The nonattorney examination

Why there is an examination at all

Congress lets the Tax Court decide who may practise before it, and it forbids the Court to shut out a qualified person merely because he or she does not belong to a particular profession (IRC § 7452). The Court's answer is Rule 200. Attorneys are admitted on a certificate of good standing; everyone else must prove competence by passing a written examination that the Court itself gives (Tax Court Rule 200(a)(2) and (a)(3)).

The examination is not a test of tax knowledge for its own sake. The Court's grading procedures say its purpose is to test an applicant's ability to represent parties in preparing and trying cases before the Tax Court (Procedures for Preparation and Grading of the Nonattorney Examination, part A.2). Keep that purpose in mind as you study: the examiners reward the answer a careful practitioner would give a client or a judge, not a recital of everything you know.

Two requirements apply to every applicant, attorney or not (Rule 200(a)(1)):

• good moral and professional character, and
• the qualifications needed to provide competent representation before the Court.

Corporations and firms are never admitted or recognized; admission is personal (Rule 200(f)).

The four subjects and their weights

The Court's procedures list the subjects and the approximate share of the examination given to each (Procedures, part A.3). The press release announcing the 2025 examination repeats the same weights.

Subject	Weight	What it includes
Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure	25%	The Rules, and the Court's jurisdiction and procedure as the Code defines them
Federal Rules of Evidence	25%	The Rules of Evidence as the Court applies them at trial
Federal taxation	40%	Income taxation; estate and gift taxation; tax procedures and legal analysis; the structure and history of the Internal Revenue Code and the Court's leading interpretations; the constitutional and general substantive law that applies in Tax Court cases
Legal ethics	10%	Including the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which Rule 201(a) adopts

Two features of this list shape a good study plan.

1. Federal taxation is broad. It is not limited to individual income tax. Recent examinations have asked about corporate formations and redemptions, partnerships, gifts and estates, accounting methods, the interpretation of regulations, and the limitation periods for assessment.
2. You must pass every subject. The standard is proficiency in each tested subject (Procedures, part B.5). A brilliant taxation score does not rescue a weak evidence score. Ethics is only 10 percent of the points, but it is a separate subject that must be passed on its own.

The format of the most recent examination

The most recent examination was held on November 5, 2025. The Court announced it on May 5, 2025, as Rule 200(a)(3) requires, and described it this way (Press Release of May 5, 2025):

• It was given remotely on the ExamSoft platform, starting at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
• It had two sessions of approximately two hours each, with a break between them.
• Once the first session ended, examinees could not return to its questions.
• It was not open book.
• Examinees needed an internet connection, a room to themselves, a computer with a webcam, and had to complete ExamSoft registration and any mandatory mock examination by the registration deadline.

The published 2025 examination shows how the four subjects were divided between the sessions and how many points each carried (2025 Nonattorney Exam):

Session	Parts	Points
Session One	Federal Taxation (questions S-1 onward)	96
Session One	Legal Ethics (LE-1 to LE-9)	24
Session Two	Practice and Procedure (P-1 to P-21)	60
Session Two	Evidence (E-1 to E-14)	60
Total		240

The 2023 examination used the same two-session split, and the 2021 examination printed a suggested number of minutes beside each question instead of points (2023 and 2021 Nonattorney Exams). In both styles, a point is worth about a minute: 120 points in each roughly two-hour session. That gives you a pacing rule you can use on the day: a 3-point question deserves about three minutes, and no more.

Question styles

The published examinations mix several kinds of question. You will meet all of them in this course's practice bank and practice examinations, written fresh for this course.

• Short written answers. Most questions describe facts and ask you to state and apply a rule: "May the Court consider...?", "How should the Court rule on the objection?", "What are counsel's obligations?" A good answer is a few precise sentences, not an essay.
• Objective items. In taxation, many half-point and one-point items ask you to select an amount (for example, how much of an item is gross income), often with "Zero" and "None of the above" among the choices.
• Multi-part computations. One or two large taxation questions, worth 10 to 15 points, walk through a transaction part by part: gain recognized, basis, holding period.
• Shared fact patterns. Several questions may use the same facts, repeated with each question.
• Attachments. Some questions attach excerpts of Code sections. Do not count on it; the examination is not open book.
• Evidence instructions. The evidence part has told examinees that when an objection's ground is not stated, they should discuss every ground that plausibly applies, but need not discuss grounds that plainly do not.

Read the Court's three published examinations (2025, 2023 and 2021) before the end of your preparation, ideally under timed conditions. They are the best guide there is to emphasis. This course links to them but never reproduces them.

How the examination is graded

The Court appoints a panel of three to five examiners: typically a chair who prepares the taxation and procedure sections, one examiner for evidence and one for ethics (Procedures, part A). Examiners may not take part in courses that prepare applicants for the examination, and may have no conflicting interests or duties (Procedures, "Conflicts of Interest"). The grading rules (Procedures, part B) are worth knowing exactly:

Feature	What the procedures say
Who grades	The examiners, under the guidance and subject to the approval of the Court; all answers to a given question are graded by the same examiner
Anonymity	Each applicant has an examination number; examiners do not know identities
Passing standard	Proficiency in each tested subject; the examination is designed so that 70 percent in each subject passes
Automatic regrading	The 10 examinations closest to passing in each part (and any tied with the tenth) are regraded by the original grader before results are sent
Admission	Passing is necessary but not sufficient; the Court then considers character and other factors

If you do not pass

A failing applicant (and only a failing applicant) may obtain copies of his or her own answers and the score for each answer, for a fee, if the Clerk receives the request within 60 days after the Court mails the notice. The Court does not release sample answers or the passing score. Results are reconsidered only for a clerical error in scoring, on a request received within 90 days. There is no hearing or interview to contest results. Answers are destroyed 120 days after notices go out (later if reconsideration is pending). And an applicant may sit for the examination any number of times (Procedures, parts C and D).

After you pass

Passing opens the door to the rest of Rule 200 and to the Court's character and fitness review (Rule 200(c), (d); Guidance for Practitioners; Press Release of May 5, 2025).

1. Application and fee. You complete the Court's application for admission. The Court's fee schedule lists $150 for the nonattorney examination application and $50 for original admission (Court Fees page).
2. Sponsors. At least two persons already admitted to practise before the Court must each send a confidential letter of recommendation directly to the Admissions Clerk, promptly after you are notified that you passed. Each sponsor states frankly how well he or she knows you, your moral character and reputation, and your qualifications. The Court may accept fewer than two sponsors in its discretion (Rule 200(c)).
3. Character and fitness. The review may include requests for background information, the sponsorship letters, and a remote interview (Guidance for Practitioners).
4. Oath and certificate. On approval, and after you subscribe to the oath or affirmation, you are admitted and entitled to a certificate of admission (Rule 200(d)).
5. Continuing duties. You must report changes of mailing address (Rule 200(e)) and pay any periodic registration fee the Court sets, which may not exceed $30 per calendar year; a member who does not pay goes on the Ineligible List and may not start or appear in a case until current (Rule 200(g)). From then on you practise under Rule 201, which requires conduct in accordance with the letter and spirit of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and Rule 202 on discipline.

When is the next examination?

Under Rule 200(a)(3) as it stands, the Court must hold the examination no less often than every two years and must announce its date and time at least six months in advance. As of November 9, 2026, the Court's News and Announcements page had not announced the next examination. Watch that page.

On May 26, 2026, the Court proposed restyling all of Title XX (Rules 200 to 202). The proposal would, among other things (Notice of Proposed Amendments, May 26, 2026):

• replace "no less often than every 2 years" with a duty to give the examination periodically, while keeping the six-month announcement;
• make the nonattorney route unavailable to anyone who is or ever has been admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court, a state or territory, or the District of Columbia;
• move the sponsorship rules into Rule 200(a)(3)(C) and require letters to follow a new Letter of Recommendation (Form 19), in which the sponsor certifies that the sponsorship is not given for consideration;
• reorganize the reporting and disciplinary provisions of Rule 202.

Comments were due July 24, 2026. As of November 9, 2026, the Court's website showed no adoption, so the current Rule 200 governs. Lessons that touch these rules tell you both versions.

Which law this course teaches

The examination tests the law, so you need to know which version you are learning. This course teaches the law in force on November 9, 2026:

Body of law	Version taught	Pending or recent changes
Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure	As amended through the amendments effective August 8, 2024	Title XX proposal of May 26, 2026 (not adopted as of November 9, 2026); Administrative Order 2026-01 on limited entries of appearance (effective September 30, 2026); Administrative Order 2026-02 making practitioners' motions filed from January 1, 2027 remotely viewable; the September 8, 2026 changes to places of trial
Internal Revenue Code	Current through Public Law 119-138 (November 3, 2026), including the 2025 changes made by Public Law 119-21	Dollar amounts are indexed; lessons give the year for each figure
Federal Rules of Evidence	As amended to December 1, 2025 (last amended December 1, 2024)	Amendment to Rule 801(d)(1)(A), adopted April 8, 2026, effective December 1, 2026 unless Congress acts
Legal ethics	ABA Model Rules, adopted by Rule 201(a)	Explained in our own words; read the official text at the ABA

If the Court adopts amendments, or Congress changes the Code before your examination, the Court will expect the law in force on the examination date. Check the Court's Rules page and News and Announcements in the month before you sit.

The Court's statistics, and what to make of them

The Court publishes the number of examinees and the number who passed for every examination since 2000. For the 2025 examination it reports 167 examinees and 14 who passed (Statistical Information, Nonattorney Examination). Read that figure the right way: the examination requires proficiency in four distinct subjects at once, under time pressure, without books. Applicants who prepare broadly and practise writing timed answers give themselves the best footing. Nobody can promise a result, but steady, complete preparation is within your control.

How to write an answer the examiners can grade

Each answer is graded by one examiner against the points printed beside it. Write so that each point is easy to award.

1. Answer the question asked, first. "Yes, the Court has jurisdiction" or "The objection should be sustained" in the first sentence.
2. State the rule and cite it. "A notice of deficiency mailed to the taxpayer's last known address is sufficient (IRC § 6212(b)(1))." Citations show the examiner you know where the rule lives, and they are quick to write.
3. Apply it to the facts that matter. Use the facts the question gave you; examiners include facts for a reason.
4. Deal with the obvious counter-argument in a sentence when points allow.
5. Show computations step by step, with labels, so partial credit is possible.
6. Budget time by points. Roughly one minute per point. If a half-point item is taking three minutes, choose and move on.
7. For evidence questions, name every plausible ground (relevance, hearsay, authentication, original-document rule, privilege, competence, opinion) and resolve each briefly.
8. For ethics questions, identify the duty, apply it, and say what the practitioner must do next. Explain the rule in your own words; you do not need to quote it.

A worked example of pacing

Item type	Points	Minutes to spend	What a full answer contains
Objective amount item	½	about ½ to 1	The choice
Short rule question	2	2	Answer, rule with cite, one sentence of application
Applied procedure question	4	4	Answer, rule, application to each key fact, conclusion
Multi-part computation	15 (3 per part)	15	Each figure with the steps that produce it

A sensible plan of study

• Weeks 1 to 2: read this unit, then skim the Rules of Practice and Procedure from Title I to Title XX, and the Rules of Evidence from Article I to Article XI, to see their shape.
• Weeks 3 to 10: work through the units of this course in order, doing every practice question and writing out the short answers rather than thinking them through.
• Weeks 11 to 12: take Practice Examination 1 under timed conditions, mark it against the rubrics, and revisit weak lessons; then take Practice Examination 2.
• Final weeks: sit the Court's 2025, 2023 and 2021 examinations under timed conditions, and confirm that no rule changes have been adopted.

Adjust the length to your background. Enrolled agents and CPAs usually find taxation familiar and the Rules of Evidence new; give evidence the time it deserves, because it carries a quarter of the points and must be passed on its own.

Common traps

• Treating ethics as optional. It is 10 percent of the points but a separately passed subject.
• Studying only individual income tax. The taxation part reaches estates and gifts, entities, procedure, and the interpretation of statutes and regulations.
• Writing essays. Points are awarded for the right rule applied to the facts, not for length. Long answers cost minutes you need elsewhere.
• Relying on open-book habits. The examination is not open book; Code excerpts appear only when the Court chooses to attach them.
• Learning superseded law. Several individual tax rules changed in 2025, and the Rules of Evidence changed in 2023 and 2024. Learn the current text, and know what is pending.
• Assuming the Title XX proposal is in force. On November 9, 2026 it was still a proposal.

Check yourself

• What two things must every applicant establish under Rule 200(a)(1), and what extra requirement applies to a nonattorney?
• List the four subjects with their weights, and the point split between them on the 2025 examination.
• What does the passing standard require, and what does "automatic regrading" mean?
• Within how many days must a failing applicant request copies of answers, and on what single ground can results be reconsidered?
• What must sponsors do, and when?
• How often must the Court hold the examination under the current Rule 200(a)(3), and what would the May 26, 2026 proposal change?
• Which version of the Rules of Evidence does this course teach, and which amendment is pending?