How to Become an IRS Certified Acceptance Agent (CAA)

To become an IRS Certified Acceptance Agent, you complete two required trainings, hold a valid EIN, pass an IRS tax-compliance and background check, and submit Form 13551 electronically through the IRS e-Services portal. The IRS charges no application fee. Your only out-of-pocket cost is the forensic document identification course from a third-party provider. Start to finish, a properly submitted application takes roughly two to four months.

Who Can Apply

You must be a U.S. citizen or resident and have a valid Employer Identification Number for the business you’ll operate under. You also need to be current on your own federal tax filings. The IRS runs a tax compliance check as part of the application and will reject applicants who are behind.

Every person listed on your application as a Responsible Party has to go through the process individually. A Responsible Party is anyone who owns, controls, or exercises effective control over the business and directly or indirectly manages its funds and assets. For a corporation that’s usually the principal officer; for a partnership, typically a general partner.¹ Each Responsible Party must complete both trainings, register for their own e-Services account, and sign the application.²

Attorneys, CPAs, and Enrolled Agents can submit proof of their professional credentials in lieu of certain background check steps. Everyone else goes through the standard IRS background check built into the application. Fingerprint cards are no longer required; the checks are handled electronically now.³

Complete the Two Required Trainings

Both trainings must be finished before you submit the application, and every Responsible Party has to complete both.

ITIN Acceptance Agent Training

The IRS provides this training online at no cost. It covers the Form W-7 process, documentation rules, and program requirements. As of September 2025, there is no separate training certification statement to sign. You attest to completing the training when you sign the jurat on the electronic application itself.³

Forensic Document Identification Training

This is what separates a Certified Acceptance Agent from a standard Acceptance Agent. Forensic training teaches you to identify fraudulent passports, visas, national identification cards, and the other documents you’ll examine at client appointments. The IRS does not deliver this training itself. You take it through an approved third-party provider, chosen from the list the IRS maintains on its website. The IRS reviews providers but does not formally endorse any particular one.⁴

Before paying a provider, the IRS recommends confirming that the course covers the document types required for Form W-7, includes a testing component, and that the provider will mail you an original certificate of completion. You’ll need that original certificate to upload with your application. A forensic training certificate is valid for four years, which matters at renewal time.³

Submit Form 13551 Through e-Services

With both trainings done, you file Form 13551 (Application to Participate in the IRS Acceptance Agent Program) electronically through the IRS e-Services portal. Paper is no longer accepted; the IRS will not process any portion of the application sent by mail.² Everyone identified on the application except contacts must register for their own e-Services account to access and sign it.³

The form asks for detailed personal and business information, including your EIN and the names of all Responsible Parties. After you complete it, you use the CAA Documentation Upload Tool to submit your forensic training certificates, professional credentials where they apply, and citizenship documentation.² An online tutorial inside e-Services walks through each step. Questions can go to the IRS ITIN Program Office at itinprogramoffice@irs.gov.

The move to electronic filing cut typical processing from about 120 days to roughly 60 days for properly submitted applications.² You can track status in your e-Services account. Once preliminarily approved, the status shows “Pending Agreement Signature.” You then sign the Acceptance Agent Agreement electronically, and the status changes to “Pending Agreement Approval” until the IRS issues final approval.

Approval, Rejection, and the Agreement Term

Approval brings a formal Acceptance Agent Agreement laying out the terms and conditions of your CAA status. The agreement runs through December 31 of the fourth year after your approval date. An agreement approved on March 1, 2024, for example, expires December 31, 2028.³

If the IRS rejects your application, it mails a letter explaining why. Common reasons are incomplete documentation, unresolved tax compliance issues, and training certificates that weren’t properly uploaded. Because there’s no application fee, the financial hit from a rejection is limited to the time you spent and whatever you already paid for forensic training.

What It Costs

The IRS charges nothing to apply or to keep your CAA status active. The mandatory ITIN Acceptance Agent Training is free on the IRS website. Your one required out-of-pocket expense is the forensic document training, which you buy from a third-party provider. Prices vary, so contact the providers on the IRS forensic training list for current rates.

What a CAA Actually Does

Before you invest in the process, it’s worth being clear on what the credential lets you do. A Certified Acceptance Agent is authorized by the IRS to help people who cannot get a Social Security Number but need an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, typically non-resident aliens filing a U.S. tax return, dependents or spouses of U.S. citizens, and foreign investors earning U.S.-source income. The CAA prepares the Form W-7, verifies the applicant’s identity documents in person, and submits the package to the IRS.

The difference between a CAA and a standard Acceptance Agent is document handling. A standard Acceptance Agent must send the applicant’s original documents (like a passport) to the IRS for review. A CAA verifies those documents on the spot and forwards only copies with a Form W-7-COA (Certificate of Accuracy). The client keeps their originals. That is the reason applicants seek CAAs specifically, and the reason the forensic training exists.

Staying in Good Standing

CAA status isn’t a one-time credential. The IRS monitors agents through compliance reviews, which include both physical site visits and correspondence reviews focused on the quality of your W-7 submissions and whether you’re following your agreement.²

You are required to keep records of the documentation you review for each ITIN applicant. You must also cooperate with requests from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the Government Accountability Office. Refusing to cooperate with compliance checks can lead to immediate termination from the program.²

Any change to the information on your original Form 13551, including business address, Responsible Parties, or contact information, has to be reported to the IRS within 30 days through an amended application. Amended applications can take up to 90 days to process. If your agreement is expiring in the same year, the IRS advises submitting a renewal application instead of an amendment.⁵

Renewing Your CAA Status

Your agreement does not renew automatically. You can only apply to renew during the year your agreement expires, and the IRS recommends starting at least six months before the expiration date. Renewal means filing a fresh Form 13551 electronically. Every Responsible Party has to complete the ITIN Acceptance Agent training again, and anyone whose forensic training certificate has expired needs to retake that course too.³

The IRS also expects active use of the designation. Industry guidance points to a minimum of five W-7 submissions per year to remain in good standing, though that number isn’t prominently posted on the IRS site. If you hold CAA status but rarely process ITIN applications, expect additional scrutiny at renewal.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Responsible Parties and Nominees
2
Internal Revenue Service. ITIN Acceptance Agent Program
3
Internal Revenue Service. Acceptance Agent Application Frequently Asked Questions
4
Internal Revenue Service. Forensic Training
5
Internal Revenue Service. Form 13551 – Application to Participate in the IRS Acceptance Agent Program