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 where we could confirm it against primary law, clearly labelled where we could only confirm it against the board's own page, never a guess.
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.
- 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.
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).
See Arizona's CPA license renewal deadline →