Accredited Tax Advisor (ATA)



For practitioners who handle sophisticated tax planning issues, including ownership of closely held businesses, qualified retirement plans and complex estates.

ATA Accreditation

The ATA is a premier national tax credential for practitioners who handle sophisticated tax planning issues, including planning for owners of closely held businesses, planning for the highly compensated, choosing qualified retirement plans and performing estate tax planning. Their expertise covers tax returns for individuals, business entities, fiduciaries, trusts and estates, as well as tax planning, tax consulting and ethics.

How do I become ATA accredited & what are the requirements?

To become an Accredited Tax Advisor®, you must pass ATA examination. In addition, you must have five years of experience in tax preparation, compliance, tax plan­ning and consulting, of which 40% must be in tax planning and consulting.   A tax-season (January through April) is considered one year.





 


About the ATA Exam


The ATA examination is a three and a half hour, 100 multiple-choice question exam. Questions on the ATA exam follow a Job Practice Analysis that studies what tax preparers do, how often they perform each task and how important they perceive the task to be. 

Additional information: 
ATA Exam Study Materials: ATA Prep Course
For a list of specific sub categories, review the ATA exam blueprint
For more information on the ABA credential, review the ACAT Candidate Handbook