Surgent's Preparing Individual Tax Returns for New Staff and Paraprofessionals
Overview
The objective of this course is to train new staff accountants, data processing employees, paraprofessionals, and bookkeepers to prepare a moderately complex federal individual income tax return (Form 1040). Over the years, thousands of new staff have received practical, hands-on experience to become familiar with tax forms. This course covers the latest tax law changes, making it essential for your new staff.
Highlights
- New and expanded energy credits under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)
- Preparation of various Form 1040 individual tax returns and schedules; provided answers include “filled-in” forms
- Coverage of Form 7203
- Coverage of §199A qualified business income, its calculation, limitations, and examples
- Dividends and interest – Ordinary, return of capital, and capital gain distribution dividends; tax-exempt interest, original issue discount, etc.
- Security transactions – From Form 1099-B to Form 8949 to Schedule D, plus mutual fund sales and related basis issues
- Self-employed person issues
- Schedule C deductions including depreciation
- Sale and exchange of property – Understanding Form 4797 and depreciation recapture; capital gains
- A working understanding of passive losses – How to handle rental property and how the passive loss rules flow to the tax forms
- Itemized deductions – A thorough understanding of what’s deductible and what’s not
- Interest deductions – Limitations and timing problems
- Charitable contributions substituting for taxes, IRS says – No!
- Retirement contributions and education credits and deductions
- Tax computations – The Kiddie Tax, AMT, regular tax, tax credits
- Individual problems illustrated by form preparation for various items, with numerous “practice tips”
- Impact of recent legislation and forms changes on the 1040
Prerequisites
None
Designed For
New staff and paraprofessionals who prepare individual returns
Objectives
- Learn complicated issues of filing status and dependency exemptions
- Learn about Schedules A, B, C, D, E, and SE; Forms 8867, 4797, and 4562; passive rules and more
- Complete comprehensive problems related to Schedules A, C, and D; QBI, 4797, 6251, and more, all with “filled-in” forms
- Learn about IRA contributions, self-employed retirement plans, child-care credits, and the adoption tax credit
Preparation
None
Notice
This course is offered by a 3rd party vendor and will not be accessible in the My CPE Tracker section of the ISCPA website. Course access information will be emailed directly to you by Surgent Professional Education.
Leader(s):
Leader Bios

David Peters, Peters Professional Education LLC
DAVID R. PETERS, CPA, CFP, MST, CPCU, CLU
David Peters is the Founder and Owner of Peters Professional Education and Peters Tax Preparation & Consulting, PC. He is also a financial advisor for Peters Financial, LLC. David has over twenty years of experience in financial services, including 3 years in the hedge fund industry and 14 years in the insurance industry. David was the first-ever Chief Financial Officer at Compare.com - a position he held for more than three years.
In addition to running his own professional education website, David is a National Instructor for the AICPA, Surgent, Kaplan, and Don Farmer Tax Seminars. He was a recipient of Surgent's Outstanding Discussion Leader award in 2019 and 2022, as well as the AICPA's Outstanding Facilitator Award in 2021 and 2023. He regularly teaches courses in accounting, finance, insurance, financial planning, and ethics throughout the United States. David holds four masters degrees, and is currently pursuing his PhD in Financial Planning. He contributes regularly to various CPA publications, including NCACPA's Interim Report, SCACPA's CPA Report, and VSCPA's Disclosures. David was also a co-author of the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Virginia CPA Ethics courses - a required course for all CPA's licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
- Website: www.petersprofessionaleducation.com
- YouTube: www.youtube.com/@DavidPetersFinancial
- LinkedIn Company: https://www.linkedin.com/company/95657499/admin/analytics/updates/
- LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-peters-financial/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidpetersfinancial
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/DavidPFinancial
Non-Member Price $329.00
Member Price $279.00