About AFSP Preparers
An Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) participant is an unenrolled preparer who voluntarily completes the IRS’s 18-hour annual continuing-education track. The AFSP was created after a 2014 federal court ruling limited the IRS’s authority to mandate testing of unenrolled preparers; participation is voluntary but confers a Record of Completion and limited representation rights.
The AFSP was launched by the IRS in 2014 in response to the federal court’s decision in Loving v. IRS, which struck down a mandatory testing regime for unenrolled preparers. The voluntary AFSP gives uncredentialed preparers a way to demonstrate continuing professional education without overstepping the court’s ruling. Participants complete 18 hours of continuing education each year, including a six-hour Annual Federal Tax Refresher course and a corresponding test.
AFSP filers receive a Record of Completion from the IRS and are listed in the IRS’s public Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications. They have limited representation rights — meaning they may represent a client before the IRS only on returns they personally prepared and signed, and only at the examination level. They cannot represent clients in collection cases, appeals, or before the IRS’s Office of Appeals.
The directory lists 167 AFSP filers nationwide. Use the state grid above to filter to your state, or read the AFSP explainer for more.
Recommended: a deeper background read on tax-professional credentialing →
Long-tail searches this directory supports
Each state page for AFSP Preparers has its own URL, its own metadata, and its own credential-specific narrative — designed to surface for queries like “afsp preparer tax preparer in [state]”, “find a afsp preparer near me”, and “AFSP vs CPA [state] tax help.” The directory does not chase keywords; it organizes credential data the way taxpayers actually search.