How the CPA Exam and the TCP section work

The exam you are preparing for

The Uniform CPA Examination has three Core sections that every candidate takes, Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) and Taxation and Regulation (REG), and three Discipline sections, of which you choose one: Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR), Information Systems and Controls (ISC) or Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP). Each section is four hours long, so the whole exam is 16 hours of testing, and you must earn at least 75 on each of your four sections (AICPA, Everything you need to know about the CPA Exam; NASBA, CPA Exam Candidate Guide).

The exam itself is the same everywhere, but nearly everything around it is set by the board of accountancy in your jurisdiction: who may sit, the fees, how long a passed section stays valid, and what else you need for a license. Those rules vary, so check your own board through NASBA's directory of boards of accountancy before you schedule (NASBA, CPA Exam FAQ; Boards of Accountancy).

TCP is the Discipline for candidates heading into tax. The AICPA describes it as testing three things a newly licensed CPA does: federal tax compliance for individuals and entities, with a focus on non-routine and more complex transactions, in both preparing and reviewing returns; federal tax planning for individuals and entities, meaning the tax effects of proposed transactions, alternatives and business structures; and personal financial planning of the kind a CPA spots while preparing and reviewing an individual's return (AICPA, Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, TCP section introduction). Think of REG as the foundation and TCP as the next storey: the same Code, applied to harder facts and to decisions not yet made.

TCP at a glance

Feature	TCP (Discipline section)
Testing time	4 hours
Multiple-choice questions (MCQs)	68, in two testlets of 34
Task-based simulations (TBSs)	7, in three testlets of 2, 3 and 2
Weight in your score	MCQs 50%, TBSs 50%
Score scale	0–99; 75 or higher passes
Skills tested	Remembering and Understanding 5–15%, Application 55–65%, Analysis 25–35%, Evaluation none

Sources: AICPA, Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints effective January 1, 2026, introduction and TCP summary blueprint; AICPA, Learn more about CPA Exam scoring and pass rates. The AICPA's Blueprints effective January 1, 2027 make no revisions to TCP, so everything here holds for 2027 testing as well (AICPA, Summary of Changes to the Exam Blueprints effective January 1, 2027).

Notice the skill mix. Almost all of TCP is application and analysis: computing, comparing alternatives and reviewing someone else's numbers. Pure recall is a small slice, concentrated in the individual and entity compliance areas. Practise by working problems, not by rereading.

Testlets, the clock and breaks

Each section is delivered as five testlets: testlets 1 and 2 hold the MCQs, testlets 3, 4 and 5 the TBSs. Within a testlet you may answer in any order and go back, but once you submit a testlet you cannot return to it (AICPA, CPA Exam FAQ).

One four-hour clock runs across all five testlets. You choose how to spend it; nothing stops you lingering in testlet 1 and starving testlet 5. Breaks work like this:

• After testlet 3 you are offered a standardized 15-minute break. If you take it, the clock stops; when the 15 minutes end, it resumes (AICPA, CPA Exam FAQ; NASBA, CPA Exam FAQ).
• After testlets 1, 2 and 4 you may take a break, but the clock keeps running.
• Your Prometric appointment is the testing time plus 30 minutes, which covers login, the closing survey and the standardized break. It is not extra testing time (NASBA, CPA Exam Candidate Guide).

Every section also includes pretest questions, MCQs or TBSs that are being tried out and do not count toward your score. They look like every other item, so treat every question as if it counts (AICPA, CPA Exam FAQ).

At the test centre you get scratch paper, pencils and a hand-held calculator, and on screen you have a spreadsheet application similar to, but not identical to, Excel, plus an online calculator (NASBA, CPA Exam Candidate Guide; AICPA, CPA Exam FAQ).

A pacing plan you can adjust

The AICPA does not prescribe a pace, so here is a starting point of our own. Seven TBSs usually need more time each than a handful of MCQs, so protect them.

Testlet	Content	Suggested time	Running total
1	34 MCQs	45 minutes (about 80 seconds each)	0:45
2	34 MCQs	45 minutes	1:30
3	2 TBSs	40 minutes	2:10
(break)	standardized break, clock stopped	15 minutes, not counted	2:10
4	3 TBSs	60 minutes	3:10
5	2 TBSs	40 minutes	3:50
Reserve	review, or a harder simulation	10 minutes	4:00

Check the clock at the end of each testlet. If you are behind, make your best choice on the item in front of you and move on; a blank earns nothing.

Scoring

Scores run from 0 to 99, and 75 passes. A 75 is not 75% correct, and scores are not curved. Your MCQ and TBS responses are each converted to scaled scores by formulas that account for whether you answered correctly and for each question's relative difficulty, then combined, 50% each for TCP, into one reported score (AICPA, Learn more about CPA Exam scoring and pass rates; NASBA, Score Information). If you do not pass, you receive a candidate performance report showing how you did by content area.

When you can test, and when scores arrive

Core sections can be taken year-round. Discipline sections, TCP included, can be scheduled only in the first month of each calendar quarter, and their scores are released after each window closes (NASBA, CPA Exam FAQ; AICPA, Find out when you'll get your CPA Exam score).

TCP testing window	Target score release
July 1–31, 2026	September 11, 2026
October 1–31, 2026	December 15, 2026
January 1–31, 2027	March 16, 2027
April 1–30, 2027	June 9, 2027
July 12–August 12, 2027	September 28, 2027
October 1–31, 2027	December 17, 2027

Source: AICPA, Find out when you'll get your CPA Exam score (accessed November 9, 2026). These are targets and can change. Some boards need extra days to process scores, and in July 2027 the exam moves to a new delivery platform, which is why the 2027–28 schedule is adjusted; NASBA notes that no exams are given from July 1 to July 11, 2027 (NASBA, CPA Exam FAQ).

If you need to retake TCP, you cannot re-register until you have your score; NASBA says it takes at least 72 hours after you receive a score before you can re-register for the same section, and the only other limit on attempts is the time needed to get a new Notice to Schedule and a seat (NASBA, CPA Exam Candidate Guide). With Discipline windows only once a quarter, plan your study so that one window is your target and the next is your safety net.

What TCP covers

Blueprint area	Weight	What it covers	Units in this course
I. Tax compliance and planning for individuals and personal financial planning	30–40%	equity compensation, AMT items, special income items, the kiddie tax, deduction and timing planning, FSAs and HSAs, estimated tax, charitable gifts of property; at-risk and passive loss limits; gift tax; retirement plans, investments, education funding, insurance, ownership and beneficiary designations	2, 3, 4
II. Entity tax compliance	30–40%	C corporations (losses, consolidated returns, contributions, distributions, liquidations, shareholder loans, international sourcing), S corporations and partnerships (basis, contributions, distributions, ownership changes, elections), trusts, tax-exempt organizations	5, 6, 7
III. Entity tax planning	10–20%	choice of entity, formation and liquidation compared; C corporation, S corporation and partnership planning, including state apportionment and estimated tax	8 (plus planning sections in 5 and 6)
IV. Property transactions	10–20%	like-kind exchanges, involuntary conversions, character of gains and losses, §1231, recapture, §1244 stock, installment sales, related parties, imputed interest	9

Source: AICPA, Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, TCP pages TCP2–TCP17, summarized in our own words. Two threads run through every area: data and technology (checking that the source data behind a return or schedule is complete and accurate) and applied research (reading excerpts of the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury regulations to answer a question). Expect review tasks: a basis schedule, a list of dispositions, a diagnostic flag to resolve.

The blueprint also tells you what to assume:

• You are not tested on memorized tax rates, amounts or limits that are indexed to inflation; a question supplies them if it needs them. Fixed statutory figures (such as the 21% corporate rate or the $25,000 rental real estate allowance) are fair game.
• References to an individual's wages or compensation exclude overtime and tips unless the question says otherwise.
• When the answer depends on timing, the question gives real dates. Otherwise, assume the events happened in the current year and apply the most recent law that is eligible for testing.

Which tax law is tested

The AICPA's Policy on New Pronouncements says changes in the Internal Revenue Code and federal tax regulations become eligible for testing in the calendar quarter beginning six months after the later of the change's effective date or enactment date; once a change is eligible, the content it replaces is removed (AICPA, Learn what to study for the CPA Exam).

Public Law 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025 and commonly called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, rewrote much of the Code. On September 18, 2025, the AICPA's Board of Examiners decided that the Act's provisions with 2024 and 2025 effective dates, which in its examples include provisions for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025, became eligible for testing in REG and TCP on July 1, 2026. The Act's other provisions follow the general six-month rule, and provisions that had been scheduled to expire in 2025 remained testable only through June 30, 2026 (AICPA, Testing of H.R. 1 on the CPA Exam).

So for the testing windows from July 2026 through June 2027, the testable law is essentially the Code as it applies to 2026, with Public Law 119-21's changes built in. That is what this course teaches. Where a rule changed between 2025 and 2026, lessons say so. The latest final IRS forms, instructions and publications are the 2025 editions, so lessons use them for form names and line references; the 2026 inflation-adjusted amounts come from Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and related IRS notices. Provisions taking effect in 2027 or later would become eligible only in later quarters under the general rule.

Task-based simulations, and how this course practises them

A TBS is a short case: exhibits such as a client e-mail, a trial balance, a K-1, a basis schedule or an excerpt of a return, and several linked requirements. You might complete a schedule, pick treatments from drop-down lists, enter amounts, or find the Code section that answers a client's question.

This course cannot reproduce the exam software, its spreadsheets, its research tool or its exhibit windows. Instead, each unit includes case sets: original facts and schedules followed by several linked questions, many with typed numeric answers, built to rehearse the same thinking. The practice exam at the end mirrors TCP's testlet structure and blueprint weights.

Before test day, also try the AICPA's sample test, which includes TCP questions in the real test-centre software, gives you up to two hours, and shows the correct answers. It is not scored and is not a measure of readiness, but it is the best way to get comfortable with the interface (AICPA, Get familiar with the CPA Exam by practicing with our sample tests).

How to use this course

1. Read each lesson with a pencil. Rework every example before reading the solution.
2. Do the practice questions; read every explanation, including for questions you got right.
3. Keep an error log by blueprint area. Your weakest area at 30–40% weight is worth more time than a strong one at 10–20%.
4. Take the practice exam under timed conditions, using the pacing plan above, about two weeks before your window.
5. Keep the primary sources handy. Each lesson cites the Code, regulations and IRS publications it relies on, with links; reading a little primary text is good practice for the research tasks.

Check yourself

• How many MCQs and TBSs does TCP have, and how are they split across the five testlets?
• After which testlet does the clock stop for the standardized break, and for how long?
• Why is a score of 75 not the same as answering 75% of the questions correctly?
• In which months can you sit for TCP, and what does that mean for planning a retake?
• Which blueprint area carries the most weight, and which two carry the least?
• Under the AICPA's policy, when did Public Law 119-21's provisions for tax years beginning in 2026 become testable?
• Will a TCP question expect you to remember the 2026 standard deduction? Why or why not?