IRS Enrolled Agent Exam (Special Enrollment Examination) Study Guide

The Enrolled Agent is the highest credential the IRS awards: earned by passing the three-part Special Enrollment Examination (or through qualifying former-IRS experience), it confers unlimited practice rights — the same representation scope attorneys and CPAs hold. Any taxpayer, any tax matter, any IRS office.

The single most important 2026 update: effective March 1, 2026, the EA-SEE is developed and administered by PSI Services — no longer Prometric. Registration and scheduling for the 2026 test cycle run through PSI, and PSI's Candidate Information Bulletin is now the authoritative document for current per-part specifications. Any prep material describing Prometric procedures is describing the old regime.

The three parts cover the tax world in slices: Part 1 — Individuals, Part 2 — Businesses, Part 3 — Representation, Practices and Procedures. All three must be passed within three years.

The IRS lays out four steps. First, obtain a PTIN — the preparer tax identification number is the entry ticket. Second, pass the three SEE parts within three years, registering and scheduling through PSI. Third, apply for enrollment on Form 23, electronically via Pay.gov or by mail, with the enrollment fee. Fourth, pass the suitability check — the IRS verifies you have filed all required returns, carry no outstanding tax liabilities, and clears a criminal background check.

The suitability check deserves respect: aspiring EAs with unfiled years or balances due should cure those before Form 23, because the check examines exactly that. Certain former IRS employees with qualifying technical experience are exempt from the exam itself.

Once enrolled, three maintenance duties run permanently: renew enrollment every three years, complete continuing education, and renew the PTIN annually.

Part 1 is the individual Form 1040 universe. The dependable pillars: filing statuses and their triggers (qualifying surviving spouse's two-year window, head of household), gross income — what's in (unemployment, up to 85% of Social Security, constructive-receipt wages) and what's out (municipal interest, gifts, life insurance death benefits) — and property transactions: carryover basis for gifts versus stepped-up basis for inheritances, the more-than-one-year line for long-term gain, wash sales, the $3,000 capital-loss allowance, and the Section 121 home exclusion at $250,000/$500,000.

The credits-and-accounts layer: AOTC versus Lifetime Learning, the child tax credit's qualifying-child tests, Roth versus traditional treatment, HSA triple-tax mechanics, and the 10% early-distribution tax with its exception list. Round out with the working-taxpayer set — SE tax, estimated-payment safe harbors (110% above $150,000 prior AGI), hobby-loss asymmetry, and home-office rules for the self-employed only.

Study by computing: Part 1 rewards candidates who can run a basis calculation or a safe-harbor test cold, not just recite definitions.

Part 2 is entity taxation. The organizing frame is the entity comparison: C corporations pay tax twice (entity plus dividends); S corporations pass through but demand eligibility (≤100 shareholders, one class of stock, domestic) and reasonable compensation before distributions; partnerships pass through with basis as the governor of loss deductibility and distribution taxability, plus guaranteed payments as SE income. LLCs default to disregarded (one member) or partnership (several) unless they elect otherwise.

The operations layer: Section 179 expensing versus depreciation, the $5,000/$50,000 start-up cost rule with 180-month amortization, the cash-method gross-receipts test, 50% meals, accountable plans, and the employment-tax split (FUTA is employer-only). Property transactions recur at the entity level: Section 351 incorporation at 80% control, 1031 exchanges (real property only now), installment sales, Section 1245 recapture, and Section 267 related-party loss disallowance.

The QBI deduction — up to 20% of pass-through income with wage limits and service-business phase-outs — ties the whole part together and shows up repeatedly.

Part 3 is the practice part — and the part an aspiring EA lives daily. Circular 230 anchors it: who may practice (EAs, CPAs, attorneys with unlimited rights; AFSP participants limited), diligence and competence duties, the narrow contingent-fee windows, prompt return of client records regardless of fee disputes, and the disreputable-conduct catalogue OPR enforces through censure, suspension, and disbarment.

The procedure half tests clocks and forms: Form 2848 (representation) versus 8821 (information only); the assessment statute (3 years / 6 for 25% omissions / unlimited for fraud) versus the refund window (later of 3-from-filing or 2-from-payment); collection mechanics — lien as claim, levy as seizure, the 30-day CDP window, offers in compromise on three grounds; and the preparer regime — PTIN for anyone paid, e-file mandate above 10 returns, EITC due diligence on Form 8867, three-year copy retention, and unreasonable-position penalties.

Candidates who work in tax find Part 3 the easiest to underestimate: it is precise about numbers of days and exact form functions, and imprecision is exactly what it punishes.

Order. Most candidates take Part 1 first (familiar 1040 territory), Part 3 second (shortest study runway, especially for working preparers), and Part 2 last (heaviest new material for most). Working preparers with business clients sometimes invert 1 and 2. The three-year completion window makes almost any spacing safe — but momentum matters, and one part per 4-8 weeks is a sustainable cadence.

Method. Drill by topic chip in this bank until each area holds above 80%, then run mixed sessions. Tax questions reward computing over recognizing: work every basis, safe-harbor, and statute-of-limitations item by hand. Because tax law changes annually, answer practice questions by structural rules — this bank deliberately avoids year-indexed dollar amounts, and the current-year figures (standard deduction, mileage rates, contribution limits) should come from the current IRS publications in your final review week.

The last mile. Confirm current per-part logistics — question counts, timing, fees, scheduling windows — directly in PSI's Candidate Information Bulletin, which owns those specifications under the 2026 transition.