lower cost Continuing ed for ERPA

[Loves401(k)]

What have people found besides Sungard and ASPPA conferences for CE credit?

[Madison71]

WEB CE is inexpensive if you have a chapter in your area - World Wide Employee Benefits.  They have CE monthly or semi-monthly

[Loves401(k)]

I see that WEB CE does EA.  But I don't see any ERPA.  I think that EA credits count for ERPA CE.  And that would punch my ticket. But I would like something that is a useful review.  

Do they have anything on retirement plans?

 

[RatherBeGolfing]

14 minutes ago, Loves401(k) said:

I see that WEB CE does EA.  But I don't see any ERPA.  I think that EA credits count for ERPA CE.  And that would punch my ticket. But I would like something that is a useful review.  

Do they have anything on retirement plans?

 

Enrolled Agent CE  do not necessarily count for ERPA CE.  It depends on the subject matter and focus of the CE.  

I confirmed the above with the IRS a few months ago when I researched low cost alternatives for CE.  There are a ton of low cost EA CE, whereas ERPA CE is more limited due to the limited number of practitioners.  

For example, an EA CE class or webinar focusing on federal tax law unrelated to retirement plans, would most likely not get credit if the IRS were to audit your CE.  Ethics for EAs and ERPA focuses mostly on Circular 230, so you should be safe with EA ethics as long as the topics can be applied to ERPA type situations.  If its ethics regarding how to prepare a 1040,  you should probably not rely on it for ERPA ethics CE.  

You can roll the dice on whether your CE gets audited, and you might be able to convince them to count the credits on a case by case basis, but I wouldn't risk my ERPA  since I don't know if you can get re-activated now that the program is closed.

I get all the CE I need from conferences, but I also stack up on free/cheap credits during the year so Im always well over the required minimum.

I can normally get at least 10-12 hours for free from vendors during the year.  

On my calendar for the next couple of months:

2 free ethics credits from ERISApedia

1 free credit from Voya

2 free credits from JH

2 free credits from FT Williams / Wolters Kluwer

Several of the vendor webcasts do not require that you have a business relationship with them, you just have to do some digging to find them if you don't get their partner emails.

 

[Pam Shoup]

Don't forget that the IRS does webcasts during the year that could give you ERPA credit.  They did did one last year on Circlular 230 that qualified for an ERPA ethics credit.  For ASPPA, we tried out their one day virtual conference last fall which gave us credits, without having all of the travel costs involved.  I highly recommend that conference.  Check out your local ASPPA chapter too as they have one day or part of a day conferences that are local to go to.

[Loves401(k)]

I spent a long time on the phone with Voya, JH and Transamerica, and could not find anyone that knew of anything.  Could someone provide a contact?

[RatherBeGolfing]

2 hours ago, Loves401(k) said:

I spent a long time on the phone with Voya, JH and Transamerica, and could not find anyone that new of anything.  Could someone provide a contact?

What part of the industry are you in?  TPA?  Investments? CPA?

[Loves401(k)]

TPA

[RatherBeGolfing]

Ok then it should be pretty straightforward. All the platform vendors we have clients with send us information type emails all the time. Same with our software vendors.  Every now and then, these include free webcasts that you can register for.  It might depend on who in your organization is set up as the contact with the vendor, but anyone in your org should be able to register for the webcast.

For example, Voya sends out their emails as part of their TPA support.  Their webcasts fall under "Voya Financial TPA NAtional Webinar"

JH sends theirs out through the TPA Essentials program.  

Do you get these type of emails from them?

 

[JustBrowsing]

Have you checked out NIPA conference in May?  Also offer a virtual option.  

http://www.nipa.org/?page=AnnualForumExpo

Can earn 18 ERPA credits at one conference