AFTR Course for Pennsylvania Tax Preparers: What the 2027 Season Requires
- Non-exempt Pennsylvania preparers need 18 hours of CE, including the 6-hour AFTR course, by December 31, 2026, to earn the 2027 Record of Completion.
- Pennsylvania has no state preparer license, no exam, and no state CE mandate — the AFSP is the only continuing-education credential most PA preparers can earn.
- Unlike Virginia, Michigan, or Illinois, Pennsylvania does not require a PTIN to be listed on the PA-40 itself — though every paid preparer nationwide must still hold one federally.
- Exempt preparers (CTEC, Oregon OBTP, Maryland board registrants, recent SEE Part 1 passers) need only 15 hours and skip the AFTR.
§1 Does Pennsylvania License Tax Preparers?
No. Pennsylvania has never had a state license, exam, or registration requirement for paid tax preparers. There’s no Pennsylvania Department of Revenue credential to earn, no state CE hours to log, and no renewal cycle to track beyond your federal PTIN. That puts Pennsylvania in the same category as most states: the entire continuing-education picture for a non-credentialed preparer runs through the IRS.
One detail catches PA preparers who’ve also worked returns in neighboring states: Pennsylvania does not require a preparer to list a PTIN on the PA-40 personal income tax return itself. Virginia, Michigan, and Illinois all have their own state-level rule requiring a preparer identification number on the state return, with civil penalties for skipping it. Pennsylvania has no equivalent statute. That doesn’t change your federal obligations — every paid preparer still needs an active PTIN to prepare any return, PA or otherwise — but it means the PA Department of Revenue itself isn’t the enforcement mechanism pushing you toward compliance the way it is in some neighboring states.
§2 Exempt vs. Non-Exempt: Where Pennsylvania Preparers Land
With no state program of its own, Pennsylvania isn’t one of the three states — Oregon, California, and Maryland — whose credential holders qualify for the IRS’s AFSP exemption. Practically, that means most non-credentialed Pennsylvania preparers fall into the standard non-exempt track and need the full 18-hour package, including the AFTR course — see our full exempt vs. non-exempt guide for every category. You’d only land in the exempt track if you separately hold one of the recognized out-of-state credentials, passed Part 1 of the Special Enrollment Exam within the last three years, or serve as an active VITA/TCE volunteer. Attorneys, CPAs, and Enrolled Agents already have unlimited representation rights and don’t need the AFSP at all, though many still complete it for the Tax Pro Directory listing.
§3 The Hour-by-Hour Breakdown for Non-Exempt Preparers
Non-exempt Pennsylvania preparers need 18 CE hours from IRS-approved providers before the December 31 cutoff, split into fixed categories — you can’t substitute extra hours in one bucket for a shortfall in another.
SCHEDULE A — NON-EXEMPT PREPARER CE REQUIREMENTS (2027 FILING SEASON)
| Course Category | Required Hours |
|---|---|
| Annual Federal Tax Refresher (AFTR) — includes comprehension test | 6 |
| Federal Tax Law Topics | 10 |
| Ethics | 2 |
| Total | 18 |
The 10 hours of federal tax law topics can come from any IRS-approved subject area, so you have latitude there. The 2 ethics hours must come from a course specifically approved for AFSP ethics credit — general business-ethics training won’t satisfy this line. And the AFTR itself is a single timed course capped off with a comprehension test; it can’t be split across multiple shorter sessions.
§4 The AFTR Course: What to Expect
The AFTR is a 6-hour course offered by IRS-approved providers between June 1 and December 31 of the year before the filing season, so for the 2027 season your window closes December 31, 2026. It covers the coming season’s federal tax law changes, common preparer errors, and procedural updates, and ends with a pass/fail comprehension test set by the IRS — see what the test itself looks like before you sit down for it. Most experienced preparers target October or November completion rather than the final weeks of December, when provider systems get congested and a technical hiccup can cost you the entire season’s Record of Completion.
§5 Deadlines and the Record of Completion
December 31, 2026. All CE hours — including the AFTR for non-exempt preparers — must be completed and reported to the IRS by this date to earn the 2027 filing season Record of Completion.
Your IRS-approved provider reports completed hours directly to the IRS CE system; you don’t submit transcripts yourself. It’s still worth confirming your hours landed correctly in your IRS Continuing Education Transcript, accessible through your Tax Pro Account, since provider-to-IRS reporting mismatches have cost preparers their season before. Your PTIN also needs to be current for any of this to count.
Consent Requirement. You must also consent to Circular 230 obligations during PTIN renewal. Completed CE hours without that consent will not produce a Record of Completion.
§6 Why the AFSP Matters More in a No-License State
Because Pennsylvania doesn’t gatekeep who can call themselves a tax preparer, clients have no state credential to check before hiring one. The AFSP Record of Completion becomes the clearest signal available: it puts your name in the IRS’s public Tax Pro Directory, and it grants limited representation rights before the IRS for returns you personally prepared — meaning you can actually speak on a client’s behalf during an exam or collections matter, not just sit beside them. In a state where anyone with a PTIN can hang a shingle, that distinction does real work for your practice. For the AFSP hours themselves, see our companion page on AFSP requirements for Pennsylvania preparers, and browse the full AFSP & AFTR guide hub for every state and topic.
§7 FAQs
Does Pennsylvania require its own tax preparer license?
No. Pennsylvania has no state license, exam, or registration for paid tax preparers. The federal PTIN and the voluntary IRS AFSP are the only credentials available to non-credentialed preparers working in the state.
Do I need to put my PTIN on a Pennsylvania state return?
Pennsylvania does not have a state-law requirement to list your PTIN on the PA-40 the way Virginia, Michigan, and Illinois require for their state returns. You still need an active PTIN federally for every return you prepare for compensation, regardless of state.
I’m CTEC- or OBTP-registered and also prepare Pennsylvania returns. Does that exemption carry over?
Yes. AFSP exempt status is tied to your credential, not the state where you’re preparing returns. An active CTEC, Oregon OBTP, or Maryland board registration qualifies you for the 15-hour exempt track regardless of which states’ returns you work on.
What happens if I miss the December 31 deadline?
You won’t receive a Record of Completion for that filing season — there’s no grace period. You’d lose the limited representation rights and Tax Pro Directory listing until you complete the requirements for the following season.
Tax IQ Academy is an IRS and CTEC approved provider of continuing education for tax professionals, offering AFSP, AFTR, and EA exam prep courses covering federal tax law, ethics, and practice management.