The TCP CPA exam — short for Tax Compliance and Planning — is one of three discipline sections offered under the CPA Evolution model, and it’s the section most candidates pick when they’re heading into a tax career. Every CPA candidate sits for the same three core sections (Auditing and Attestation, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Taxation and Regulation), then chooses a single discipline to complete the four-section exam. Choosing TCP doesn’t restrict your license in any way. All three discipline paths lead to the same CPA credential with the same privileges.1AICPA & CIMA. Navigating CPA Evolution’s New CPA Exam Model What it does signal is advanced competency in tax work beyond what the REG core covers.
What TCP Covers
The AICPA blueprint splits the section into four content areas with weight ranges that predict roughly how many questions land on each topic.2American Institute of CPAs. Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints 2026
- Individual Tax Compliance and Personal Financial Planning: 30–40 percent. Income taxation of individuals, retirement contributions, education savings vehicles, and personal wealth transfer, including federal gift and estate tax.
- Entity Tax Compliance: 30–40 percent. Taxable income and returns for C corporations, S corporations, partnerships, LLCs, and tax-exempt organizations. International tax concepts sit inside this area.
- Entity Tax Planning: 10–20 percent. Entity selection, restructuring, and the tax consequences of business decisions.
- Property Transactions: 10–20 percent. Gain and loss recognition on dispositions, like-kind exchanges, and involuntary conversions.
The cognitive mix matters as much as the topic mix. Between 55 and 65 percent of the exam tests application (working calculations and applying rules to facts), another 25 to 35 percent tests analysis (evaluating scenarios and drawing conclusions), and only 5 to 15 percent is recall and comprehension.2American Institute of CPAs. Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints 2026 Memorizing code sections won’t carry you. The exam rewards reasoning through unfamiliar fact patterns.
Entity compliance is where the section gets dense. Partnerships and S corporations demand particular attention because income, deductions, and credits flow through to owners under allocation rules that get tricky fast. The international coverage is conceptual: income sourcing, controlled foreign corporations, permanent establishment, and provisions like GILTI, FDII, and BEAT. You will not be tested on specific treaty provisions or foreign tax codes. Property transaction questions tend to be calculation-heavy and reward careful basis tracking.
How TCP Relates to REG
TCP shares more content with the REG core than any other core-discipline pairing. C corporation taxation, S corporation rules, partnership income, and individual federal tax all appear in both, with REG covering fundamentals and TCP pushing into advanced applications. Candidates who take TCP shortly after REG tend to do better because the concepts are still fresh. Waiting months between the two means relearning material you already studied once.
Format and On-Screen Tools
TCP is a four-hour computerized exam broken into five testlets.3AICPA & CIMA. Everything You Need to Know About the CPA Exam The first two testlets contain 68 multiple-choice questions that account for 50 percent of your score. The remaining three testlets deliver seven task-based simulations that make up the other 50 percent. Simulations put you in front of realistic tax problems: completing forms, researching authoritative literature, and running multi-step calculations.
Roughly midway through the section you’re offered a standardized 15-minute break that does not count against testing time. You can take it or skip it. Any other breaks between testlets come out of your four hours.4National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. CPA Exam FAQ
The software gives you a basic on-screen calculator, a searchable database of authoritative literature, and a spreadsheet with an Excel-like interface that supports standard formulas and includes a formula wizard. A few quirks catch candidates off guard. Copy, paste, undo, and redo work only through keyboard shortcuts, with no toolbar buttons. Ctrl-F (find) and Ctrl-A (select all) are disabled. Data you enter in the spreadsheet autosaves during a testlet but clears when you submit that testlet, so don’t park notes there that you’ll want later.5AICPA. Uniform CPA Examination Spreadsheet FAQs
Passing Score and Pass Rates
You need a 75 to pass TCP, the same threshold used for every CPA exam section.6AICPA & CIMA. Learn More About CPA Exam Scoring and Pass Rates The 0-to-99 scale is not a straight percentage of correct answers. It’s adjusted through a psychometric process that weights question difficulty.
TCP consistently posts the highest pass rate of any CPA exam section. The cumulative 2025 pass rate was 77.65 percent, and the first quarter of 2026 climbed to 79.28 percent.6AICPA & CIMA. Learn More About CPA Exam Scoring and Pass Rates Some of that reflects self-selection: candidates who choose TCP tend to be the ones who already did well in REG and came in with a strong tax foundation. A high pass rate is not the same as an easy exam.
When Scores Are Released
Discipline sections follow a quarterly release calendar that differs from the more frequent core section releases. The 2026 target release dates are:
- January testing window: scores released around March 13.
- April testing window: scores released around June 16.
- July testing window: scores released around September 11.
- October testing window: scores released around December 15.
That six-to-ten-week gap between sitting and receiving your score can feel long.7AICPA & CIMA. Find Out When You’ll Get Your CPA Exam Score Scores are not processed until the AICPA receives your exam data file from Prometric, so timing within the window matters. Sitting early in a month gives your file more time to move through the pipeline before the cutoff.
Eligibility, Fees, and the Notice to Schedule
Most jurisdictions require 150 semester hours of college education from an accredited institution for licensure, though a growing number of states are creating alternative pathways that substitute additional work experience for the 30 hours beyond a bachelor’s degree. Some states let you sit for the exam before completing all 150 hours but require them before issuing the license. Rules vary enough that a call to your state board early on saves headaches later.
Applications go through your state board of accountancy or its designee (often NASBA), and typically involve submitting official transcripts, paying a state application fee, and waiting for your credentials to be evaluated. Once approved, you get a Jurisdiction ID as your permanent candidate identifier.
Fees come in two layers. Each state board sets its own application fee. On top of that, NASBA charges a per-section exam fee, currently $265.57, paid when you register for each part. Some states add first-time-candidate fees, transcript evaluation fees, or background check costs.
After approval, you’ll receive a Notice to Schedule (NTS) by email or through the online portal, containing a section-specific ID number you need to book your appointment and enter the testing center. NTS validity varies by jurisdiction, with some giving you six months and others more or less.4National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. CPA Exam FAQ If your NTS expires before you sit, you reapply and pay again.
Test Day
You schedule through the Prometric website using your NTS information, picking a center and time slot within your eligibility window. Arrive at least 30 minutes early. Check-in requires a valid government-issued photo ID that matches your NTS exactly, plus a biometric scan. Personal items go in a locker. No phones, watches, notes, calculators, or food come into the testing room. The center provides scratch paper or a notepad, and the on-screen tools handle everything else. When you finish, you submit through the software and collect a confirmation receipt at the front desk on your way out.
Credit Lifespan and Retakes
Credit for a passed CPA exam section lasts 30 months from the score release date under the current model, giving you two and a half years to pass the remaining sections after you bank your first one.8AICPA & CIMA. CPA Exam Credit Extension Deadline in June 2025 Some jurisdictions may offer a longer window, but none should be shorter under the updated model rules. If a passed section expires before you finish, you lose the credit and retake the section. Plan your testing order accordingly.
If you fail TCP, there is no mandatory waiting period before retaking it. Under continuous testing you can reapply as soon as your score releases, get a new NTS, and schedule again.4National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. CPA Exam FAQ The practical bottleneck is score processing (up to ten weeks for a discipline section), reregistration, and finding an open date.
What Licensure Still Requires After You Pass
Passing all four sections doesn’t automatically make you a CPA. Most states add two more requirements.
Most jurisdictions require one to two years of supervised work experience, typically 2,000 to 4,000 hours, verified by a licensed CPA. Some states accept only public accounting experience; others count industry, government, or academic roles.
Many states also require a separate professional ethics exam. The AICPA offers its own ethics course, which requires a 90 or higher for licensure candidates, but not every state accepts it.9AICPA & CIMA. Professional Ethics – The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Comprehensive Course for Licensure Confirm which ethics course your state board recognizes before you pay for one. Between exam section fees, state application fees, ethics courses, and licensing fees, the total cost of becoming a CPA often runs higher than candidates first budget for.