A Chartered Tax Professional (CTP) is someone who has completed a specific series of tax courses in individual and small business income tax preparation. This nationally-recognized online chartered tax advisor course will help you to master tax preparation for individuals, small businesses, partnerships, and sole proprietorships while also helping you to earn your CTP professional credential.
The Chartered Tax Professional certificate program provides a thorough review of individual income tax...
Master preparing taxes for individuals, small businesses, partnerships, and sole proprietorships
Prepare for the IRS Enrolled Agent exam
Learn how to conduct a professional tax preparation client interview
Practice and work as a qualified tax professional
Learn how to prepare tax returns for all individual U.S. taxpayers
Understand the ethical responsibilities of tax professionals
How you will benefit
Develop a professional vocabulary and the communication skills required to flourish in the accounting world
Become qualified to prepare taxes for a variety of tax-holders and small companies
Possess the necessary knowledge and skillset required to pass the IRS Enrolled Agent exam
How the course is taught
Self-paced, online course
18 Months to complete
Open enrollment, begin anytime
180 course hours
Outline
Individual Income Tax Preparation
Comprehensive Income Tax Course
Electronic Filing
W-2 and 1099 Forms
Form 1040 (1040 EZ/A)
Interview Techniques
Filing Requirements
Filing Status
Exemptions and Dependents
Earned Income Tax Credit
Due Diligence
Child Care and Tax Credit
Interest and Dividends
Other Income
Adjustments to Income
Moving Expenses
Itemized Deductions
Employee Business Expenses
Sale of Real Estate
Depreciation: MACRS and ACRS
Self-employment
Filing Requirements
Rental Property
Capital Gains and Losses
Education Expenses and Plans
Education Tax Benefits
IRAs and Retirements Plans
Ethics
Kiddie Tax
Taxpayer Relief Act of 1977
Tax Saving Ideas
Alternative Minimum Tax
Office-in-Home
Injured and Innocent Spouse
Penalties
Extension
Amended Returns
Advanced Income Tax Course: Level I
Earned Income Credit
Clergy
Investments
At-risk Rules
Passive Activities
Injured and Innocent Spouse
Tax Credits, Special Credits
COGS, Business Start-up
Depreciation
Amortization
Section 179
Employee Business Expense
Office in Home
Auto Expenses
Self-employment Tax
Statutory Employees
Capital Gains and Losses
Basis of Property
Sale of Stock
Installment Sales
Rental Properties
K-1s and 1099s
Sale of Business Property
Estimated Taxes
Extensions
Advanced Income Tax Course: Level II
Amended Tax Returns for Individuals
Special Needs and Concerns of Seniors
Tax Issues for High-income Taxpayers
Net Operating Losses
Schedule D: Special Issues
Tax Issues for Divorced Taxpayers
Tax Planning Tips and Strategies
Responding to the IRS
Part-year Resident State Tax Preparation Principles
Nonresident Alien Returns: Form 1040NR
Small Business Income Tax Preparation
Small Business Income Tax Course: Level I
Introduction to Small Business Tax Preparation
Business Types
Accounting Methods
Financial Statements
Business Income
Schedule C
COGSand Inventory
Depreciation
Section 179 Deduction
Contractor vs. Employee
Sale of Business Property
Partnerships
Corporations: C, S, LLC
Employee Taxes
Excise Taxes
Estate Taxes
Extensions
Estimates
Employee Benefits
Retirement Plans
Small Business Income Tax Course: Level II
Understanding the Balance Sheet
Partnership Issues
Corporation Issues
General Business Credits
Tax Issues Related to Buying a Business
Sale or Liquidation of Business
Profit or Loss From Farming: Schedule F
Amended or Corrected Business Returns
What to Do When You Owe the IRS?
Tax Preparation for Non-profits: 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6), etc.
Instructors & Support
Instructor support is provided through email by experienced practicing tax professionals employed by Peoples Income Tax, Inc., a sister company of The Income Tax School.
Requirements
Prerequisites:
A high school diploma or equivalent is a prerequisite for this course. Accounting and specific math skills aren't required, just the aptitude to work with numbers and people and to read and interpret the tax laws.
If you are taking this course to begin a career in taxation you will need to meet the following requirements:
Complete Comprehensive Tax Course (located within the course)
Register with the IRS and get a PTIN
Begin preparing tax returns as a tax preparer
Please note that your continuing education requirements will begin once your PTIN has been issued
Requirements:
Hardware Requirements:
This course can be taken on either a PC or Mac.
Software Requirements:
PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.
Other:
Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.
Instructional Material Requirements:
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment. The following materials will be shipped to you approximately 7-10 business days after enrollment:
Federal Forms
Federal Worksheets
Instructions
Publication
Tax Preparer Resources
More About
About Certification: Income Tax School (ITS)
The Income Tax School (ITS) is a national leader in tax preparation programs and training. ITS publishes educational materials as well as management manuals and webinars. The school also offers numerous tax training courses, such as continuing education seminars and tax certificate programs. Its Chartered Tax Certificate Program can help you master complicated tax preparation concepts and will give you a competitive advantage with any employer—and you can prepare for it through a certified course with us.
FAQ
The Chartered Tax Professional (CTP) designation is a high-demand certification and the undisputed professional credential for individuals advising clients on income tax situations. This designation demonstrates you have in-depth, comprehensive knowledge of the tax code and can help almost anyone complete their tax returns correctly and optimally.
Professionals who complete the CTP program are highly skilled in tax preparation, planning, and compliance. They are experts in tax law and regulations and can advise on a wide range of tax-related issues.
According to Indeed, the average tax preparer salary is $43,695 per year, with salaries ranging from $22,437 to $85,091.
Once you have successfully completed each course module (and your final exam has been graded), you will need to fill out the Request for Certificate of Completion. Your instructor will then provide you with a certificate of completion by mail. Your CTP certificate will be issued after you have completed all Chartered Tax Professional modules with an average grade of 80% or more and have documented the 500 hours of experience needed to qualify for the CTP designation.
This course is open enrollment, so you can register and start the course as soon as you are ready. Access to your course can take 24-48 business hours.
This course is self-paced and open enrollment, so you can start when you want and finish at your own pace. When you register, you'll receive eighteen (18) months to complete the course.
The time allotted for course completion has been calculated based on the number of course hours. However, if you are unable to complete the course, contact the student advising team to see what options you may have available to work out a suitable completion date. Please note that an extension fee may be charged.
Our courses are designed to accommodate various learning preferences. Depending on the course structure, you may get different forms of support. Self-paced courses are designed to be user-friendly and independent, minimizing the need for external support. In courses with instructors, our direct platform support feature includes opportunities for questions, discussions, and remediation, with email and phone support available for select courses. Our student advising team is available to guide you on program requirements and administrative requests, but they do not provide assistance with course content. Our goal is to provide you with the necessary support for success, whether it's through self-paced exploration, direct communication, or guidance from our advising team.
Upon successful completion of the course, you will be awarded a Certificate of Completion.
This course will provide you with the skills you need to obtain an entry-level position in most cases. Potential students should always do research on the job market in their area before registering.
This course is non-credit, so it does not qualify for federal aid, FAFSA and Pell Grant. In some states, vocational rehab or workforce development boards will pay for qualified students to take our courses. Additionally, some students may qualify for financial assistance when they enroll, if they meet certain requirements. Financing is available from select schools. Learn more about financial assistance.
If you have questions that are not answered on our website, representatives are available via LIVE chat. You can also call us at 1-877-221-5151 during regular business hours to have your questions promptly answered. If you are visiting us during non-business hours, please send us a question using the "Contact Us" form.
Yes. The Income Tax School is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State Boards of Accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit:
Yes. We have a California version of our CTP course that includes the curriculum approved by the California Tax Education Council (CTEC) for qualifying education required for tax preparers to become licenses to practice in California.
The California CTP course is approved by CTEC as a qualifying course for California. There are additional requirements to become a tax preparer in California. Please visit the CTEC website for more information.
The Income Tax School is certified by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) as a private career school and is subject to the same standards as Virginia colleges governed by SCHEV. We are also a sponsor of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) to provide CPE for CPAs. We're approved by the Office of Professional Responsibility at the Internal Revenue Services as provider of qualifying continuing education for IRS Registration Tax Return Preparers (RTRPs) and Enrolled Agents (EAs). This approval does not extend to licensees of The Income Tax School.
The Income Tax School's programs were developed initially 19 years ago to recruit and train tax prepares for our multi-office practice in Virginia. Our curriculum is written and updated annually be experienced practicing tax professionals. All of the Income Tax School's programs are provided online in an interactive format with instructor support by email rather than by traditional home-study correspondence. We provide learning objectives, lesson quizzes with instructional feedback, and auto-graded exams. Although all of the student textbook content is online, we also provide a hard copy of the student text for convenience and future reference at no additional charge. Our programs are high-quality and are designed to provide students with the knowledge necessary to prepare tax returns professionally.
In this course, you will read material, print out material, work through learning activities, review questions, quizzes and/or tests offline and plug in your answers online for automated grading. You need to complete each item in the order that it appears. You will need to complete each chapter in the order that it appears as well. This is a self-study/self-paced program within your course term.
We teach students how to actually prepare tax returns manually, and we provide expert instructor support by email. Practical application by preparing actual tax returns results in the tax preparation knowledge being internalized and our quizzes and exams also serve to confirm student learning. You learn how to prepare returns without using tax preparation software with our tax courses. By preparing practice tax returns manually instead of having tax software do it for you, you will learn the tax laws and be prepared to correctly prepare tax returns. The tax returns that you are preparing are based on real-life scenarios. That enables you to internalize the knowledge and gives you a solid foundation you can continue to build on. We follow up with quizzes and an exam to make sure that the knowledge is really sinking in. You can download the quizzes and exam beforehand and prepare them of and input your answers online at your own pace when you are confident with your answers.
We teach tax preparation—not tax preparation to one particular software. This way, you can learn the art of tax preparation and apply it critically to different types of software. Remember: Software is only really as good as the operator who is using—if you don't have the knowledge, you won't know if you are asking the right questions.
Reviews
I enjoyed the entire CTP program: I enjoyed how the courses are displayed, the moments when I took the exams, the moments when I completed each Module, and the moments when I received the Certificate of Completion.- S.F., George Mason University
Thank you again! It has been a very intense and wonderful program and I feel more confident relating to clients with the additional knowledge I have gained. The time spent on this course will be rewarding.- P.M., University of Georgia
I enjoyed the entire CTP program: I enjoyed how the courses are displayed, the moments when I took the exams, the moments when I completed each Module, and the moments when I received the Certificate of Completion.- S.F., George Mason University
Thank you again! It has been a very intense and wonderful program and I feel more confident relating to clients with the additional knowledge I have gained. The time spent on this course will be rewarding.- P.M., University of Georgia