Income Tax Preparation Career Pathway Certificate

Less-Than-One-Year Certificate of Completion

The Income Tax Career Pathway Certificate (15 credits) was created to give students the basic knowledge needed to succeed in any apprenticeship-level job for preparing personal income taxes. This less-than-one-year certificate gives the student basic bookkeeping knowledge, payroll knowledge, and the required 80 hour basic tax course to sit for the tax preparer exam. Per Oregon’s Board of Tax Practitioners Web site, any person preparing personal income tax returns for a fee or representing that they do so must be licensed by the Oregon State Board of Tax Practitioners. That person must be at least 18 years of age and have either a high school diploma or GED.

Core Outcome: Program objectives for this certificate are intended to prepare students to successfully pass the state required exam for licensure and prepare the students for successful employment in the field of taxation. The State of Oregon sets competency and ethical standards for tax professionals and regulates them through the Board of Tax Practitioners. The purpose of the law is to protect the consumer from unlicensed or unethical practitioners. Oregon’s Board of Tax Practitioners mandates that “to apply for the tax preparer’s exam, you must first take and satisfactorily pass an approved 80 hour basic tax course. These courses may be taken through community colleges (there are usually two 4-credit hour courses given at the colleges, and each credit hour is worth 10 hours)” (http://www.oregon.gov/OBTP).