Arizona CPA License Reinstatement: What a Lapsed License Costs

If your Arizona CPA license has already lapsed

What it actually takes to get a lapsed Arizona CPA license back — the fee, the catch-up CPE, and exactly what triggers "lapsed" in the first place. Sourced the same way every fact on this site is: a board page plus the codified rule itself, never a guess.

Reinstatement Fee

$100

Same $100 application fee as new certification (Ariz. Admin. Code R4-1-341(A)(1)). Once reinstatement from canceled status is approved, the standard biennial registration fee ($100-$300, prorated) also applies -- total out-of-pocket can exceed $100.

Catch-Up CPE Required

Not a punitive add-on: up to 160 hours of CPE in the 4 years immediately before reinstating (R4-1-453(C)(7)) -- the same cumulative total a continuously-registered CPA owes over 4 years, capped even if the lapse ran longer.
8 ethics hours, within that total.

Source of record Ariz. Admin. Code R4-1-341(A)(1) (reinstatement fee); R4-1-453(C)(4),(7) (normal vs. reinstatement CPE/ethics hours); A.R.S. §32-732(B) (reinstatement from canceled status); R4-1-345(B)-(C) (birth-year-parity cycle) read the rule →

Sourcing note: The Board's own reinstatement page (azaccountancy.gov) could not be reached directly at publish time. The $100 fee and CPE/ethics-hour figures above come from the codified rule cited here (Ariz. Admin. Code R4-1-341, R4-1-453), which is authoritative on its own, and the same $100 fee also appears on an archived copy of the Board's page.

What triggers lapsed status: Individual registration is biennial, keyed to the registrant's birth month with odd/even-year parity (R4-1-345). Missing the birth-month renewal deadline draws a $50 late fee; if still unrenewed, the certificate lapses to 'canceled' status, requiring reinstatement under A.R.S. §32-732(B). If 25-48 months have passed since the last renewal due date, the ethics-hour requirement doubles to 8 hours (vs. the normal 4).

Last verified: 2026-07-25 · checked against the state's codified statute or administrative rule, not just a board webpage — if we can't verify a date against primary law, we say so instead of guessing (see how we verify every deadline). Always confirm with the official state board before relying on this date. License requirements and deadlines can change.

See Arizona's CPA license renewal deadline →

How many CPE hours does Arizona require? →

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