Virginia CPA License Renewal: June 30 Every Year, 120 CPE Hours on a Rolling Three Years, and What July 1 Means

Virginia CPA licenses renew every year on a single fixed date: June 30. The renewal window opens March 1, the fee is $60 for an individual and $75 for a firm, and a license that isn't renewed is treated as expired starting July 1. For Active licensees, CPE runs on a different clock: 120 hours over a rolling three calendar years, with a floor every year, phased in for the newly licensed.

The deadline: June 30, every year

The Board of Accountancy's rule, 18VAC5-22-180, says the holder of a Virginia license "shall annually renew his license on or before June 30 of each calendar year." The Virginia Board of Accountancy (VBOA) renewal page adds that a license "may be renewed beginning March 1," so the window is March 1 through June 30. One exception for new or reinstated licensees: if you applied for your initial license, or for reinstatement, on or after March 1 of a year, the rule says your license "will not expire until June 30 of the following calendar year."

Renewal is an online application plus the fee. You don't send CPE certificates with it. The VBOA says renewals "require affirmation of meeting CPE requirements," and you keep the documentation in case of an audit.

Check your Virginia dates here.

What it costs

The renewal fee is $60 for an individual license and $75 for a firm license, per the fee rule (18VAC5-22-20) and the VBOA's own renewal pages. Both pages add a $25 processing fee if you pay by check.

What July 1 means

The VBOA's renewal page is direct about it: "Unrenewed licenses will automatically go into Expired status the day after the renewal is due, on July 1." The statute says the same thing in legal terms. Under Va. Code 54.1-4413.2(B), a license not renewed as the Board prescribes "shall be considered to have expired," and the holder is "considered to no longer hold a Virginia license."

While a license is expired, the VBOA says you "may not use the CPA title or provide attest or compilation services." Getting it back means reinstatement, not a late renewal: a non-refundable $350 fee for an individual ($500 for a firm), plus proof of 120 hours of CPE.

One detail in the rules doesn't line up neatly with that. The fee rule, 18VAC5-22-20, also lists an "Additional fee for processing an application for the renewal of a person's Virginia license that is not timely" of $100. The VBOA's renewal page doesn't describe any late-renewal window; it goes straight from June 30 to expiration and reinstatement. We found no Board guidance on when, if ever, the $100 not-timely fee applies instead of reinstatement. If you're past June 30, ask the VBOA which path applies to you before you pay anything.

Virginia reinstatement details here.

CPE: 120 hours, rolling three years, with a yearly floor

The CPE duty applies to Active licensees. The VBOA's CPE page opens with "Active CPAs must complete 120 CPE hours over a rolling three-year period," and the rule, 18VAC5-22-90(A), applies it to a license holder who "has not been granted an exemption" by the Board. If that's you, you need at least 120 hours of CPE "during the three-calendar-year period ending with the current calendar year." The rolling part matters: every year, the window moves forward by one year, so you're never "done" with a cycle. Within that window, each calendar year needs at least 20 hours, "including an ethics course of at least two hours."

Newly licensed CPAs phase in. Under 18VAC5-22-90(B), if you're providing services and didn't hold a Virginia or other-state license in one or both of the two preceding calendar years, you're "considered to have met the requirements" for the year you become licensed. In the next year you need that year's 20-hour minimum, with ethics. In the year after that, you need the 20-hour minimum, with ethics, for each of those two years. The VBOA's CPE chart shows the same starting point: 0 hours in the calendar year of your initial license.

That ethics course has to be the VBOA-approved one, and it's every year, not once per cycle. If you release reports on attest, compilation, or financial statement preparation services during a year, the VBOA's CPE guidelines add a minimum of 8 hours of CPE related to those services in that same year. Those hours aren't extra: the guidelines say they "are included as part of the annual minimum and reporting period minimum."

The guidelines also give you a little slack at the turn of the year: "All persons who hold a Virginia license have until January 31 to complete the previous calendar year's CPE requirements." That grace period comes from the Board's policy document and its CPE page, not the rule text, so treat January 31 as the Board's stated practice. The two don't word it identically: the policy says "until January 31," while the CPE page says CPE completed "before Jan. 31 of the following year" counts. If you're cutting it close, finish before January 31 rather than on it.

Two exemptions are written into the same rule. Under 18VAC5-22-90(C), a licensee who "did not provide services to the public or to or on behalf of an employer, including on a volunteer basis," and has an exemption granted "in writing by the board" is "not required to meet the continuing professional education requirements during the calendar year for which the exemption was granted," and must re-affirm eligibility every year. The exemption doesn't erase the requirement when you come back: to begin providing services again, the same subsection says you're "required to have obtained at least 120 hours of continuing professional education prior to providing services, including an ethics course of at least two hours." CPE from the three prior calendar years, and from the current year up to when you resume, counts toward it. The VBOA handles this exemption through Inactive status, and its CPE chart lists 120 hours for reinstating a license from Inactive. Its renewal page says licensees not providing services "must apply and be approved for the Inactive status before discontinuing CPE requirements," and its CPE page adds: "You are responsible for CPE until the date you are approved." An Inactive license still renews: "All Virginia CPAs who hold an Active or Inactive license must renew their individual license annually by June 30."

The second exemption is for out-of-state licensees. Under 18VAC5-22-90(A)(1) and (2), if you hold "an active license in another state" and your "principal place of business is not located in Virginia," you are "eligible for an exemption" from Virginia's CPE requirements by meeting the other state's. If that state has no ethics CPE requirement, you also need to meet Virginia's ethics requirement. If either exemption might fit you, read those subsections and confirm with the VBOA before you plan your hours.

The full Virginia CPE breakdown is here.

Firms

Firm licenses follow the same calendar. The VBOA's firm renewal page says a firm license "expires on June 30 and may be renewed beginning March 1," with a $75 fee. Renewal requires affirming peer review compliance, and the firm's principal licensee has to have renewed their own individual license too. An unrenewed firm license also goes to Expired status on July 1, with a $500 reinstatement fee.

Firm renewal details here.

Bottom line: Virginia CPA licenses renew every June 30 (window opens March 1) for $60, or $75 for firms. Miss it and the license expires July 1, and getting it back costs $350 ($500 for firms) through reinstatement. For an Active license without a Board-granted or out-of-state exemption, CPE is 120 hours over a rolling three calendar years, at least 20 each year, including the 2-hour VBOA-approved ethics course every year, plus 8 hours of related CPE in any year you release attest, compilation, or preparation reports. New licensees phase in over their first years, and an Inactive licensee needs 120 hours before providing services again.

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