The SEE, Part 1, and the preliminary work on a return

What an enrolled agent is

An enrolled agent (EA) is a person who has earned the privilege of representing taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service. Like attorneys and certified public accountants, enrolled agents are generally unrestricted as to which taxpayers they can represent, what types of tax matters they can handle, and which IRS offices they can practice before (Enrolled agents: Frequently asked questions, What is an enrolled agent?).

The path has four steps: obtain a preparer tax identification number (PTIN), pass all three parts of the Special Enrollment Examination (SEE), apply for enrollment, and pass a suitability check of your own tax compliance and criminal background (Become an enrolled agent). You apply for enrollment within one year of passing your third part, on Form 23, with a $140 fee (FAQ, Applying for enrollment).

The examination at a glance

The facts below come from the IRS's enrolled agent FAQ and news pages and from PSI's Candidate Information Bulletin for the current testing window. Both are updated from time to time, so check them again before you schedule.

Feature	What the IRS and PSI say
Parts	Part 1, Individuals; Part 2, Businesses; Part 3, Representation, Practices and Procedures. Take them in any order.
Questions	100 per part, each multiple choice with four options: 85 scored and 15 experimental questions, which are scattered through the exam, not identified, and not counted
Time	3.5 hours of testing per part; appointments are booked for 4 hours to allow for a tutorial and a closing survey
Sections and breaks	Three sections (questions 1–34, 35–67 and 68–100). After each of the first two you may take a scheduled 10-minute break with the clock stopped, but a finished section is locked.
Scoring	Scaled from 200 to 800; 500 passes. A pass/fail message appears on screen; passing reports show no number, failing reports show a scaled score (200–499); both give diagnostic information.
Law tested	The Internal Revenue Code, regulations, forms, instructions and publications as amended through December 31, 2025. Unless a question says otherwise it concerns calendar year 2025, and "current tax year" means 2025.
Window	Generally May 1 to the end of February. For 2026–27, U.S. testing runs July 1, 2026, to February 28, 2027, at PSI test centers or by remote proctoring; international testing was delayed.
Vendor and scheduling	PSI Services LLC since March 1, 2026 (it replaced Prometric); schedule online or by phone at least 24 hours ahead
Fee	$317 per part, paid by credit card when you schedule; cancelling or rescheduling at least 48 hours ahead avoids losing it
Retakes	Up to four attempts per part per window; wait 24 hours after a failed attempt
Carryover	A passed part counts for three years from the date you passed it
Test-day rules	One original, unexpired, government-issued photo ID with signature matching your registration name; arrive 30 minutes early at a test center; accept a non-disclosure agreement; closed book; on-screen calculator only; scratch paper at test centers, an on-screen whiteboard when testing remotely

(Sources: Enrolled agents FAQ; Enrolled agent news; PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, Scheduling an Examination, Identification Required, Taking Your Examination, Break Policy, Examination Results.)

Question styles. PSI describes three formats: a direct question, an incomplete sentence to complete, and an "all of the following except" item. Every question asks for the single best answer among four choices, so when no choice is perfect, pick the one that states the general rule (PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, Question Types). This course's practice questions use all three formats.

Two consequences matter for how you study. First, the exam tests tax year 2025 law, which includes the changes Public Law 119-21 made for 2025: higher standard deductions, a larger child tax credit, a $40,000 state and local tax limit, and four new deductions on Schedule 1-A (Publication 17, What's New). Changes that begin in 2026 are outside the exam. Second, because the experimental questions aren't identified, every question deserves your full attention.

How Part 1 is weighted

PSI's bulletin publishes the Part 1 content outline, with six domains and the number of scored questions from each; it is the same outline the IRS posts on its own site (PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, Examination Content Outlines; SEE Part 1 content outline). Not every listed topic will appear on a given exam, and the list isn't exhaustive.

Domain	Scored questions	Share of 85
1. Preliminary work with taxpayer data	14	16%
2. Income and assets	17	20%
3. Deductions and credits	17	20%
4. Taxation	15	18%
5. Advising the individual taxpayer	11	13%
6. Specialized returns for individuals (estate, gift, international reporting)	11	13%

Domains 2 and 3 are the largest, but notice how much of the exam sits outside the ordinary Form 1040 line items: Domain 4 (alternative minimum tax, self-employment tax, household employees, clergy, the military, penalties), Domain 5 (planning and advice) and Domain 6 (Forms 706, 709, FBAR and Form 8938) together make up nearly half. This course follows the outline unit by unit, in the same order, and the practice exam draws questions from each domain in the same proportions, in three sections like the real exam.

The IRS also publishes free sample questions for each part, with answers. Work through them alongside this course; they are the best official picture of question style (Sample Special Enrollment Examination questions and answers).

Preliminary work: start with last year's return

Domain 1 begins where a careful preparer begins: before entering a single number. The outline lists the prior year's return first, "for comparison, accuracy, and carryovers" (SEE Part 1 content outline, 1.1).

A prior-year return tells you what must come forward:

Item on the prior return	Why it matters this year
Capital loss carryover	Unused net capital loss carries forward (Schedule D instructions, Capital Loss Carryover Worksheet)
Basis in nondeductible IRA contributions (Form 8606)	Determines the nontaxable part of IRA distributions and conversions (Form 8606 instructions)
Minimum tax credit (Form 8801)	Prior-year AMT on deferral items may become a credit (Form 8801 instructions)
Charitable, investment interest and passive loss carryovers	Each can be deducted in a later year under its own limits
State income tax refund	May be taxable this year if it produced a tax benefit when deducted
Estimated payments and overpayment applied	Credits toward this year's tax
Depreciation schedules	Basis and recapture on any later sale

Comparison also catches omissions. If last year's return showed interest from three banks and this year's documents show two, ask about the third. If a dependent appeared last year and not this year, ask why.

Personal information that drives the return

The outline names date of birth, marital status, dependents, the identity protection PIN and a state-issued photo ID (SEE Part 1 content outline, 1.1). Each one changes the return:

• Date of birth. Age decides the standard deduction add-on, the filing threshold and several credits. For 2025 you are treated as 65 or older if you were born before January 2, 1961 (Publication 17, Table 1-1 footnote).
• Marital status. Filing status is determined by your status on the last day of the year (Publication 17, Filing Status). A divorce final on December 31 means unmarried for the whole year.
• Dependents. Names, dates of birth, relationship, months lived with the taxpayer and taxpayer identification numbers. For 2025 the dependents section of Form 1040 asks for more information than before (Publication 17, What's New).
• Identity protection PIN. An IP PIN is a six-digit number known only to the taxpayer and the IRS that prevents someone else from filing using the taxpayer's SSN or ITIN. Anyone with an SSN or ITIN who can verify their identity may enroll, and parents can request one for dependents (Get an identity protection PIN). A new IP PIN is issued every year; the one received in early 2026 is used on the 2025 return and on any prior-year return filed in 2026, and all six digits must be entered correctly (Form 1040 instructions, Identity Protection PIN).

Worked example. Rosa, a returning client, received an IP PIN last January and used it on her 2024 return. She brings you a notice with her 2026 IP PIN. You use the 2026 PIN on her 2025 return. Last year's PIN no longer works, because a new one is generated each year.

Previous IRS correspondence

Read every IRS notice the taxpayer received since the last filing. Notices can change this year's return. The most important example for Part 1: if the IRS reduced or disallowed a taxpayer's earned income credit, child tax credit, additional child tax credit, credit for other dependents or American opportunity credit for a reason other than a math or clerical error, the taxpayer may need to attach Form 8862 to claim that credit again (Form 8862 instructions, Purpose of Form). Notices also confirm estimated payments credited, balances due, and changes to prior-year figures that carry forward.

Gathering income, deductions, credits and payments

The outline's checklist (SEE Part 1 content outline, 1.1) is a good intake interview:

1. Worldwide income, taxable and nontaxable: wages, interest, dividends, business income, sales of property, rents, flow-through income on Schedules K-1, alimony received under older agreements. U.S. citizens and residents are taxed on income from all sources (Publication 17, Table 1-1 footnote on gross income).
2. Exclusions and adjustments: the foreign earned income exclusion, retirement contributions, HSAs, alimony paid, self-employed health insurance, the deductible part of self-employment tax.
3. Deductions: standard or itemized, plus the new 2025 Schedule 1-A deductions available either way.
4. Credits: education, foreign tax, child and dependent care, child tax credit and credit for other dependents.
5. Payments and refundable credits: withholding, estimated payments, an overpayment applied from the prior year, an extension payment, excess Social Security tax withheld by two or more employers.

Other returns the taxpayer may owe

A Form 1040 is often not the only filing. The outline asks you to spot the others (SEE Part 1 content outline, 1.1):

Situation	Return
Paid a household employee wages subject to Social Security and Medicare tax, or enough to owe federal unemployment tax	Schedule H with Form 1040 (Schedule H instructions)
Gave one person more than the annual exclusion ($19,000 for 2025) or made a split gift	Form 709 (Form 709 instructions)
Foreign financial accounts totaling more than $10,000 at any time in the year	FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR), filed with FinCEN, not the IRS (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts)
Specified foreign financial assets above the reporting thresholds	Form 8938, attached to Form 1040

Each of these is taught in detail later: Schedule H in the Taxation unit, Form 709 and the international forms in the Specialized Returns unit.

Common traps

• Using last year's IP PIN. It changes every year.
• Assuming last year's facts. Marital status, dependents and residency are re-tested each year.
• Ignoring notices. A prior credit disallowance can require Form 8862 before the credit is allowed again.
• Studying 2026 law. The 2026–27 SEE tests calendar year 2025.

Check yourself

• How many questions does each SEE part have, how many are scored, and how long do you have?
• How is each part divided into sections, and what happens to a section once you finish it?
• What scaled score passes, and what does a passing candidate's score report show?
• Which tax year does the 2026–27 SEE test, and which law change from July 2025 is included?
• Name three carryovers you would look for on a prior-year return.
• Why might a taxpayer whose earned income credit was disallowed need Form 8862?
• Which foreign-account form is filed with FinCEN rather than the IRS?