Effective January 1, 2010, qualifying education (QE) providers that teach “contact” courses will be required to administer an exam that students must pass to receive CTEC credit. Right now CTEC policy does not require a test, but rather leaves it up to education providers to determine what constitutes “successful completion” of a course. For some education providers that may be attending each class, while for others it may require students pass a test. During the CTEC Provider Task Force meeting in May, education providers suggested students should be required to pass a competency exam. The CTEC Board of Directors agreed to revise the policy to include a test requirement for QE contact courses. To be clear, education providers, not CTEC, will administer the test. The new policy will only affect QE providers that teach courses in a classroom setting. In addition to the test requirement, starting the 2010/2011 registration cycle, all CTEC Registered Tax Preparers (CRTPs) will have to complete two hours of ethics as part of their 20-hour continuing education. The ethics can count toward federal and/or state hours. The council expects the changes to 1) help determine if students seeking the tax preparer industry understand tax law; and 2) build leverage to ensure CRTPs act ethically. |
