Build Your Personalized TCP Study Plan
Five quick questions. We'll build a TCP plan from the 2026 AICPA Blueprint: weighted topic priorities, a schedule for your timeline, and strategies for where you're stuck.
Where you are
Where are you in your TCP preparation?
What TCP actually tests (2026 AICPA Blueprint)
Plan for roughly 70 hours of focused study for TCP (most candidates land between 60 and 80). The personalized plan above tailors this to your stage, timeline, and biggest challenge. Here is the blueprint it is built on.
TCP content areas and weights
Area I: Tax Compliance & Planning for Individuals & Personal Financial Planning
30-40% · ≈ 25 hrsIndividual compliance and planning for gross income, AGI, taxable income, and estimated taxes; passive activity and at-risk loss limitations; gift taxation compliance and planning; personal financial planning.
Area II: Entity Tax Compliance
30-40% · ≈ 25 hrsC corporations; S corporations; partnerships; trusts; tax-exempt organizations.
Area III: Entity Tax Planning
10-20% · ≈ 10 hrsFormation and liquidation of business entities; tax planning for C corporations, S corporations, and partnerships.
Area IV: Property Transactions (disposition of assets)
10-20% · ≈ 10 hrsNontaxable dispositions; amount and character of gains and losses and the netting process; related-party transactions, including imputed interest.
TCP is the most applied section on the exam and it builds on the tax you saw in REG. Lean on that base, and treat the OBBBA provisions below as current law.
OBBBA and your exam date
TCP for exams on or after July 1, 2026 tests current law under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). For TCP, the OBBBA changes are simply the current rules to learn, not a separate set to toggle on or off. (If you happen to be sitting before July 1, 2026, you would be tested on the prior rules instead; but most current TCP candidates are testing in the OBBBA window.)
The OBBBA changes that matter most for TCP, which leans heavily on planning, are:
- The four new individual deductions on Schedule 1-A: qualified tips, qualified overtime, the senior bonus deduction, and auto-loan interest. These are below-the-line (they reduce taxable income, not AGI), and each has its own phase-out.
- The §199A qualified business income deduction made permanent, which changes long-range planning.
- The estate and gift exclusion raised with no scheduled sunset, which reshapes estate planning.
- The child tax credit increased and made permanent, and the standard deduction increased with the personal exemption permanently eliminated.
- 100% bonus depreciation restored permanently, domestic R&E expensed currently, and the §163(j) business interest limitation returned to an EBITDA-based calculation.
Because TCP is a planning section, the permanence of these provisions (no sunset) is itself a tested idea: planning strategies that assumed a 2025 or 2026 expiration no longer apply.
TCP study plan FAQ
How many hours should I study for TCP?
Plan for roughly 70 hours of focused study for TCP. Most candidates spend between 60 and 80 hours, depending on their background, how consistently they study, and their timeline.
Which areas are most heavily weighted on the TCP CPA exam?
Under the 2026 AICPA Blueprint, TCP covers 4 weighted areas: Area I: Tax Compliance & Planning for Individuals & Personal Financial Planning (30-40%); Area II: Entity Tax Compliance (30-40%); Area III: Entity Tax Planning (10-20%); Area IV: Property Transactions (disposition of assets) (10-20%). Allocate your study time to match these weights, because that is where the exam awards its points.
What should I know about TCP under the 2026 Blueprint?
TCP is the most applied section on the exam and it builds on the tax you saw in REG. Lean on that base, and treat the OBBBA provisions below as current law.
Does TCP test the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) changes?
For TCP exams on or after July 1, 2026, OBBBA provisions are simply current law rather than a separate set to toggle. The planning-relevant changes include the four new Schedule 1-A deductions (qualified tips, qualified overtime, the senior bonus deduction, and auto-loan interest), the permanent Section 199A deduction, the raised estate and gift exclusion, and permanent 100% bonus depreciation. Candidates sitting before July 1, 2026 are tested on the prior rules instead.