Testing Times

Updated on: Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The provider of market-leading test development and delivery solutions, Prometric has been awarded a five-year contract to administer the new competency examination and fingerprinting program for certain paid tax return preparers by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an agency of the US Treasury Department recently.

Under the award, the company is responsible for administering and delivering a new competency examination. Prometric also will be responsible for test development support which includes conducting job analyses using subject matter experts (SMEs) from both the IRS and preparer community to ascertain the capabilities and necessary knowledge for return preparers.

“Prometric is uniquely qualified to deliver a comprehensive solution to help the IRS achieve its objectives,” said Michael Brannick, president and chief executive officer of Prometric. “We are proud to bring our successful track record and extensive experience with government and private sector programs for the larger tax preparer community to bear on this important endeavor. We look forward to deepening our partnership with the IRS.”

The IRS will require paid federal tax return preparers to satisfy certain competency standards going forward, and preparers must pass the competency exam to officially become a registered tax return preparer later in 2011. It is estimated that approximately 500,000 candidates from around the world will be tested over the five-year period.

Testing Times

More Education news