EA Course Style Guide

Publication rule

No question, flashcard, exam set, or lesson should be treated as official course content until it has source notes, answer explanations, review metadata, and an approved review status.

Last reviewed: May 30, 2026. Tax year covered: Current IRS SEE cycle; students must verify current-year limits before testing.

Teaching voice

Course writing must sound like a careful U.S. tax instructor explaining the rule to a serious beginner. The tone should be direct, calm, precise, and exam-focused.

• Use plain U.S. English and define technical tax terms before relying on them.
• Teach the rule, then show how the rule appears in a fact pattern.
• Avoid hype, guarantees, vague motivation, and generic learning-platform language.
• Do not say or imply that the site is IRS-approved, PSI-approved, or guaranteed to produce a passing score.

Lesson structure

Every module must follow a consistent structure so students know how to study and reviewers know what to check.

• Learning objectives
• Plain-English rule explanation
• IRS terminology
• IRS form and publication references
• Worked examples and calculation walkthroughs where relevant
• EA Exam Alert, Common IRS Trap, and Exam Tip callouts
• Common mistakes
• Review summary
• Last reviewed date, tax year covered, and review status

Accuracy rules

Tax accuracy controls all content decisions. If a rule depends on a year-specific amount, threshold, phaseout, deadline, or form instruction, the course must either cite the current source or warn students to verify the current-year amount.

• Use IRS publications, forms, form instructions, Circular 230, Treasury guidance, and official IRS pages as source anchors.
• Do not invent dollar limits, filing fees, pass guarantees, or authority claims.
• Flag content as Tax Review Needed until a qualified reviewer verifies the technical rule.
• Retire or revise stale content when IRS guidance, forms, exam vendors, or exam logistics change.