To a true financial professional, continuing professional education is more than a mandate. It’s a privilege – a chance to hone your skills, serve your clients at the highest level and burnish your professional credentials for elevated status and pay.  

When it comes to the IRS tax code, continuing education is also essential for keeping up with ever-changing provisions. The best tax update courses answer your most urgent questions, zero in on the most relevant material and are continually updated to reflect tax-code changes delivered by legislation and rewriting.   

Surgent’s wide array of CPE/CE courses keep you in step with the latest changes to the tax code. Choose a course that suits your professional aspirations. Here are some of the courses we offer to help keep you up-to-date on the latest tax code changes:  

The Best Federal Tax Update Course (BFTU)
This course is constantly evolving and will provide you with full updates on the most recent enacted legislation and IRS guidance. Enrollees also get a peek at major trends on the horizon with a view toward planning considerations.  

The course is designed for all practitioners who need the latest information on tax changes, including CPAs in public accounting and private industry, and those who are newly licensed or seasoned professionals. Upon completion of this course, you can expect to:

• Understand the latest enacted tax law changes; 
• Understand strategies and techniques to use in light of tax changes; 
• Understand current cases and rulings affecting individuals and businesses. 

Some of the major topics covered in this federal tax update course include:  

• Coverage of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022
• Coverage of breaking tax legislation 
• Schedules K-2 and K-3 reporting requirements and transitional filing relief 
• Foreign tax credit considerations 
• Form 7203, S Corporation Shareholder Stock and Debt Basis Limitations 
• Donor advised funds
• Selling a principal residence, including tax planning strategies
• A comprehensive overview of virtual currency, including important tax considerations in light of increased IRS scrutiny
• State of the IRS — plans to reduce the backlog of returns due to COVID-19
• Temporarily increased business meals deduction
• Section 162(m) Executive Compensation 

The Best Individual Income Tax Update Course (BITU)
You will find all the latest tax law developments covered in this highly informative course. Practitioners get updates in individual taxation and understanding of the planning opportunities needed to help clients respond effectively. This course is continually updated to reflect enacted legislation. 

The course is recommended for practitioners seeking up-to-date knowledge for educating individual tax clients and implementing tax-saving ideas that will serve their ever-evolving needs. This course is designed for all tax practitioners, in public accounting or private industry, who need the latest information on tax changes affecting their individual clients. Due to overlapping content, it is not recommended to take both BFTU and BITU. 

By completing this course, you can expect to:

• Understand strategies and tactics to use in light of new legislation; 
• Understand the most current guidance on retirement planning; 
• Understand how to nail down valuable deductions and other reductions to the tax base. 

Some of the major topics covered in this course include:

• Coverage of breaking tax legislation 
• Foreign tax credit considerations 
• Schedules K-2 and K-3 reporting requirements and transitional filing relief 
• Form 7203, S Corporation Shareholder Stock and Debt Basis Limitations
• Donor advised funds
• State of the IRS and plans to reduce the backlog of returns due to COVID-19
• Review of pertinent cases and rulings affecting taxpayers 

The Best S Corporation, Limited Liability, and Partnership Update Course (BCPE)
This is the year, especially, when practitioners need to keep abreast of tax changes affecting the pass-through entities that their business clients and employers use. This enlightening course delivers that information. Enrollees learn invaluable strategies, techniques, innovative tax-planning concepts, income-generating ideas, and other planning opportunities available to S corporations, partnerships, LLCs, and LLPs. This course is continually updated to reflect enacted legislation. 

This course is designed for all tax practitioners, in public accounting or private industry, who need the latest information on tax changes affecting their business clients or employers. By completing this course, you can expect to:

• Understand the major issues on which taxpayers and the IRS are in conflict; 
• Understand recent IRS guidance and legislation impacting pass-through entities. 

Some of the topics covered in this course include:

• Form 7203, S Corporation Shareholder Stock and Debt Basis Limitations 
• What’s new with selected practice and reporting issues 
• A review of recent cases, rulings, and tax law changes affecting S corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, and limited liability partnerships 
• Choice of entity issues 
• Split-dollar arrangements
• A review of like-kind exchange transactions under §1031
• Impact of the net investment income tax on the owners of pass-through entities 

Individual and Financial Planning Tax Camp (IFCP)
The best CPE courses teach strategies that empower you to have true impact on client lives, while also bringing value to you and your firm – all while navigating the tax challenges that arise every year. Through this course, tax planners build their toolbox of planning strategies and ideas that all clients should consider immediately to take advantage of current opportunities and plan for future tax advantages.  

This material is continuously updated for recent legislation impacting individual taxpayers. This course is designed for CPAs who need to know the latest tax law changes in all areas of practice, whether newly licensed or seasoned professionals. By completing this course, you can expect to: 

• Mine a tax return for tax planning with a client.
• Understand the planning implications of the current environment.
• Determine the best tax strategies for retirement.
• Understand tax planning for the middle-income client.

Some of the topics covered in the course include: 

• The SECURE Act, including IRA and RMD changes, reviewing beneficiaries and discussing strategies to mitigate the elimination of the stretch IRA  
• Reviewing the temporarily increased meals and entertainment deduction 
• Reading a tax return for developing client-specific tax strategies 
• Changes to the lifetime estate tax exemption by the TCJA
• Family income-splitting strategies that need to be considered
• Selling a principal residence
• Use of life insurance to protect families
• What to do about itemized deductions
• Tax benefits of HSAs 

What should you look for in a CPE/CE course?
When you spend your time and money on a course, you should get more out of it than simply CPE credits. The best courses sharpen your practice so you can better serve your clients and your firm.  

Watch for these features in a course that delivers true learning:

• Knowledgeable instructor 
• Clear presentation that keeps your interest 
• Current content
• Relevant reference materials
• Ability to ask questions
• Applicability to your area of practice
• Convenience that suits your schedule 

Surgent CPE delivers first-to-market CPE/CE courses
The key to getting the most from your CPE/CE courses is studying right. With Surgent, you study smarter, not harder. Surgent’s packages offer choices in self-study or webinar learning, or even unlimited access to both, for lifelong learning that burnishes your professional status.  

If you want to learn how the best professional continuing education courses help make you the ultimate practitioner in your field, sign up for one of our federal tax update courses and find out how Surgent CPE can put you ahead of the competition.