Individual Tax Credits (self-study)
| Provider | A major tax & accounting CPE publisher — identity withheld; public listing audited without engagement |
| Course | A 1-credit self-study course in Taxes (Program Level: Basic) · published January 2020 |
| Source examined | The publisher's own public course listing only — no account; course body not accessed |
| Date | 2026-06-13 |
| Standards yardstick | Statement on Standards for CPE Programs, August 2026 edition (AICPA / NASBA) |
| Method | Coverage lane (mechanical, offline) + concierge judgment pass |
Executive summary
From the public listing alone, the mechanical lane produced one finding; a concierge pass surfaced three observations — one the kind that matters most on a tax course. As always, 55 of 67 records are reported "not evaluable" — nothing was guessed.
Stale content on a fast-moving subject
The listing carries a publication date of January 2020, and one objective is anchored to the "2020 adoption credit." Individual tax-credit figures are inflation-adjusted and amended frequently; the Standards require frequently-changing subjects to be reviewed and revised at least annually. Audited in 2026, a 2020-vintage course almost certainly carries superseded figures — and the listing itself marks it "Currently Unavailable." (confident)
One objective not phrased as a participant outcome
Five of six objectives are correctly outcome-phrased (Explain, Identify, Describe, Recognize, Identify). One opens with "Discuss the due diligence requirements…" — an activity, not a demonstrable competence.
No assessment details or expiration policy published
Instructional method is Self-Study, which requires a ≥70% final assessment for completion — none is shown publicly. No course-expiration policy is published either (self-study access caps at one year). Both reported not-evaluable mechanically; flagged for a reviewer.
Coverage map
Mapped against all 67 requirement records of the August 2026 Standards catalog — mechanical — no LLM in any check. "Not evaluable" means the public materials gave no evidence either way; nothing was guessed. Here those rows are dominated by everything that needs the course body (credit math, review-question floor and feedback, objective↔content coverage), plus sponsor-process and retention records no course page carries.
Evaluated — satisfied
| Locator | Heading | Disposition |
|---|---|---|
| 3.01.1 | Program knowledge level | Program level stated: 'Basic' |
| 3.02.1 | Prerequisite education and experience | Prerequisites ('None') and advance preparation ('None') both stated |
| 8.01.1 | Disclose significant features in advance | All checked advance-disclosure items present on the public listing |
| 8.01.2 | Disclose advance preparation & prerequisites | Both disclosed in the descriptive materials |
Evaluated — finding
| Locator | Heading | Disposition |
|---|---|---|
| 3.01 | Learning activities based on objectives | Finding 1 of 6 objectives ("Discuss…") not outcome-phrased |
Learning objectives ↔ standard locators
All objectives answer to Standard 3.01 and, because disclosed in advance, to Standard 8.01.1. Content coverage (the keyword check against module text) is not evaluable — no course body was examined.
| # | Learning objective | Locators | Outcome-phrased? | Content coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Explain the income limits for eligibility for certain personal tax credits. | 3.01 · 8.01.1 | Yes | Not evaluable |
| 2 | Identify which personal tax credits are partially or fully refundable. | 3.01 · 8.01.1 | Yes | Not evaluable |
| 3 | Discuss the due diligence requirements for tax return preparers with respect to certain refundable tax credits. | 3.01 · 8.01.1 | No · "Discuss" | Not evaluable |
| 4 | Describe the premium tax credit. | 3.01 · 8.01.1 | Yes | Not evaluable |
| 5 | Recognize correct statements about the 2020 adoption credit. | 3.01 · 8.01.1 | Yes | see currency §1 |
| 6 | Identify which tax credit is not subject to special due diligence rules. | 3.01 · 8.01.1 | Yes | Not evaluable |
Concierge review — observations for a human reviewer
Locator-keyed observations the mechanical lane does not assert as determinations — pointers for a reviewer, labeled by confidence.
| # | Locator(s) | Observation | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | 4.01 | Stale content: published January 2020; an objective references the "2020 adoption credit"; audited 2026. Tax-credit figures change at least annually; listing marks the course "Currently Unavailable." | confident |
| C2 | 6.01.2 | Self-Study profile but no qualified-assessment details published (≥70% final assessment expected). | needs-human-review |
| C3 | 9.02.2 | No course-expiration policy published; self-study access caps at one year. | needs-human-review |
Why most of this is "not evaluable"
This sample was run on the public page only, by design. The engine reports what it cannot see as not evaluable rather than guess — hence 55 records at that status. The body-dependent lanes are dark here:
Credit recomputation (7.02.5 / 7.02.6) — the claimed 1 credit can't be checked without the required-reading text. (Even when run, the word-count formula validates the time a credit represents — it cannot detect stale content, which is the currency point above.) Review-question floor and feedback (5.01.2.1 / 5.01.2.2) — no body, no questions to count. Objective↔content coverage — the six objectives can't be mapped to delivered content. Currency, mechanical (4.01) — the year-signal check needs body text; the currency concern is raised instead from the published publication date.
Provenance log
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Course examined | A 1-credit self-study Taxes course, published January 2020 (provider identity withheld) |
| Source | The publisher's own public course listing — retrieved 2026-06-13, no account |
| Compliance checks | Deterministic and mechanical — no generative model in any finding; reproducible from the source and the stated Standards edition |
| Yardstick | Statement on Standards for CPE Programs, August 2026 edition (AICPA / NASBA) |
| Catalog class | Point-and-cite record — numbers, headings, our paraphrases only; no Standards body text stored |
| Result | 1 finding · 4 satisfied · 55 not evaluable · 7 declared · 3 concierge observations |