IRS VITA/TCE volunteer certification (Link & Learn Taxes) Free
COST: Free to volunteers (no fee published; the cost is a volunteer service commitment). Self-paced IRS e-learning with certification tests at Basic, Advanced, Puerto Rico, Foreign Student and Scholar, Military and International levels (the last two require Advanced first); Circular 230 professionals may instead take the Federal Tax Law Update Test. You certify in order to prepare returns free of charge for low-to-moderate-income and elderly taxpayers at a community site. The common misunderstanding: this is a VOLUNTEER certification with a real service commitment attached — you cannot take it, skip the volunteering, and call yourself an IRS-certified preparer. What it genuinely buys you is documented, supervised return-preparation experience that paid roles ask for.
✓ IRS-issued volunteer certification; the standard credible entry point for hands-on tax-return experience, and Circular 230 professionals can earn CE through the programme