Georgia CPA License Reinstatement: What a Lapsed License Costs
If your Georgia CPA license has already lapsed
What it actually takes to get a lapsed Georgia 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.
$300 reinstatement fee (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 20-10-.04(1)(a)), payable in addition to completing the CPE catch-up requirement. For that catch-up, the rule also requires at least 20% of the hours in accounting/auditing, at least 80 of the hours within the 2 years preceding the application, and bars carryover hours from counting toward reinstatement.
- 40 CPE hours per year lapsed 40 hours of CPE for each year since the license last renewed, capped at 160 hours (double the normal 80-hour/2-year renewal). At least 20% of the total must be in accounting/auditing subjects, and at least 80 hours must fall within the 2 years immediately preceding the application; no carryover allowed.
What triggers lapsed status: Licenses expire December 31 of odd-numbered years. A 4-month penalty period follows, during which the license can still be renewed by paying a $100 penalty fee plus the renewal fee. After that window closes, reinstatement (not renewal) is required.
See Georgia's CPA license renewal deadline →