Basic income tax preparation
Get in touch
- Reba Stephney, Program Coordinator
- phone 971-722-5317
- envelope Email
This course covers elements of basic tax preparation and meets the statutory educational requirements for those wishing to be licensed income tax preparers in Oregon. You will also be introduced to options for VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) certification and training/volunteer opportunities through CASH (Creating Assets, Savings and Hope) Oregon.
Upon successful completion, students will be able to:
- Use knowledge of the I.R.S. tax code to prepare individual federal tax returns
- Identify and apply appropriate exclusions on an individual tax return
- Identify and apply savings determined by legitimate tax deductions, credits, and depreciation
- Understand and apply knowledge to calculate tax owed on individual returns
- Follow the tenets of Oregon’s tax law to prepare Oregon state tax return
Course planning guide
This course is held in Fall term only.
Fall 2025
- Dates: September 22 – December 14
- Instructor: Killingsworth
- Location: Remote via D2L. Asynchronous.
- Tuition: $1125
- CEUs: 8.0
Current term schedule
Meet the instructor
Cynthia Killingsworth, CPA, MBA
I fell in love with accounting from the first week of my principles of accounting course many years ago. I majored in accounting and after graduation from the University of Puget Sound took a position as a revenue agent with the Internal Revenue Service in Southern California. I appreciated the experience of learning about so many different kinds of businesses as I audited their tax returns, visited their operations, and met their owners.
After working on several tax evasion cases I took a position as a special agent with the IRS. I completed law enforcement training for this position that included firearms, searches, surveillance, arrests, and forensic auditing techniques. And you thought accounting was just sitting behind a desk…
In 1996 I joined my husband in the Pacific Northwest and started working as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). As a CPA in public accounting, I worked as an advisor to small businesses, local government entities, and nonprofits and assisted them with their accounting, taxes, and business planning.
I went back to school and obtained a master’s degree from the University of Maryland. This allowed me to start teaching accounting and income tax as an adjunct instructor at several local colleges including Clatsop and Chemeketa Community Colleges, Linfield College, and Western Oregon University. Finally, in 2005 I took a full-time position with Portland Community College.
Without a doubt, teaching has been my favorite career experience and the students at Portland Community College never cease to impress me (and keep me on my toes) with their engagement and variety of experiences and backgrounds. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and welcome to this course!
In my free time, I’m an obsessive knitter and love to hike and travel with our old camper van with my husband.
Next steps
Customized training
Our responsive team employs a collaborative approach to develop training to meet your organization’s goals and respects its unique culture. Learn about our customized training solutions.