EA Exam Prep — Part 1: Individuals

About this course

What you'll learn

• Determine filing requirements, filing status and dependency from a fact pattern.
• Classify and report every income stream an individual return can carry, and establish basis.
• Apply adjustments, the standard deduction, itemised deductions and individual credits.
• Compute regular tax, alternative minimum tax and the additional taxes on an individual return.
• Advise on withholding, estimated tax, penalties, records and identity theft.
• Handle foreign reporting, decedents' returns, and gift and estate basics.

Course details

Level

intermediate

What's included

• 12 lessons
• Progress tracking
• Certificate of completion

Requirements

• No prior credential is required.
• Familiarity with Form 1040 and its common schedules is helpful.

Curriculum

1. 01

   Lesson 1: Taxpayer Identification, Filing Requirements and Prior-Year Data

   How the exam expects you to establish who the taxpayer is, whether a return is required, and which prior-year figures carry forward into the current return.

   12m
2. 02

   Lesson 2: Filing Status and Dependents

   Applying the filing status hierarchy and the qualifying child and qualifying relative tests, including the tie-breaker rules the exam leans on.

   12m
3. 03

   Lesson 3: Practitioner Duties, Due Diligence and Engagement Records

   The Circular 230 and preparer duties Part 1 tests through the taxpayer-data lens: PTIN use, reliance on client information, refundable credit due diligence, and records.

   12m
4. 04

   Lesson 4: Wages, Interest, Dividends and Other Ordinary Income

   Classifying the common income streams reported on an individual return and distinguishing taxable from excludable receipts.

   12m
5. 05

   Lesson 5: Business, Rental, Retirement and Pass-Through Income

   Reporting self-employment, rental and retirement income on the individual return, including passive loss limits and distribution rules.

   12m
6. 06

   Lesson 6: Basis, Capital Gains and Property Transactions

   Establishing basis from purchase, gift, inheritance and conversion, and determining the amount and character of gain or loss on disposition.

   12m
7. 07

   Lesson 7: Adjustments to Income and the Standard Deduction

   The above-the-line deductions that set adjusted gross income, and how the standard deduction is determined, including dependent and additional amounts.

   12m
8. 08

   Lesson 8: Itemised Deductions

   Schedule A in exam terms: medical expenses, taxes, interest, charitable contributions and casualty losses, with the floors, ceilings and substantiation rules.

   12m
9. 09

   Lesson 9: Tax Credits for Individuals

   Family, education, care, retirement and energy credits, and the refundable versus nonrefundable distinction that decides how much a taxpayer actually receives.

   12m
10. 10

    Lesson 10: Computing the Tax: Rates, Alternative Minimum Tax and Other Taxes

    Moving from taxable income to total tax, including preferential rates, the kiddie tax, AMT and the additional taxes that ride on the individual return.

    12m
11. 11

    Lesson 11: Advising the Individual Taxpayer

    Withholding and estimated tax planning, penalties and interest, identity theft response, and the recordkeeping and timing advice the exam expects.

    12m
12. 12

    Lesson 12: Specialized Returns: Foreign Reporting, Decedents, Estates and Gifts

    The specialised individual filings the exam isolates: foreign income and information reporting, the final return of a decedent, and the gift and estate basics.

    12m