Enrolled Agent FAQs, made simple

An EA is a tax professional authorized to represent taxpayers before the IRS. EAs can generally help people and businesses with federal tax matters, including audits, collections and appeals.

Get an IRS PTIN, pass all three parts of the Special Enrollment Examination, apply for enrollment, pay the IRS enrollment fee, and pass the IRS tax-compliance and background review. Certain former IRS employees may qualify through another route.

No. You can become an EA by following the IRS examination and enrollment process.

Apply for enrollment within one year after passing your final exam part. The current Form 23 enrollment fee is $140. The IRS ordinarily allows about 60 days to process an application.

PSI Services administers the exam. Prometric is no longer the exam provider as of March 2026.

Part 1 is Individuals, Part 2 is Businesses, and Part 3 is Representation, Practices and Procedures. You can take them in any order.

Each part has 100 multiple-choice questions: 85 count toward your score and 15 are unscored trial questions. You will not be told which are trial questions.

You have 3 hours and 30 minutes of testing time. Your scheduled appointment is about four hours, allowing for an introduction, survey and two scheduled 10-minute breaks.

The IRS currently uses a scaled score from 200 to 800, with 500 as the passing score. A passing report says you passed rather than showing a numerical score.

For the July 2026–February 2027 exam cycle, study law as of December 31, 2025. Unless the question says otherwise, 'current year' means 2025, not 2026.

No. You cannot use books, notes, your own calculator, phone or other reference materials. PSI supplies the permitted calculation or scratch tools.

The current U.S. test window is July 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027. March and April are normally the annual exam update blackout months.

PSI currently charges $317 per exam part. This is separate from AcademyTaxPro's optional learning subscriptions and from the IRS fee to apply for EA enrollment.

Sign up through PSI's IRS SEE test-taker portal or call PSI. Keep the confirmation number and verify the date, location, exam part and identification requirements.

Check your PSI appointment. Generally, canceling or changing your appointment at least 48 hours in advance avoids losing the exam fee. Less than 48 hours or arriving very late can forfeit the fee.

You may take each part up to four times within a testing window. If you fail a part, PSI applies a waiting period before booking another attempt for that same part.

Normally, a passed part stays valid for three years from the passing date. Special carryover extensions apply to some candidates affected by the 2026 exam transition, especially delayed international testing.

Remote proctoring is available to people physically inside the United States who meet PSI requirements. International scheduling and testing are delayed as of this review; do not use a false location.

Bring an original, unexpired government-issued photo ID with a name matching your PSI registration. PSI has additional identification rules for remote testing and name changes.

No study materials or personal electronic devices are allowed during testing or breaks. PSI provides two scheduled 10-minute breaks; you cannot return to a finished test section after the break.

PSI displays the pass/fail outcome at the end of the test and emails score information. You can retrieve the report through your PSI account.

Yes. Generally, EAs need 72 IRS-approved CE hours over each three-year enrollment cycle, with at least 16 hours per year and two hours of ethics each year.

Yes. EAs generally renew enrollment every three years and renew their IRS PTIN each year when required for preparing returns.