I appreciate your passion around this issue, because to me it means that you care about your profession and the success of this program. We need the energy and zeal that you bring. But whether you agree or disagree with the decision to allow additional time to complete the 2012 CE requirements, the reason the time was extended was to allow practitioners who are trying to comply and may have fallen short an additional opportunity to get it right. Not everyone has as clear understanding of the requirements ....

So, what did go into the decision to extend the completion time?

First, we (the IRS) did not issue our news release affirmatively stating the 15 hour CE requirement for 2012 until the second week of February 2012. Although the authority to require 15 hours of CE was provided for in Notice 2011-80 issued on October 24th 2011, at that point in time, we did not have a CE program with a registration system or available providers for Registered Tax Return Preparer (RTRP) candidates. It was not until early February that we were sure we would have sufficient CE providers to handle requests for CE.

Second, because RTRP candidates have until December 31, 2013 to test, many in your community did not understand that the CE requirement applied before they had passed the test. This was not an unreasonable assumption given that CE requirement for the other test offered by the IRS, the Special Enrollment Exam, comes after the test is passed. Although this was clearly not the rule here, our efforts to get this information out seem to have fallen short. We attempted to clarify and address this issue at every available opportunity and at the same time engaged with practitioner organizations to get this information out, but we still found there was quite a bit of confusion around this one issue.

Third, the return preparer program is still new – all the pieces have yet to be fully implemented. We want the preparer community to understand the new requirements and to complete them. So while we are still in this stage of transition, I want to do everything reasonably possible to give those who are trying to meet their new responsibilities to be successful.

I appreciate, commend and rely on those of you who have made it your priority to understand the new rules to timely comply with them, especially those of you for whom all of this is brand new. But the return preparer community, like every other community of professionals is diversely made and not everyone understands or embraces change as quickly as others and not everyone will get it right the first time. While I have an obligation to run a program that is fair to all of you, in the initial stages of this program, I also have to ensure I have provided every opportunity for successful completion for those who are trying to adhere to the new requirements. I am not talking about those who have no intention of complying, those who are procrastinating hoping for a different decision or those who would undermine the program; I am talking about those practitioners trying to understand and adhere to the new requirements, who just have not got it quite right yet.

This was the first year (and not a complete year) for CE for registered tax return preparer candidates, so we are trying to provide a little flexibility. We have not absolved those who failed to meet the time line of their obligations. While those of you who completed your 15 CE hours by December 31, 2012 will only have 15 hours to complete in 2013, those who fell short will have up to 30 hours to complete.

The decision to be flexible here should not be inferred as some type of advance prediction of what will happen if the testing deadline is not met. I view the two decisions as completely separate things. Everyone, (except those new to the profession) with a testing requirement will have had more than 2 years to satisfy that requirement by the end of 2013. The reasons to be flexible with respect to CE will not drive any decision with respect to testing and making assumptions about the testing requirements in this context is not helpful to the overall goal.

I understand that there is room for disagreement on this CE issue and I also understand that there are some strong feelings on the subject, but whether you agree or disagree with the process, I believe we all want the same ultimate result and I ask for your continued diligence and support as we move this program forward. Please continue to share information we release and post to the website with those you know are unaware of the requirements, with those that do not have or are unlikely to have access to the information, with those that do not belong to the professional organizations and with those who may be simply confused and feeling a little overwhelmed.

Thank you for your time and Happy New Year!

Carol