Illinois CPA License Renewal: CPE Hours, Deadlines, Penalties

An Illinois CPA license renewal is due by September 30 of your renewal year on a three-year cycle, and it requires 120 hours of continuing professional education, a $120 fee, and an application filed through the IDFPR’s online CORE portal during the two-month window that opens August 1. Miss it and your license lapses; practicing on a lapsed license is treated as unlicensed activity and can draw fines of up to $10,000 per violation.

When To Renew and How To File

Individual CPA licenses expire September 30 of the renewal year, every three years.¹ The renewal window opens two months before that date, so you can submit as early as August 1. CPA firm licenses run on a separate schedule and expire November 30 every three years.

Filing goes through the IDFPR’s CORE system, the online portal the agency launched in late 2024 for licensing transactions.² With the application you pay the $120 renewal fee for a licensed CPA³ and certify that you completed the required continuing professional education for the cycle.

Keep your address and email current with the IDFPR. Renewal reminders typically go out a few months before expiration, but the administrative code is blunt: not receiving a renewal form is not an excuse for failing to renew.¹ Tracking your own expiration date is on you.

The 120-Hour CPE Requirement

Licensed CPAs must complete 120 hours of CPE during each three-year cycle. At least four of those hours must cover professional ethics, and at least one must be sexual harassment prevention training from an IDFPR-approved provider.⁴⁵ The sexual harassment hour can come from an employer’s training program if it complies with the Illinois Human Rights Act, or from any approved CPE provider offering a compliant course.

If this is your first renewal after being originally licensed, you are exempt from CPE for that first cycle.⁴

What Counts and How Hours Are Measured

Recognized sponsors include the AICPA, the Illinois CPA Society, NASBA, members of NASBA’s National Registry of CPE Sponsors, accredited universities, and licensed CPE sponsors.⁵ Subject matter can range across taxation, auditing, technology, management, and specialized industry topics.

Credit is measured by program length. One 50-minute period equals one credit hour, and half-credits of 25 minutes are allowed after the first full credit in a given activity. University coursework converts at 15 credit hours per semester hour or 10 per quarter hour.⁴

Limits That Catch People Out

No more than 24 hours of personal development CPE count in any renewal period.⁴ And extra hours beyond 120 do not roll over. Earn 140 in one cycle and the surplus 20 are gone. Pace yourself across the three years rather than banking early and scrambling later.

Record-Keeping and Audits

Keep records of all CPE activities for at least six years.⁴ Documentation should cover course content, duration, and provider information, and you have to produce it when renewing or restoring a license from inactive or expired status.⁵

The IDFPR can audit at any time. Missing or disorganized records can carry the same disciplinary weight as not completing the hours. A folder organized by renewal cycle, digital or physical, is enough to make an audit painless.

Registered CPAs Are the Exception

Illinois has two credential categories and only one carries a CPE requirement. Licensed CPAs hold the full credential, can perform attestation work such as audits and reviews, and owe the full 120 hours every three years. Registered CPAs can use the CPA designation and perform most accounting activities, cannot provide attestation services, and are exempt from CPE entirely.⁴

The registered category has been closed to new applicants since June 30, 2012. Anyone who held an active registration on that date can keep renewing indefinitely, but no new registrations are accepted. If your credential is newer than that, you hold a full license and the CPE rules apply to you.

If Your License Has Already Lapsed

The route back depends on how long the license has been expired.

Less than five years: restore by paying the required fee. Licensed CPAs must also submit proof of completing 120 hours of CPE within the three years immediately before the restoration application.⁶
Five years or more: on top of the fee and CPE proof, provide evidence of continued fitness to practice. That can be verification of employment from an employer, coworker, or client; certification from another state’s licensing authority; or proof of accounting work in a jurisdiction where licensure is not required.⁶
Military service: if the license lapsed while you were on active duty, you can restore it within two years of honorable discharge by paying only the current renewal fee, with no CPE requirement.⁶

You cannot practice while the license is expired. Performing accounting services on a lapsed license is treated as unlicensed activity and is itself grounds for discipline.¹

Penalties for Missing the Deadline

The Illinois Public Accounting Act lets the IDFPR revoke or suspend a license, order probation, reprimand a CPA, restrict scope of practice, require a peer review, or impose fines of up to $10,000 per violation. Failing to meet renewal or CPE requirements falls under the Act’s general prohibition on violating its rules, and practicing on a revoked, suspended, or inactive license is a separate, specific ground for discipline.⁷

Civil exposure is the other cost. Clients who received services from an unlicensed CPA may have grounds for legal action, and a public disciplinary order tends to outlast the fine.

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Section 1420.80 – Renewals
2
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Public Accounting
3
Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code tit 68 1420.40 – Fees
4
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Part 1420 – Illinois Public Accounting Act
5
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. CPA Continuing Professional Education Frequently Asked Questions
6
Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code tit 68 1420.60 – Restoration
7
Illinois General Assembly. 225 ILCS 450/20.01