What CPA Tax Compliance and Planning actually tests
TCP is a Discipline section (choose 1 of 3: BAR, ISC, or TCP):
| Area | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Individual Tax Compliance & Planning | Retirement planning, self-employment planning, passive activity rules, AMT |
| Property Taxation & Basis Planning | Stepped-up basis at death, stock options (ISO vs. NQSO), QOZ |
| Entity Selection & Planning | C corp vs. S corp vs. partnership vs. LLC, QBI (§199A) |
| International Tax | GILTI, subpart F income, foreign tax credit, FIRPTA |
| Estate & Gift Planning | GRATs, SLATs, IDGTs, generation-skipping transfer tax |
| Tax Research & Professional Standards | IRC hierarchy, substantial authority standard, SSTS compliance |
Why entity selection is the section's connective thread
Nearly every TCP topic eventually feeds back into the "which entity structure minimizes total tax" question — the QBI deduction, self-employment tax exposure, and international tax rules all shift depending on whether income flows through a sole proprietorship, partnership, S corp, or C corp. Understanding these interactions, not just each rule in isolation, is what TCP is really testing.
Sample question: QBI Deduction
A sole proprietor has qualified business income (QBI) of $100,000, and taxable income well below the phase-out threshold. Assuming the QBI deduction is limited to 20% of QBI, what is the deduction?
Under IRC §199A, the QBI deduction is generally 20% of qualified business income: $100,000 × 20% = $20,000. Above certain taxable income thresholds, the deduction becomes subject to W-2 wage and unadjusted basis limitations (and specified service trades or businesses may be excluded entirely) — but below the threshold, the flat 20% applies cleanly.
The TCP blueprint, area by area
Pinnacle runs on a syllabus graph — named areas with explicit prerequisites, each one mapped against the AICPA's Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints effective January 2026. It is the same map the free diagnostic reasons over, not a marketing summary of it. These are the four confirmed TCP areas, and what each one covers:
Tax Compliance & Planning — Individuals
Individual computations at the planning level: equity compensation awards, alternative minimum taxable income, imputed interest on below-market loans, tax on a child's unearned income, itemising versus the standard deduction, estimated payments to avoid underpayment penalties, and year-end projection under changing rates and legislation. Passive activity and at-risk loss limitations get detailed treatment — suspended losses included — and personal financial planning covers retirement plans from IRAs to 401(k)s, after-tax return on investment, education funding, insurance in risk mitigation, and the estate implications of legal ownership and beneficiary designations.
Entity Tax Compliance & Planning
Compliance across C corporations — loss utilization with the ownership-change limitation, consolidated returns, international sourcing of income — S corporations and their shareholder basis, partnerships with partner basis and elections, trusts from grantor to complex with distributable net income, and tax-exempt organizations including unrelated business income. The planning half compares entity choices for formation and liquidation, projects built-in gains on proposed dispositions, times income and expenses under changing law, and structures contributions, distributions, shareholder loans and guaranteed payments.
Property Transactions Planning
Nontaxable dispositions — like-kind exchanges and involuntary conversions, with realized, recognized and deferred gain and the basis of the asset received — and the character-and-netting machinery: Section 1231, depreciation recapture under Sections 1245 and 1250, unrecaptured Section 1250 gain, Section 1244 small business stock losses, and installment sales. Related-party rules close it out: identifying related parties through direct and indirect ownership, gain or loss on subsequent disposition, and imputed interest.
Gift Taxation & Planning
Allowable gift tax deductions and exclusions, the unified transfer tax system — how the annual exclusion, the marital deduction and the unified credit shape planning — calculating taxable gifts, and gifting strategies that select the property to gift to minimise the donor's future estate.
Every practice question in the bank is tagged to one of these blueprint areas — which is how the diagnostic can name the specific concept underneath a wrong answer, not just the area it sat in.
Area names follow the AICPA's published Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints (effective January 2026), referenced for accuracy. Pinnacle is an independent adaptive learning platform. CPA is a professional designation administered by US state boards of accountancy. Pinnacle is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the AICPA, NASBA, or any US state board of accountancy.