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CTEC is an acronym for California Tax Education Council. In that state of California, you have to be CTEC Registered Tax Preparer if will be involved in preparing taxes, both federal and state. According to CTEC website:

Any person who for a fee, assists with or prepares a State or Federal tax return, or assumes responsibility for such a return, or who offers these services.

To register with CTEC as Registered Tax Preparer you have to successfully complete a 60-hour course approved for qualifying education, obtain a tax preparer bond from your surety agent, and apply to obtain a certificate of completion from CTEC.

The way I became CTEC Registered Tax Preparer was to go through an online 60 hour qualifying course through TaxEase. The person who has prepared the material is an Enrolled Agent and the material is fairly easy if you have little bit of tax background. I have taken college level tax courses and happen to have accounting background. After you complete the education requirement, get a bond from BondsExpress. They are really quick and I suggest you order the PDF copy of the bond for your records. After that, go to CTEC website and register yourself, that’s it!

I know I made it sound like all these things could be done in a week but that’s really not the case. It will take you around a month to complete everything. I personally did it in 6 weeks because of time constraints. The key is to really understand the material and use IRS Publication 17 as a reference.

If you need tax help or have more questions about becoming CTEC Registered Tax Preparer, feel free to visit my forum and post a question. If I can’t help you, someone else will… I am fortunate enough to have few very loyal moderators and members who have accounting and tax background.

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