year clock starts ticking on the remaining parts of the exam once the first part is passed; such carryover credit is lost after the two-year window closes. Applying for the Examination Candidates may take each part of the exam up to four times during the 10-month window of May 1–February 28.

The testing fee for each part of the exam is $109. Candidates register online at by clicking. Candidates select an appointment time and a site for taking the exam during the registration process.

Prometric has approximately 300 test sites in the U.S. For additional details, visit their website and click on. IRS Study Materials Although there are no particular educational requirements for taking the exam, candidates are expected to answer basic tax questions at an intermediate level of knowledge equiv­alent to undergraduate courses. When studying for the examination, you may wish to refer to the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Department Circular 230, IRS publications, and IRS tax forms and their accompanying instructions. Circular 230, current and prior year versions of IRS publications, forms and instructions are accessible online. IRS Tax Map may also be useful when studying for the exam.

Tax Map gathers IRS forms, instructions, publications, and web pages by topic and organizes links to these sources on a single topic page. IRS Tax Map is available. Content on Tax Map is tax year specific. You can’t be expected to master all this information, but some material is more important than others (see the Study Tips section below). 24 Tips for Passing the EA Exam the First Time – Part One: Before the Exam To Read Part Two: When Exam Day Arrives, click. Know the Two Cardinal Rules of Studying - Rule 1: There are absolutely no shortcuts to passing the SEE. Rule 2: Refer to Rule 1.

You must have an organized approach. Plan to study at least 50 hours for each part of the exam, at a pace of at least 10 to 15 hours per week. Take plenty of notes (in your own words) that provide shorthand references to the tax law for the more important provisions. Leave time to take a practice exam at least two weeks prior to the exam to highlight weak spots. Past exams are available at although these are in the old format.

Still, they’ll give you a feel for the types of questions (and time pressure) you’ll likely see on the real thing. But remember, the entire exam is now multiple-choice; there are no true-false questions as was true on these old exams. Consider a Review Course - There are a number of review courses, both self-study and live, devoted to the SEE. The advantage of such courses is that the authors have usually analyzed the past examinations and have organized the study material in a condensed manner for maximum coverage. In essence, you are paying for an organized approach to studying for the exam, and this may be of some value to you.

The National Society of Accountants offers study courses in various formats:. (Study for the EA exam on your own schedule.). (A very intensive live course, offered over three days prior to the Annual Meeting this August.) 3. Don’t Worry About the Math of Passing - The grading procedure on the closed exam as described by Prometric is somewhat murky, as the raw score (number right out of total number of questions) will be converted to a scale between 40 and 130, with 105 set as a passing score per mandate by the IRS. Assuming this is a linear scale that starts at a score of 0, a passing score of 105 is 65 points above the lowest score, out of 90 total points. This seems to imply that a score of roughly 73 percent would be passing (65/90), but who really knows? For example, if the minimum score of 40 is given to all scores below a certain level (say, 30 percent), then the required percentage of right answers would decrease. Under the old open IRS format of the exam, each part had 80 questions of varying point values that totaled 175 points.

Parts 1 through 3 of the old exam had 20 true-false questions worth 1 point each, 25 non-computational, multiple-choice questions worth 2 points each, and 35 computational, multiple-choice questions worth 3 points each. Note that 60 percent of this 175-point total is 105 points. This appears to be the source of the 105 points on the new IRS-mandated scale, but the question is whether this scaled score implies a 60- or 70-percent minimum passing score.

The moral of the story? Don’t worry about the possible scale. If you really work at it, you’ll clear either hurdle. Think Like an Examiner - Never lose sight of the purpose of the examination - to ensure that the successful applicant has demonstrated a minimum level of competence necessary to represent a taxpayer before the IRS. For that reason, expect the vast majority of the questions on the exam to test the basic fundamentals of taxation. For example, the exam may not address the exotic details of a tax straddle, but you can certainly expect questions on the basic netting of capital gains and losses.

Ask yourself what are some of the basic tax concepts that every practitioner should know, and make sure that you can answer those questions. These include such items as the basic corporate tax formula, the flow-through nature of partnerships and S corporations, the basic features of an IRA, and the distinguishing characteristics of deductions for and from adjusted gross income. Examine the Exams.

The more previous exam questions you review, the better. For one thing, the Prometric Licensing Information Bulletin (available at provides detailed lists of possible topics for each part of the exam (discussed below). These, by and large, mirror questions asked on previous exams under the old IRS format. Manual for 2017 ext cab diesel silverado. True, there are some new topics, mainly related to client relations and audit and representation responsibilities, and we’ll discuss this factor next. But you need to get a flavor of the questions and the depth of knowledge expected on the exam under the old format. More importantly, such reviews will help you consciously and subconsciously prioritize your studying, because you’ll begin to note those topics that appear time and time again on the exam.

Again, the National Society of Accountants offers study courses in various formats that include hundreds of updated prior exam questions, as well as sample questions on new topics The basic core knowledge required for tax return preparation and client representation has not changed; only the format of the exam has been tweaked. The taxation of sales and exchanges of property was extremely important on the old open exam, and will continue to be important on the closed exam, because that’s a big part of practice.

These “serial repeaters” occurred on past exams, not because the examiners were waiting for candidates to finally get them right, but simply because they were (and are) part of the minimum core of knowledge expected of an enrolled practitioner. By constantly repeating these questions, the IRS is telling you that they want you to know these things. Although EAs are writing most of the exam questions these days, the questions will mirror what they deal with every day in practice. And remember, they are likely to examine the old exams when writing new questions as well.

Given that all topics are not created equal, it may be useful to examine tendencies on the old exams under the IRS format that are publicly available. In performing this analysis, for example, the divides prior open-exam questions on each of the three parts of the exam into approximately 150 different topics. These analyses provide some interesting insights.

Discloses all of those topics on each part of the exam that appeared in at least seven of the last ten open exams. Note that most of these topics mirror the “think like an examiner” approach discussed earlier, in that most frequently-tested topics are fundamental staples of tax practice. A Word of Caution – These lists were for exams prior to 2006, so don’t forget that the tax law is constantly changing and important new concepts will be tested regularly as well. Think Affordable Care Act! Don’t Panic When Confronted With the “Softer” Practice Topics of the Closed Format. Many candidates are somewhat anxious about the “soft” topics added when the exam went to a closed format.