should i take ea test?

Hey Funk: Go for it! Gleim is good and can be resold on ebay for most of what you in it. I bought several books and passed first time and then sold the books.

H&R B gave a class several years ago but now it's on CBT training. I think of lot in your position will want to get their EA rather than have to sit for the new IRS tax preparer test. Block reimburses for the fees after passing. Also you then become a Master Tax Professional.

Other study books are "Pro-metric" and several listed on the NAEA web site. After passing the test you will want to look into joining the NAEA as a lot of benefits come out of Washington and the NAEA Association.

Good luck and remember the first part is just what you have been doing for probably the last 8 years. Part 2 (corps, estates, partnerships etc.) will require the most effort on your part. Part 3 representation is straight forward and I think the easiest part to pass.

This advice was based on the tax law in effect at the time it was written as it applies to the facts that you provided. Click on my profile to read more. Errol Quinn Enrolled Agent.

Take the test.

I've been an EA for 20 years. I would probably still be sitting around wondering if I was ready to take the test if a supervisor in the office hadn't signed me up for the exam. I just came in one day and she said "You're taking the EA exam."

"Well, then, I guess I'd better start studying my butt off."

I studied my butt off, and passed on the first try. I wouldn't have studied like that if I hadn't signed up to take the test.

I talk to lots of people who are perfectly capable of passing the exam, but they, like you, are in the mode of "Gee, I wonder if I'm ready." With your credentials, a little brutal honest advice. You're too experienced and knowledgeable to hide behind the "Am I ready" crutch any more.

You will have to study. I worked with two brilliant tax people, a father and son, who owned the business. The father had a photographic memory for numbers and knew more about taxes than anyone I've ever met, and his son was a close second. The father took the exam, flunked it, then they both took the exam, both flunked it. Then when I signed up for the exam, I started studying my butt off, and I think they were worried I might pass and they wouldn't. So they started studying their butts off, and we all passed. And I was still nowhere near these people in terms of knowledge or skill.

The message is that passing the test measures your ability to pass the test.

Sign up first. That will light a fire under you to study that much harder. Don't keep going downt they road of "Maybe I'm not ready."

You're going to have to pass a competency exam anyway to keep preparing. There will be lots of folks who think it will be no big deal and won't study. And there will be lots of long faces when they're no longer able to write tax returns because they didn't pass the exam.

You'll have to pass an exam anyway. Might as well become an EA.

I took the test after two years with H&R and a CPA firm. I studied the prior years' exams but did not take a course. I passed first try with points to spare.

Preparing taxes without being an EA (or CPA) just doesn't make sense to me. You need the ability to represent your clients before the IRS.

Do the Gleim review first.

well for this year it is too late, the test won't be offered until next year around Aug

you certainly have the experience, if you take a refresher course you will probably have no problem

If you think you are ready take it, I am planning on taking the test.

Check out the FastForwardAcademy.com test bank to try it out!