SEE Part 3: Representation, Practices & Procedures (600 Q)
600 questions on practice before the IRS, representation, collection, appeals and the filing process, fully explained
You have read Circular 230 and worked through the collection chapters, and the question that remains is the only one that matters: are you ready to sit Part 3?
This practice set answers it with 600 questions across six full-length practice exams, each built to the real format of SEE Part 3 – 100 multiple-choice questions, four options, 3.5 hours, no multi-select anywhere, because the real exam has none. Every question is written to the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, forms and publications as amended through 31 December 2025, which is the body of law the testing window running from 1 July 2026 to 28 February 2027 actually tests. The domain split in every test mirrors the official specification: Practices and Procedures, Representation before the IRS, Specific Areas of Representation and the Filing Process, in the same proportions the exam uses.
Two things changed recently that make older practice material a poor guide. The examination moved from Prometric to PSI effective 1 March 2026, and the delayed window now runs from July rather than May. More importantly, every window moves its law cutoff forward a year. A question bank last updated for the 2024-25 or 2025-26 window is rehearsing you on an earlier body of law, and on procedures the IRS has since restated.
The six tests climb. Test 1 is groundwork: direct questions, one concept each, taken cold as a diagnostic. Test 2 puts you in short practice scenarios where the work is telling neighbouring instruments apart. Test 3 is trade-offs, where two answers are defensible and a single constraint in the stem decides. Test 4 goes under the hood into deadlines, forms, thresholds and the order of steps. Tests 5 and 6 are two full simulations at exam weight, exam pace and exam length, with the domains mixed, so you can measure your readiness twice, on questions you have not seen either time.
Every answer option has its own explanation, not just the right one. When you pick the defensible but wrong answer, you are told what that option is actually for, which is how the distinction sticks. Each question also carries an overall explanation ending in a link to the governing provision on irs.gov, the eCFR or Cornell's Legal Information Institute, so you can read the source rather than take our word for it. After each attempt, PrepKiwi reports your score by domain, so you know whether to spend your remaining time on Circular 230 or on the collection process.
Tests 1 to 4 are set at 80% to pass and both simulations at 85%, all above the real bar, on purpose.
One honest word about what this is. It is a question bank with explanations, built to test and explain. It is not a tax practice course, it does not replace Circular 230, Publication 947, Publication 5 or the official IRS material, and nobody can promise you a pass. What it can do is find the gaps while there is still time to close them.
Groundwork: Core Rules of Practice
100 questions · 230 minutes · pass mark 80%
Start here, cold, before you study. This first test covers the rules you will use in every other question in the series: who may practice before the IRS and how far their authority reaches, the Circular 230 duties an enrolled agent owes a client, the difference between a power of attorney and a tax information authorization, how the collection process opens and closes, and what an Authorized IRS e-file Provider signs up to. Questions are direct and one concept wide, so a wrong answer points at a gap rather than at a reading error. Every answer option carries its own explanation and every question links to the governing statute, regulation or IRS page. You get 230 minutes and need 80% to pass. That bar is deliberately higher than the real exam's, because a practice test you scrape through teaches you nothing about exam day. Treat the first score as a diagnostic, work the domain breakdown PrepKiwi gives you, and come back to it once you have been through the other four.
In Practice: Authorizations and Procedure
100 questions · 225 minutes · pass mark 80%
Short scenarios now, and the work is telling neighbouring things apart. Form 2848 or Form 8821. Collection Due Process or the Collection Appeals Program. Lien withdrawal, release, discharge or subordination. Form 8944 or Form 8948. A criminal penalty under IRC 7216 or a civil one under IRC 6713. Twenty-four hours, ten days or five days after an e-file rejection. These are the pairs the Special Enrollment Examination leans on, because a candidate who has only read a summary can name both items but cannot say which one the facts call for. Each question gives you one or two sentences of practice context and asks you to pick the instrument, the form or the deadline that actually fits. Where two answers sound alike, the explanation on the wrong one tells you what that option is for instead, so the distinction stays learned. You get 225 minutes and need 80% to pass.
Trade-offs: The Constraint That Decides
100 questions · 220 minutes · pass mark 80%
Two of the four options are defensible, and one sentence in the stem decides between them. Whether the taxpayer already had an opportunity to dispute the liability. Whether the practitioner personally participated in the matter while at the IRS. Whether the position was disclosed. Whether the tax has been paid. Whether the delay was the Service's fault or the taxpayer's. This is the band where most candidates lose marks on the real exam, because the answer is not the rule you remember but the rule the facts select. Expect to weigh a Collection Due Process hearing against the Collection Appeals Program, an offer in compromise against Currently Not Collectible, audit reconsideration against a refund claim, and Form 870 against holding out for the notice of deficiency. Read every scenario twice before you answer. You get 220 minutes and need 80% to pass.
Under the Hood: Deadlines, Forms and Thresholds
100 questions · 215 minutes · pass mark 80%
Procedural detail, which is what separates a candidate who has read about representation from one who has done it. Which line of Form 2848 authorizes which act. How long conflict of interest consents are kept and how soon an oral consent must be confirmed in writing. How the disciplinary process runs from complaint to answer to appeal to reinstatement. What suspends the collection statute and for how long. What the offer in compromise forms ask for and how reasonable collection potential is built. What the e-file application, the suitability check and the sanction levels involve. Questions here often combine two or three requirements and ask for the correct order of steps rather than a single fact. Inflation-adjusted penalty figures are deliberately not tested; what is tested is the structure of each penalty and which year's amount applies. You get 215 minutes and need 80% to pass.
Exam Day I: Full-Length Simulation
100 questions · 210 minutes · pass mark 85%
A full rehearsal at exam weight and exam pace, and the first of two. One hundred questions in 210 minutes, which is the real 3.5-hour SEE part, with the four domains mixed rather than grouped, the longest scenarios in the series, and two or three constraints working against each other in a single question. Nothing is signposted and nothing is held back. The pass mark is 85%, higher than the first four tests and well above what the real exam asks, and that is the point: this is a readiness gate, not a participation prize. Clear 85 of 100 inside the time, in one uninterrupted sitting, and you have real margin for the test center. Whatever the score, the per-option feedback and the linked statutes, regulations and IRS pages tell you which domain to spend your last hours on. Save this one until you have worked through tests 1 to 4, then leave a few days before test 6.
Exam Day II: Second Full-Length Simulation
100 questions · 210 minutes · pass mark 85%
A second full rehearsal, at the same weight and the same pace as the one before it, on a hundred questions you have not seen. Same format, same domain mix, same 210 minutes. The reason for a second simulation is that the first one teaches you as much about your nerves and your clock as about the law, and one score is a thin basis for booking a test center appointment. Take this one cold, several days after test 5, once you have worked the domains where the first simulation found gaps. The pass mark is again 85%. Clear 85 of 100 twice, in two separate uninterrupted sittings, and the margin is real rather than a good day. Every answer option still carries its own explanation, and every question still links to the statute, regulation or IRS page behind it.
What you will practice
- Sit six full-length, timed SEE Part 3 practice exams that match the real 100-question, 3.5-hour format.
- Tell apart the instruments candidates confuse: Form 2848 and 8821, CDP and CAP, lien withdrawal and discharge.
- Apply Circular 230 to real engagement decisions on conflicts, fees, client records and written advice.
- Work the collection process end to end: liens, levies, installment agreements, offers and the collection statute.
- Read every answer option's explanation, with a link to the statute, regulation or IRS page behind it.
- Use the per-domain score breakdown after each attempt to aim your remaining study at the weakest area.
Exam domains covered
Who is this for
Candidates preparing for Part 3 of the IRS Special Enrollment Examination, the enrolled agent exam. That includes tax preparers who already hold a PTIN and want the unlimited representation rights an enrolled agent has, Annual Filing Season Program participants who have run into the limits of what they may do before revenue officers and Appeals, bookkeepers and accounting staff moving into representation work, and former IRS employees pursuing enrollment. It also suits candidates who passed Parts 1 and 2 some time ago and need to clear Part 3 inside the three-year carryover window, and anyone retaking a part after a disappointing score who wants question-level feedback rather than another textbook.
It is written for the current testing window, which runs from 1 July 2026 to 28 February 2027 and covers the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, forms and publications as amended through 31 December 2025. If you bought practice material earlier, note that the exam moved to a new administrator, PSI, effective 1 March 2026, and that every window rolls its law cutoff forward a year; material written for the 2024-25 or 2025-26 windows is testing an older body of law.
This is a question bank with explanations. It will show you what you do not yet know and why, and it will teach you to read a scenario the way the exam writes one. It is not a course in tax practice, it does not replace the official study material, and no question bank can promise a pass.
Requirements
- No prior experience is required to start test 1, though some exposure to US federal tax practice will make the scenarios easier to read.
- These are practice exams with explanations, not a course. They work alongside the free official material - Circular 230, Publication 947, Publication 5 and the IRS enrolled agent pages - not instead of it.
- Bring a way to track your score by domain; the value of the series is in what you do between attempts.
Free exam guide
Not sure what to expect? Read how the exam is built, what it covers and how to prepare.