Iowa CPA License Reinstatement: What a Lapsed License Costs
If your Iowa CPA license has already lapsed
What it actually takes to get a lapsed Iowa 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.
Verified
Reinstatement Fee
Formula, capped at $1,000: a $100 base reinstatement fee + the current annual renewal fee ($100 active/$50 inactive) + $25 for each month the license was lapsed (waived if the licensee didn't practice or hold out as a CPA during the lapse).
Catch-Up CPE Required
- No CPE added purely as a penalty -- reinstating to active status requires the standard 120 hours of CPE (the normal 3-year-cycle total, including the required ethics hours) earned in the 3 years immediately preceding the application. Reinstating to inactive status requires no CPE.
- 4 ethics hours, within that total.
Source of record
Iowa Admin. Code r. 193A-12.1/12.2 (reinstatement fee schedule); r. 193A-5.3/5.4 (renewal deadline, grace period, lapse trigger); r. 193A-10.5(7) (CPE to reinstate to active status)
read the rule →
What triggers lapsed status: Certificates/licenses expire annually on June 30, with a 30-day grace period (through July 30) to renew by paying a late-renewal penalty. If still unrenewed after that 30-day window, the certificate lapses automatically -- no separate notice or board action is required.
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 Iowa's CPA license renewal deadline →
How many CPE hours does Iowa require? →
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