At the beginning of March, the IRS rolled out some changes to the EA Exam including cost, rescheduling policies and time limits. We’ve gathered all of the changes below for you to see.
Changes to Scheduling and Operations of the Exam
The Cost to Take the Special Enrollment Examination
Each part of the exam costs $182.00, and this fee is due at the time of appointment scheduling. It is non-refundable and non-transferable.
Scheduling an Appointment to take the Exam
You can schedule an examination appointment at any time online at Prometric.com/see, by calling them or by submitting Form 2587.
After your appointment has been scheduled, you will receive a confirmation number. Keep this number for your records – you will need it to reschedule, cancel, or change your appointment. If you schedule online you will receive an appointment confirmation email containing the appointment date, time, location, examination name, and confirmation number. Review the confirmation email immediately for accuracy and, if an error occurred, notify Prometric.
You may take each part up to four times during the test window. The current test window is May 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021. Testing is unavailable during the months of March and April while the examination is being updated.
If you fail an exam part, you must allow 24 hours before scheduling another appointment for that same part. However, you can schedule an appointment for a different exam part without waiting 24 hours.
Cancelling and Rescheduling an Exam
You can reschedule your appointment online or by phone. You will need your confirmation number.
In general, there are no refunds for cancellations. Rescheduling fees will apply as follows:
No fee if you reschedule at least 30 calendar days prior to your appointment date
$35 fee if you reschedule 5 to 29 calendar days before your appointment date
You will be required to pay another full examination fee if you reschedule less than five calendar days before your appointment date
Scheduling an Appointment while overseas
Testing overseas for the Special Enrollment Exam (SEE) between May 1, 2020 through February 28, 2021 is available at the locations below:
Seoul, Korea
Tokyo, Japan
Toronto, Canada
London, England
Bangalore, New Delhi, and Hyderabad, India
Obtaining SEE Results
Upon completion of the examination, a pass/fail message will appear on your computer screen. Test scores are confidential and will be revealed only to you and the IRS. In addition, you will receive an email from Prometric containing your score report.
You can print your score report by following the instructions below:
Go to https://scorereports.prometric.com.
Enter your full exam confirmation number. It must be 16 digits in length and include leading zeros, when applicable.
Enter your last name.
Click “Validate Score Report” button.
Once the requested score report appears on your screen, click the green “Print Score Report” button.
Changes to The Exam
The Time Limit for Each Part of the Exam
Each part is 3.5 hours long. The actual seat time is 4 hours to allow for a tutorial, survey, and one scheduled 15-minute break.
The Tax Law the Examination is Based on
All references on the examination are to the Internal Revenue Code, forms and publications, as amended through December 31, 2019. Also, unless otherwise stated, all questions relate to the calendar year 2019. Questions that contain the term ‘current year’ refer to calendar year 2019.
In answering questions, candidates should not take into account any legislation or court decisions in effect after December 31, 2019.
Length that you can carry previous passing scores
Candidates who pass a part of the examination can carry over passing scores up to two years from the date the candidate took the examination. For example, if a candidate took and passed part 1 on November 15, 2019 and passed part 2 on February 15, 2020, that individual has until November 15, 2021 to pass the remaining part otherwise he/she loses credit for part 1. On February 15, 2022, if that individual still has not passed all other parts of the examination, he/she loses credit for part 2.