National Tax Training School–Federal Individual Income Tax Course {Schoolhouse Review Crew}

For years, no exaggeration, I’ve wanted to do taxes. I’ve looked into local tax courses but just never took the plunge. I think part of it was that I was intimidated- taxes intimidate a lot of people! The goal for taking a tax course, personally, would be to have a part-time home business, as well as to do my own taxes. About the time that the thought was in my mind again to try a tax course, National Tax Training School came up for review with the Schoolhouse Review Crew. How quickly do you reckon I filled out that form?!

National Tax Training School (NTTS) has been in the business of tax education since 1952. They specialize in offering complete accredited tax courses via distance education, especially for home study. 

NTTS offered some of the Schoolhouse Review Crew members the opportunity to review their Federal Individual Income Tax Course. The course is offered in two options*:

1. Complete Course with 4 years Post-Graduate Support –$795
2. Complete Course with 2 years Post-Graduate Support –$495

*there are payment options for each of these; check the website for current options.

We were also given access near the end of the review period to the online portion of the course but I’ve not been able to utilize it enough to include more than this mere mention of it in my review. I do intend to use it as I progress with the course.

NTTS says that those with at least two years of high school can do well in this course. It is for those who have no experience with taxes as well as a refresher course for previous or current tax preparers. The course might also be eligible for college transfer credits; check with your college of choice to find out.

What is included in the course:

• Course Text- this came to me in a large 3-inch 3-ring binder with 20 lessons and 20 envelopes to send my exams to NTTS for grading
• Self-Check Practice Problems- within each unit or lesson is a self-check practice ‘test’; these tell you where to look in the lesson(s) if you get the answer incorrect
• Exams- straight-forward format, much like the self-check practice problems but without the hints (or answers); these are sent in the pre-addressed envelopes
• Instructor Grading Service- each exam I submitted came back with ‘checks’ and x’s for correct and incorrect, respectively. I have the option to email my instructor if I have questions pertaining to the course. So far I’ve not felt the need to do so.
• Practical Case Studies- these are usually delivered after the 17th lesson but we received them within a few weeks of getting the first 20 lessons so that we could see what else was included in the course
• Guidance Service- this is available to me if I should need help with any portion of the course, at any time
• Building and Operating a Successful Tax Practice Book- also delivered after the 17th lesson, is a 285 page book to help with keeping a tax business going
• Reference Book- this is huge- literally; 850 pages. I’d equate this to the tax preparer’s bible. Also delivered after the 17th lesson.
• Graduation Certificate- I’ve yet to get this far
• Postgraduate Services- this includes up to date information about current tax laws and forms, up to 4 years, depending on the enrollment chosen

It also prepares the student to take and pass the required IRS RTRP exam.

Some details and my thoughts on this course:
Honestly, I was nervous that the language would be above me. I’ve never done taxes before and although I have worked in a tax office, if we weren’t tax preparers we were discouraged from ‘learning’ tax lingo. The introductory letter that accompanied the course did comfort me some; I felt that this was a company, a school, interested in the success of its students.

At the website it says that some students complete this course in as little as 8 weeks but I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish it in that amount of time. Fortunately, I do have a year to complete the course, with extensions available.  We’ve had the course for 6 weeks and I’ve completed 6 units. Initially, I hoped I would be able to get through 2 units a week but life has thwarted that plan.

The lessons are very straight-forward and easy enough to understand. I did feel that the inclusion of information that would be covered in depth in a later lesson, but not the lesson I was studying, to be a little distracting. Also, there were some words that I know what mean in every day life but in tax ‘lingo’ I did not and there really wasn’t a definition or explanation given. Fortunately, so far there have not been very many of those. This is an instance when I would feel the need to email my instructor.

It is really set up in a methodical way; it isn’t difficult to navigate. In each lesson, for example Assignment 7, we start with a contents page. For Assignment (or Lesson as I refer to them) 7, it goes like this:

• 701 Introduction
• 702 Cost Basis
• 703 Property Received in Exchange for Services or Other Property
• etc.

The numbers, 701, 702, etc., correspond to each subheading in the lesson, not the page numbers. The lesson itself is conversational, I would say. Here is an example from the same lesson:

701 Introduction
From your study of the previous assignment you already know that in order to compute the gain or loss on a sale or exchange of property we must know the basis, to the taxpayer, of the property that was sold or exchanged.
…
You will learn later that no depreciation deduction is allowable on personal use (nonbusiness) property.

Also throughout the reading are many, many examples of how to apply what is being learned. Here is a simple example from this lesson of the in-text examples (some are more involved):

Example (3): In 2010, Mr. Atkins paid $12,000 for an automobile which he uses entirely in his business. For 2010 and 2011 he deducted total depreciation of $5,040. The adjusted basis of the car at the end of 2011 therefore is $6,960 ($12,000 – $5,040).

At the end of the lesson there is the Self-Scoring Practice Test and it is in the following format (I’ve not included the entire question/answer):

• Question 1: The basis of property…. (True – False) 
  
• Answer 1: False. A casualty…. (701)                           ________

The Answer includes why the answer is such. It also includes where to find the answer in the lesson. The line at the end of the answer is for scoring. In each practice test there is a specified scoring system at the bottom of each page of the practice test. Once I felt confident that I scored well on my practice tests then I moved on to the real test. These are set up in just about the same format as the practice but there are no answers, nor any hints. Also at the top of the test page is a place for you to write your name and address along with your student ID so that the graded test can be mailed back to you. The ID, of course, is to credit you with the score.

When the graded test came back to me in the mail it also included a solutions sheet. That sheet had the correct answers and why, much like the practice tests. I really liked this for reassurance as well as for when I missed questions, I knew why I had erred.

I was really gung-ho when I first received this. I loved the huge binder and was starry-eyed at the ‘new’ curriculum that I’d received (many homeschoolers will understand that feeling). I completed lessons 1-3 fairly quickly but then started to ‘feel the pressure’ with getting into more complex tax matters. I decided to wait for my results before proceeding with lesson 4. The results were very encouraging and so I continued on with 4-5. Again, I started to get nervous that I’d not done as well as I’d hoped and so waited for a bit for the results from those three tests. They’ve come back encouraging as well and that is where I am right now.

Something that I’m going to point out here about the course as-is is the postage! I’ve sent off 6 exams- that’s $.45 per envelope = $2.70; figure if I had to do all 20 = a book of stamps! Okay, that really isn’t that big of a deal but since I did so many exams in a row it felt like a lot at the time. All items sent to you are postage paid. And I will again make mention of the online portion of this course: right now they have the first 10 lessons online which includes the tests. No postage! They are in the beta phase with it at the moment. I am going to be using it more as I go along. But I do like the paper portion of the course; I like to mark up my ‘book’ with notes.

I fully intend to complete this course with an A (aim high!) and also to utilize the information and support that is part of the course. I’ve already begun looking through the book Building and Operating a Successful Tax Practice ($49.95) because that is the goal for me. I don’t wish for a large tax practice but a small one that I can help our family bring in some income while doing a job that I feel I will really enjoy- and at home!

I really like this answer (emphasis mine) given in the FAQs section about if this course covers tax preparation only:

Mere mechanical knowledge of how to fill in a tax form, what figure to put on which line, will not make you a true Tax Professional. To earn the rewards and prestige tax work offers, you must know how to search for tax savings possibilities, how to make effective use of advance tax planning, and how to find tax saving elections and alternatives. You will see that the NTTS training program superbly achieves these results.

I have learned so much from the little I’ve done in this course and feel that I will be perfectly capable of doing my own taxes this coming year. Who knows, in a short time after that, I might be doing other’s taxes.

If you are considering a tax course, I would encourage you to look at NTTS. It is a solid course with the expertise and support you’ll need. If you are concerned about the cost, think of it in terms of how you will use the information you gain. If you do your own taxes as opposed to someone else doing them, you could save yourself a lot more (but you might already have an awesome tax preparer and save yourself no more). Or if you were to take this information, take the required IRS RTRP exam, you could do taxes for others and recover your costs in a short time.

I encourage you to read other Schoolhouse Review Crew members comments about this tax course. Click on the image below to find more reviews.

***Disclaimer: I received the above reviewed tax course free from National Tax Training School via the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated are my own. See Disclosure/Policies.***

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NTTS also offers Higher Course in Federal Taxes, California Tax Preparer Course, IRS RTRP CPE Courses, and CTEC CPE Course.

Contact:

Address:
National Tax Training School
67 Ramapo Valley Rd. Suite 102
PO Box 767
Mahwah, NJ 07430-0767

Website: http://www.nattax.com
http://www.nattax.com/contact.htm

Email: info@nattax.com

Telephone:
800-914-8138      
201-684-0828     
9 am - 5 pm ET Mon -Thu
9 am - 2 pm ET Fri

Fax
888-814-8140
201-684-0829