How to Become a Tax Preparer in Georgia: PTIN, EFIN, and Licensing

To become a tax preparer in Georgia, you need a federal Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) from the IRS, an Electronic Filing Identification Number (EFIN) if you plan to e-file, a registration with the Georgia Tax Center, and an occupational tax certificate from your city or county. Georgia does not add a state exam, license, or continuing education requirement on top of the federal rules, which makes it one of the easier states to enter the profession. What Georgia does expect is that you follow the federal ethics, due-diligence, and data-security rules that govern every paid preparer.

Get Your PTIN From the IRS

Federal law requires anyone who is paid to prepare or help prepare a federal tax return to have a PTIN before working on a single return.¹ There is no exam. You apply online, pay $18.75, and most applicants get their number the same day.²

You must be at least 18. Have these ready before you start:³

Your Social Security number, legal name, mailing address, and date of birth.
Your firm’s name, address, and phone number, even if you’re working solo. If you operate through a business entity, you’ll also need the EIN.
Your most recent personal tax return. The IRS uses details from it to verify your identity. If you filed within the past eight weeks, use the return from the year before.
License information for any professional credential you hold (CPA, attorney, enrolled agent), including number, jurisdiction, and expiration date.⁴
Disclosures for any felony convictions or unresolved federal tax debts. A past conviction won’t automatically disqualify you, but being currently incarcerated for a felony generally will.⁴
A credit, debit, or ATM card for the $18.75 fee. It’s non-refundable.

Filing a return without your PTIN carries a base penalty of $50 per return, up to $25,000 in a calendar year, with amounts indexed for inflation.⁵

Renew Your PTIN Every Year

A PTIN expires on December 31 of the year it was issued. The renewal window opens in the fall; for the 2026 season, the IRS began accepting renewals in late October 2025.⁶ Renewal is faster than the initial application: log in, confirm your information, answer the updated questions, and pay the $18.75 fee.² If you let it lapse, you cannot legally prepare returns for pay until you’re current.

Get an EFIN if You’ll E-File

Nearly every preparer e-files, and doing so requires an Electronic Filing Identification Number. This is a separate credential from your PTIN. You apply through the IRS e-Services portal and select the “Electronic Return Originator” option.⁷

The application triggers a suitability check that covers credit history, tax compliance, and a criminal background check. If you don’t hold a CPA, attorney, or enrolled agent credential, you’ll also submit fingerprints through the IRS-authorized Livescan vendor. The online scheduler shows locations within 120 miles of your address.⁷ Start this well before filing season, because you cannot e-file anything until the IRS mails your acceptance letter with the EFIN.

Register With the Georgia Tax Center

Georgia treats your federal credentials as sufficient proof of qualification, but you still have to register with the Georgia Department of Revenue to submit state returns for clients. Go to the Georgia Tax Center at the Department of Revenue’s website and create a new account. The system will ask for your federal numbers so it can link your state filings to your PTIN and EFIN. After you submit, expect your Georgia tax account number by email within about 15 minutes.⁸ Once registered, you can file Georgia Form 500 and other state schedules electronically for clients.

Get a Local Business License

Georgia cities and counties generally require any business operating within their jurisdiction to hold an occupational tax certificate, the local version of a business license. It applies whether you run a storefront or work from home. Fees vary by locality, and many jurisdictions scale them to gross receipts. If you’re in an incorporated area, the city issues the certificate; in unincorporated areas, you’ll usually go through the county’s community development or business licensing office. Contact them before you take your first paying client.

Meet the Due Diligence Requirements

This is where new preparers most often get into trouble. When a return claims the Earned Income Credit, the Child Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, or head-of-household filing status, you must complete Form 8867 and meet heightened due diligence requirements.⁹ The penalty is $650 per failure for the 2026 filing season, and a single return claiming all four benefits can generate up to $2,600 in penalties.¹⁰

Meeting the requirement means more than checking boxes. You interview the taxpayer, ask enough questions to determine whether they actually qualify, and document what you asked and what they answered. If something doesn’t add up, inconsistent income, questionable dependents, expenses that seem too round, you have to dig deeper. If the answers still don’t hold together, the correct move is to decline the return.¹¹

Keep five categories of records for at least three years: your copy of Form 8867, the credit worksheets, any supporting documents the taxpayer gave you, a record of how and when you got the information, and notes on any follow-up questions.⁹

Other Federal Penalties and Circular 230

Beyond due diligence, 26 U.S.C. § 6695 imposes base penalties of $50 per return (up to $25,000 per year, indexed for inflation) for failing to sign a return you prepared, failing to include your PTIN, or failing to give the taxpayer a copy of the return.⁵

Every paid preparer also falls under Treasury Department Circular 230, which sets the ethical standards for practice before the IRS. Violations can bring censure, suspension, or disbarment from IRS practice. The IRS can also impose a monetary penalty up to the gross income you earned from the conduct at issue, and a firm can be penalized if it knew or should have known about the violation.¹²

Comply With the FTC Safeguards Rule

Tax preparation firms are classified as financial institutions under the FTC Safeguards Rule and must maintain a written information security program. It applies even to a solo preparer working from a spare bedroom.¹³ The rule requires you to:

Designate a qualified individual to oversee your security program. Solo? That’s you.
Conduct and periodically update a written risk assessment identifying threats to client information.
Encrypt client data both at rest and in transit.
Use multi-factor authentication to access client information. A password alone isn’t enough.
Dispose of client records securely no later than two years after you last used the information for that client, unless a legal or business reason requires keeping it longer.
Write an incident response plan covering what you’ll do if a breach occurs.

The FTC has brought enforcement actions against tax preparers who failed to protect client data.¹³

Consider the Annual Filing Season Program

Georgia doesn’t require continuing education for non-credentialed preparers, but the IRS runs a voluntary program worth thinking about after your first season or two. The Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) gives participants something a bare PTIN does not: limited representation rights before the IRS.¹⁴

Without the AFSP Record of Completion, a PTIN holder can prepare returns but cannot represent clients before the IRS at all, not even on a return they signed. With the AFSP credential, you can represent clients whose returns you prepared before revenue agents, customer service representatives, and the Taxpayer Advocate Service.¹⁴

The Record of Completion requires 18 hours of continuing education each year from an IRS-approved provider:¹⁵

Six hours: the Annual Federal Tax Refresher course, which ends with a knowledge-based test.
Ten hours: federal tax law topics of your choosing.
Two hours: ethics.

Attorneys, CPAs, and enrolled agents already have unlimited representation rights, so the AFSP is aimed at preparers who hold none of those credentials. If you’re building a practice in Georgia without a CPA or law license, it’s the fastest way to offer clients more than return preparation.

Carry Professional Liability Insurance

Georgia doesn’t require errors and omissions coverage, but going without it gets expensive fast once your client list grows. A missed deadline or miscalculated estimated payment can hand your client penalties and interest, and they will look to you to make it right. E&O coverage pays legal defense and any settlement or judgment when a mistake on a return you prepared causes financial harm. General business liability policies typically won’t cover professional errors, so shop for a separate policy. For a solo preparer, one avoided claim usually pays for years of premiums.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6109 – Identifying Numbers
2
Internal Revenue Service. PTIN Requirements for Tax Return Preparers
3
Internal Revenue Service. PTIN Application Checklist: What You Need to Get Started
4
IRS. Instructions for Form W-12 (Rev. 10-2025)
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6695 – Other Assessable Penalties With Respect to the Preparation of Tax Returns for Other Persons
6
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Reminds Tax Pros to Renew PTINs for the 2026 Tax Season
7
Internal Revenue Service. Become an Authorized E-File Provider
8
Department of Revenue. Tax Registration
9
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8867 (Rev. November 2025)
10
Internal Revenue Service. Consequences of Not Meeting the Due Diligence Requirements
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Internal Revenue Service. Due Diligence Requirements for Tax Preparers
12
Internal Revenue Service. Treasury Department Circular No. 230 (Rev. 6-2014)
13
Federal Trade Commission. FTC Safeguards Rule: What Your Business Needs to Know
14
Internal Revenue Service. Annual Filing Season Program
15
Internal Revenue Service. General Requirements for the Annual Filing Season Program Record of Completion