Legislation would allow use of 529 funds to finance training for CFP credential

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. is backing legislation that would allow money from 529 educational savings plans to pay for education and training related to the designation.

Bipartisan lawmakers in the House and Senate last month introduced the Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act, which would expand the use of 529s to include covering the fees and expenses associated with acquiring or maintaining postsecondary credentials, according to a bill summary.

The bill would cover programs accredited by the National Commission on Certifying Agencies, or NCCA, or the American National Standards Institute, said Connor Joseph, a spokesperson for Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., one of the authors of the House bill. The CFP mark is accredited by the NCCA.

The CFP Board supports the legislation, said Maureen Thompson, vice president for public policy at the board.

"Professional certifications and other postsecondary credentials provide Americans with pathways to upward mobility, financial opportunity, and career development,” Thompson said in a statement. “The public respects and trusts certified professionals because their credentials are conferred by independent certification organizations that examine and attest to the appropriate knowledge and skills of those professionals.”

The American Institute of CPAs also is backing the bill because it would allow 529 funds to be used to pay for expenses, fees and costs related to the Uniform CPA Examination.

“Certifications and continuing education are cornerstones of the accounting profession, as tax and accounting laws continue to evolve,” Jan Lewis, chair of the AICPA tax executive committee, said in a statement. “The bill allows greater flexibility to accounting professionals to gain and maintain professional certifications, including the CPA certification, and better serve our clients.”

The bill was written by Spanberger and Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., wrote a companion Senate bill. The measures have six and eight bipartisan cosponsors, respectively.

The bill was introduced in the previous Congress in 2021 but died after failing to be enacted before the end of last year. It was reintroduced in the current Congress on March 8.

Spanberger said the bill would give students more options to boost their careers.

“In Virginia, 529 savings accounts have long helped the next generation of our workforce afford a higher education,” Spanberger said in a statement. “But right now, Virginia students can’t use these accounts to pay for the credentialing and licensing programs many of them need to succeed. Especially as we see more specialized, cutting-edge industries grow in the Commonwealth, we need to fix this issue. Our bipartisan bill would give Virginia students and workers the ability to use their 529 accounts to cover tuition, books, and testing costs related to key training programs.”

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