It’s my favorite time of year – harvest is underway, autumn brings cooler weather and changing leaves, and Fall Tax School is just around the corner. So, I thought I’d do a blog takeover to share a few “did you knows” about Fall Tax School.
What is Fall Tax School?
For the full scoop on the schools, I suggest perusing the website. But to sum it up for you, Fall Tax School is our flagship continuing education event, with more than 4,500 tax professionals attending annually to earn 18 CPE credits while learning what’s new and relevant in the world of tax preparation. In 2024, we are offering in-person options, in Champaign, Palatine, and Effingham, Illinois as well as online options between November 19 and December 6.
18 CPE in one event? Really?
Yes! Well, kind of. If you attend both days of Fall Tax School, you’ll earn 16 CPE credits. That includes 2 hours of regulatory ethics and 4 hours of federal tax update credits (for those of you keeping track). In addition, we offer a 2-CPE webinar after Fall Tax School concludes, on the topic of Agricultural Issues & Rural Investments, and all Fall Tax School attendees can register for it for free. When you put all that together, that’s 18 CPE credits for one low price.
What makes Fall Tax School unique?
Content
Fall Tax School uses as its instruction manual the University of Illinois Federal Tax Workbook, a reference guide that is authored, edited, reviewed, and published annually. The book is 700+ pages of excellent reference material, full of examples and practitioner planning tips to help you learn. The Workbook is your definitive guide to everything tax and is included with Fall Tax School registration in both print and digital formats.
Instructors
We have four instructors who team-teach every single topic at Fall Tax School. They are professional tax preparers who help shape the content they’re teaching and are dedicated to instructing in a way that’s clear, concise, and engaging. You can meet Catherine, Keith, Jerry, and Bob in past blog posts. Their team-teaching approach ensure diverse perspectives and engaging sessions. Trust me…they make even the most complex or mundane topics interesting!
Filings
We handle all the filings for you and send CPE certificates via email within a couple weeks of Fall Tax School.
- We are registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors.
- We are approved as an IRS Continuing Education Provider.
- In addition to IRS credits, attendees of Fall Tax School can earn CPE credit via the Illinois Department of Insurance and the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board of Standards, plus CLE credits from the Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Board of the Supreme Court of Illinois.
Federal tax information
While we are part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Fall Tax School is focused on federal taxation. This means you can attend from anywhere with confidence that you’ll be learning information that’s relevant to your practice.
Group View
We know that sometimes, multiple people from the same company or organization may want to attend an online Fall Tax School session together, so they can discuss as they learn. We can help make that happen! Review the instructions on our group viewing page and then book that conference room! Group viewing gives you the best of both worlds – the convenience of online instruction and the collaboration that comes with being in the same physical space.
Closed captioning
Live closed captioning is available in 20+ languages for online Fall Tax School. This is a great feature for both accessibility and comprehension – and it’s incredibly easy to use.
Recording & downloads available
I’ll admit, this one is probably not unique to us, but I still think it’s something worth bragging about. We make a recording of Fall Tax School available in your student portal, with a handy way to jump to the topic(s) that you’re most interested in rewatching. You’ll also have the PowerPoint slides as a reference, in addition to a digital version of the Federal Tax Workbook. This means that the learning doesn’t have to stop at the end of Fall Tax School.
Come along for the ride
I could go on and on about how Fall Tax School can be of benefit for you and your practice, but I’ll stop there. I can promise that you we are really good at what we do, and we’d love to have you join us this year, whether in-person or online, to see for yourself. We have been doing this for nearly 85 years and every year is still exciting (and yes, challenging). This is an ever-evolving industry, and we work hard to evolve right along with it. We hope you come along for the ride!
Quick links:
By Gina Marsh, EdM
University of Illinois Tax School Director