CTEC qualifying education
Review the 60-hour California tax-preparer pathway, provider requirements, course requirements, and reporting obligations.
California qualification roadmap
This pathway generally applies to paid California preparers who are not exempt CPAs, enrolled agents, attorneys, or specified banking or trust officials.
Use the FTB and CTEC definitions to determine whether paid tax-preparation work requires registration or falls within a listed exemption.
Finish a qualifying-education course from a CTEC-approved provider within the required period and retain the provider's completion evidence.
Purchase and maintain the current $5,000 bond from an authorized insurance or surety source.
Secure the federal Preparer Tax Identification Number and complete California fingerprinting under the current registration instructions.
Complete the online new-preparer application, pay the current charges, and resolve any background or documentation issue before preparing returns for a fee.
Complete at least 20 hours of approved annual continuing education in the required subject mix, renew the bond and PTIN as applicable, and renew CTEC registration on time.
Official California requirements
Reviewed July 21, 2026
California generally requires non-exempt paid tax preparers to register with CTEC. 101PD does not issue CTEC qualifying-education credit unless the provider and course are approved for that purpose.
Authority: California Franchise Tax Board and California Tax Education Council (CTEC)
Agency rules control. Requirements can change and individual eligibility varies. 101PD identifies whether each course is professional training or regulator-approved credit; exam preparation is never represented as statutory credit.
Choose your licensing stage
60-hour CTEC education requirements; 101PD does not currently issue CTEC credit. Colors identify the stage; they never imply approval.
What the learning experience includes
A plain-language path from education through exam readiness and renewal, separated by the stage of the license.
Every course page exposes learning objectives, a section-level syllabus, sample material, assessment rules, and FAQs.
Quizzes support learning; server-graded finals, timers, retries, and recovery rules follow the applicable track configuration.
Resume reading and learning from the account portal, with state, deadlines, and completion evidence calculated by the server.
Exam preparation, professional training, and regulator-recognized credit are labeled separately and never blended into one sales claim.
Downloadable certificates, verification pages, and regulator instructions appear only in the form the course status permits.
Course-level detail
No course listings are currently available in this track.
How 101PD works
Start with prelicensing, exam preparation, or continuing education.
Read its syllabus, sample, status, hours, assessment format, and package relationships.
Available content opens the appropriate secure enrollment path. Other offerings accept a single availability request.
Resume from the portal, complete the configured assessments, and receive the permitted completion evidence.
Common questions
Permanent public-exam practice remains free. Eligible professional products show their regular price and may display a launch promotion at secure checkout.
No. They serve different stages of a license. This page keeps them together for comparison while every card states its own purpose and credit status.
Training completions receive an honest training certificate. Regulator-credit certificates are issued only when the specific course and provider approval permit them.
When a defensible public comparison exists, the product card names the provider, comparable offer, checked date, and source price. It is context only: the listed 101PD price controls, and a comparison never creates approval or credit rights.
Secure Stripe checkout appears only for an enrollable product. Every page states whether the result is exam preparation, professional training, or regulator-recognized credit.