National Tax Training School

Now I know this doesn't *seem* to fit the theme of our blog..but before you say "whatever" and move one, please take a few minutes to read this review, it really does fit. It could be just the answer you or a friend has been praying for!

Why, when so many people are distrustful/ aggrivated/ afraid of tax returns would you want to put yourself into the thick of things? Maybe it's your calling, maybe you love figuring out a puzzle, maybe you've always liked numbers...OR... maybe you're looking for a solid, steady income. Whatever the reason you might be looking, I want you to know that I've been quite impressed with National Tax Training School (NTTS), based in NJ.

For this review, I was enrolled in their Federal Income Tax Course. It has 20 lessons, and covers everything you might need to know for filing a Federal tax return for individuals, families, and small business owners. This is no light course work, but a true in-depth study about tax laws & tax preparation. It is designed to either 1. help you get prepared to take the IRS RTRP (Registered Tax Return Preparer's) test, OR 2. give you 15 hrs of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits if you need them (i.e., you're already a CPA.)

So, if you or someone you know might be interested, please read on!

Before I get too in-depth on NTTS, let me tell you a little more about why the course appealed to me. I've been doing our tax returns, with the help of tax software, for a few years. Before that we used an accountant. I think I've been doing a decent job, but there is always this part of my brain that wonders, "are there any more deductions we could be taking?" and "just because we didn't get audited, did I really understand what I was doing?"

The course is answering both of those. It's helping me understand what the lines on the 1040 mean, not just which number to put there, and as soon as I get to lessons 9 & 10, I'll be scouring the manual for additional deductions I might have been missing.

Ok, so you're thinking, "Why aren't you on lesson 9 yet Carol?" Simply put, there is a lot in each lesson. Once you're read & studied the material, there is a self-assessment to take. Once you're satisfied you understand it, then you take the lesson examination. There are options to do this either on paper, which you mail in and your instructor grades, or you can take it online. I really appreciate having the same instructor for all 20 lessons. I like doing the assessment online, but I think I'll continue to do the exams on paper. (I might have just a little test anxiety with online things-LOL!) Lesson 4 was stretching for me. It covers Gross Income Exclusions & Inclusions. I knew nothing about annuities, except that some older people have them, so I had to go through that one 3 times before I felt like I really understood. That took me about 6 hours total. How much time you will spend depends on your past knowledge and reading/ comprehension skills.

NTTS recommends you plan 8 hrs of study time per lesson, so feasably, you could finish it in 8 weeks. If you're working at it full time and don't have any life emergencies! The nice thing is that they know a lot of us don't have that much time. Maybe you're working on this only on the weekends, or your day off from your other job, so NTSS gives you one year to complete the course without having to pay extra. They also realize we're not all made of money, so they offer different options on payment. You receive a minimum of two-years of post-graduate services (meaning they send you the updates just before the next tax season begins), but you can opt to pay more and get more. You can opt to receive 4 years of updates, and up to 4 years' worth of consultation/ asking for advice/ clarification help. The basic plan, with one year of updates, paid in full in $495 (installments are also available for a slight increase in fee.) You can choose the 3 year of full support option, starting at $795, or with payments, it can cost up to $840.

Truly, $495 is not that much for this kind of training. I know, it's not a quick choice to make, but this is not just a test-prep course, this is real knowledge & understanding. Compare it like this, an inexpensive test-prep course would be the dictionary, this is a full language course, with an instructor/tutor. Have you looked at the cost of college courses recently? Compare this to that. In fact, the NTSS course is transferrable for credits at 1500 colleges and universities. This is some serious stuff!

After you complete lesson 17, you receive another big box full of knowledge from NTSS. Besides lessons 18-20, it includes your Final Exam, a guide to state taxes, a bulletin to help you schedule/ prepare for your RTRP test (where the IRS charges you $116 for the privledge of doing taxes), a package to help you understand more about professional tax preparer's software, the Federal Tax Handbook (2012 ed-800+pgs), and a book about building your own tax practice (285 pgs.)

So, who do you know that might want to change careers, earn some serious side money, work from home, and/ or work for about 4-5 months a year & have the rest of the year to spend with their family??? You should send them to NTSS's website, or at least have them read this review!

NTSS has a comprehensive website. They are exceptional at what they do, probably because they've been doing this since 1952! They do offer another course for after this one if you're interested in learning how to do more advanced taxes. I think this will be plenty for me. The higher course cover the entire Federal Tax Structure. You can learn more about that here.

I've learned a lot already. I explained to my friend about over $14,000 worth of exemptions that she and her husband were not sure about. That was satisfying, helping someone. NTSS says my goal is to help my clients learn how to legally reduce their tax burden. I am becoming empowered to help even more people do that. If you're interested, please get more information, pray, and ask God what He wants you to do, or who He wants you to tell about NTSS.

Be Blessed!
Carol

As a member of the Crew, I received the basic Federal Income Tax Course free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opnions are mine.

You can read what the other Crew members thought about the course by clicking the link below: