Why Social Work Continuing Education

If you just started a job in the field of social work, continuing education might be the furthest consideration from your mind. Perhaps you do not even know why it is necessary for you to take the yearly courses that may be required by your job in order to keep your certification. Many people may not completely understand this field. To some individuals, the people in this field are the bad guys in a manner of speaking. It is true that they often have to carry out difficult tasks that others do not like.

If you are in this field and have not been in it for long, perhaps you are just getting to the point where you see the broad spectrum of knowledge that you are going to need to handle the cases you run into. At a nursing home, there might be questions of power of attorney with children and their parents. At hospitals there may be questions of the mental state of a patient and whether they should go home to their children. At schools, there may be a student who needs emotional counseling. There are so many scenarios that could possibly come up. You will not likely run into all of these unless you travel to various places for your job, but they are all options for areas where you can increase your knowledge for social work continuing education.

As the time draws near for you to look into getting in those required hours of social work continuing education for your job, you will want to consider a few things as you look at various institutions. Time will of course be a factor if you work a full-time job. Learning style is another consideration, and you will also want to consider the course topics available at the various locations.

You may not have time to attend courses at the actual college. It may be out of your comfort zone not to have a teacher right in front of you, but with new technology today it can be almost like they are. You can choose from webinars and online courses that will help you to have more flexibility in your schedule. You may even be able to take reading courses.

Your learning style should also be something that you take into consideration when pursuing social work continuing education. If you are not an auditory learner then you will definitely want to have a course where you can at least see the teacher on your computer as they teach. If you do well with just listening then you might do fine with some type of mp3 course.

Choosing the courses that you want to take might be difficult. If you are just doing your courses to get them out of the way then perhaps it will not seem a difficult choice, but you really should take the opportunity for expanded learning seriously. Look for an institution that offers courses in areas that you believe you need the expanded knowledge.

EA Continuing Education Overview for 2011 Rules on Gift Tax

Starting in 2011, enrolled agents must be aware of the new gift tax rules – until they are replaced with newer rules, as always seems to happen every few years.  The first change is that lifetime gifts of up to ,000,000 are permitted before gift tax is required.

As all enrolled agents know from their EA continuing education, gift tax is always paid by the donors – not the gift recipients. Gift tax returns are often required even when no tax is owed. Keeping the public informed about this is an important social contribution for enrolled agents.

It is also an optimal way for an EA tax practitioner to attract clients.

The only way to avoid reporting a gift is when it is less than the annual exclusion. This threshold is indexed to the cost-of-living. However, it remains at ,000 for 2011 – the same as 2010. This allows anyone to give to another person up to ,000 during a calendar year without having to count it against the ,000,000 lifetime exemption.

Study for the enrolled agent examination covers the technique known as gift splitting.

This permits a married couple to give a gift of twice the annual exclusion without incurring gift tax. The couple agrees to split the gift when filing their separate gift tax returns.

However, if one person gives more than the annual exclusion, the excess is reported on that individual's gift tax return. It may be counted against the lifetime exemption of ,000,000. But another important point covered in enrolled agent CPE is that the gift tax and estate tax are connected. Any part of the lifetime exemption that is used for gifts is no longer available for estate tax exemption.

Unfortunately, the ,000,000 limit applied to the lifetime exemption is set to expire after 2012. This means that entirely new legislation is expected that will become part of futureenrolled agent continuing education.

A summary of the general gift tax situation for 2011 is that annual total gifts to one person of up to ,000 do not have a tax impact. Any excess requires filing of a gift tax return – although gift splitting and the lifetime exemption may eliminate any tax assessment.

A special rule applies for contributions to a 529 college savings plan. A lump sum gift to the 529 of a future student is non-taxable up to ,000 when spread over five years. No other gifts to the same recipient may occur over those five years without imposition of gift tax. The ,000 threshold is also indexed to the cost-of-living.

Other types of gifts that an enrolled agent knows are exempt from tax are gifts to charities or spouses as well as amounts paid for someone's benefit directly to an educational institution for tuition or to a provider of medical services.

IRS Circular 230 Disclosure

Pursuant to the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service Circular 230, we inform you that, to the extent any advice relating to a Federal tax issue is contained in this communication, including in any attachments, it was not written or intended to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (a) avoiding any tax related penalties that may be imposed on you or any other person under the Internal Revenue Code, or (b) promoting, marketing or recommending to another person any transaction or matter addressed in this communication.