CPE Carryover Rules by State 2026: Who Lets You Bank Hours

Whether surplus CPE hours roll into your next reporting period depends entirely on which state licenses you. In the state guides we have published, Maryland allows up to 80 hours to be carried into the next two-year term, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Utah, Wisconsin and Michigan allow up to 40, and California, Texas, New York, New Jersey and Illinois allow none. Many other boards say nothing at all. This guide pulls those rules into one place so that you can decide whether to finish early, bank extra hours or simply stop at the minimum. Each figure comes from the relevant state guide, which in turn is based on the board's own rule or website, and you should confirm it with your board before you rely on it.

At a glance

Why carryover matters

Carryover turns a fixed requirement into a planning decision. If you complete 90 hours in a period that requires 80, a state that allows carryover lets the extra ten hours count toward the next period. A state without carryover treats those ten hours as spent. The difference matters most for people who take large conference or course bundles in one year, for licensees who finish early so that renewal is stress-free, and for CPAs who hold more than one licence. For background on how hours are measured in the first place, see our guide to how CPE credits are counted and our CPA CPE requirements guide.

States with generous carryover

Maryland is the most generous state we have covered. Its two-year term requires 80 hours, and up to 80 hours can be carried to the next term, which in effect means a full term's worth of surplus can be banked. Read the detail in our Maryland guide, including the sub-limits on ethics. New Hampshire allows up to 40 excess hours into the next period only, and none for new licensees (see the New Hampshire guide). Hawaii allows up to 40 excess hours into the next biennium (Hawaii). Utah allows up to 40, but the carried hours count only as general CPE (Utah). Wisconsin allows up to 40 excess credits forward and lets credits earned in the first 12 months be carried back (Wisconsin). Michigan lets excess hours carry to the next year only, up to 40 hours, with sub-limits (Michigan).

States with small or conditional carryover

Connecticut allows up to 20 hours above 40 to move to the next year, for one year only (Connecticut). South Carolina allows up to 20 excess hours, though some types of CPE are not eligible (South Carolina). Mississippi allows up to 20 excess hours and says only 20 of the 40 required hours may be carryover (Mississippi). Kansas allows a maximum of 20 hours from the previous renewal period (Kansas), and Tennessee allows up to 24 hours (Tennessee). Georgia allows up to 15 excess non-technical credits, which cannot be used to meet the technical requirement (Georgia). Vermont allows up to 10 hours that cannot be used for the ethics or accounting and auditing hours (Vermont). North Carolina allows up to 1,000 excess minutes, but ethics minutes cannot be carried forward (North Carolina).

States with no carryover

California says unused hours cannot be carried over (California). Texas states on its Board renewal page that unused credits do not carry over (Texas). New York gives no carryover between calendar years (New York). New Jersey does not permit carry-forward of excess credits (New Jersey). Illinois, Massachusetts, Arizona and Nevada also allow none (Illinois, Massachusetts, Arizona, Nevada). Idaho allows none and credits no more than 50 hours in a year (Idaho). West Virginia does not allow carryover in general; hours must be earned in the calendar year unless the Board grants an extension (West Virginia).

States where we could not confirm a rule

Our Colorado, Kentucky and Iowa guides could not confirm whether a carryover rule exists, and the Ohio, Florida and Oklahoma guides found no carryover provision. Rhode Island and the US Virgin Islands guides also found nothing. Silence in a rule is not the same as permission. If your state is on this list, ask the board in writing and keep the reply with your records. Until you have an answer, assume surplus hours will not count next time.

Ethics and category restrictions

Even where carryover exists, it is rarely unrestricted. Utah counts carried hours only as general CPE, Georgia limits carryover to non-technical credits, Vermont bars use toward ethics or accounting and auditing, North Carolina excludes ethics minutes, and Mississippi caps the carried amount at 20 of the 40 required hours. A practical rule is to treat surplus ethics hours as lost and to plan technical hours separately from general ones.

Carrying back, and new licensees

Wisconsin is the one state in our set that also lets credits from the first 12 months be carried back, which helps if you discover a shortfall late. New licensees are treated differently almost everywhere: New Hampshire gives none to new licensees, and several states reduce or waive the requirement for the first renewal. Our guide to CPE waivers, exemptions and inactive status covers those first-renewal rules.

How to plan around carryover

If your state allows it, bank hours in the first year of a cycle when you have time and a budget, because the carried amount is usually capped and a late surplus may be worth less. If your state does not allow carryover, aim to finish the minimum with a small buffer and no more. CPAs with several licences should read our guide to CPA mobility and CPE and track each state's cycle separately, because a carried hour in one state is not an hour in another. Keep a running log (our CPE tracking log template is a starting point) and keep certificates for as long as the board requires, as explained in our guide to what boards ask for in a CPE audit.

Frequently asked questions

Which state allows the most CPE carryover?

Of the states we have covered, Maryland: up to 80 hours can be carried to the next two-year term.

Can I carry CPE hours forward in California, Texas or New York?

No. California says unused hours cannot be carried over, Texas says unused credits do not carry over, and New York allows no carryover between calendar years.

Do carried-over ethics hours count?

Often not. North Carolina does not allow ethics minutes to be carried forward, and Vermont does not allow carried hours to count toward ethics. Check your board.

What if my state is not on the list?

Ask the board in writing whether carryover exists and keep the answer. Where a guide found no rule, that does not confirm that none exists.

Does carryover work across states?

No. Each board counts hours against its own cycle, so surplus in one state does not count in another.

Finding courses that count

Learnsignal publishes accounting, tax, audit, ethics and finance courses in its CPD and CPE library. Before you pay for any course, check the awarding body's own rules on what it accepts, and keep the certificate and the course details. Confirm the current rule with your state board before you plan your cycle.

Source: Learnsignal state CPE guides, each based on the relevant state board's rules and website (Maryland COMAR 09.24.02 and the other boards cited in each guide), checked October 2026.