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 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.
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).
- 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.
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.
See Iowa's CPA license renewal deadline →