Renewing & CPE cycle

[Rai401k]

1. Does anyone know if the renewal process for ERPAs with a social ending in 4,5 or 6 is still delayed? Is the 8554-EP form still not available?

2. This may be a stupid question but what is the CPE cycle ---is it from your designation date to your anniversary or is based on calendar year?

For example if you became an ERPA in June of 2010 are you required to get 16 credits from 6/10-6/11 or is the credits based on calendar year 16 credits in 2010, 16 in 2011 etc? I'm guessing the 72 credits must be completed from 6/2010-6/2013?

[QNPG]

1. Does anyone know if the renewal process for ERPAs with a social ending in 4,5 or 6 is still delayed? Is the 8554-EP form still not available?

2. This may be a stupid question but what is the CPE cycle ---is it from your designation date to your anniversary or is based on calendar year?

For example if you became an ERPA in June of 2010 are you required to get 16 credits from 6/10-6/11 or is the credits based on calendar year 16 credits in 2010, 16 in 2011 etc? I'm guessing the 72 credits must be completed from 6/2010-6/2013?

As of one week ago when I called to check on this, it was still delayed.

[doombuggy]

Two of the ERPAs in our office went to the conference earlier this month, and in the session handouts, there was a revised list. I pass the 2nd exam in Feb last year and earned my designation in May. 8x2=16, so I needed 16 credits for 2010. Since my cycle is 3 years, the list now seems to tell me that I need 64 credits, not 72 (total). So I am doing well, since I went to Sungard's orlando conference in February, earning 19 credits. I am not sure if this list is posted somewhere on line....

[John Feldt ERPA CPC QPA]

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8554ep.pdf

If you go to www.pay.gov, you can register, fill out the form online and pay the $30 online to renew. The online form and online payment was the part that was delayed (I think). The manual form (at the link above) looks like it has been available since March.

If you look at how the credits are pro-rated for your first year when you get your ERPA designation, it looks to me that the cycles are calendar years. For EINs ending in 4, 5, or 6, you have until June 30, 2011 to fill out and submit the 8554-EP for the calendar years 2010 and 2009.

For the Form 8554-EP, I could not tell which year is considered year 1, year 2, or year 3 from the form or its instructions. If you have an opinion on that, let me know. Since I became an ERPA in 2009, an my 3-year cycle requires a filing now by this June 30, I assumed 2009 was year 2 and 2010 was year 3, but that's just a guess.