REG CPA Exam Study Guide: Format, Topics, and Practice
Organize ethics, business law, property, individual tax, and entity tax around the current 2026 testing boundary and your practice evidence.
Quick answer
Taxation and Regulation is a required Core section. It combines ethics and federal tax procedures, business law, property transactions, individual taxation, and entity taxation. Tax questions become easier to organize when you classify the taxpayer, transaction, timing, and limitation before calculating. Start with the current format below, then use free REG practice to test whether the study priorities match your actual misses.
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2026 REG format and score weight
REG is a 4-hour Core section. Its two MCQ testlets contain 36 and 36 questions. Its three TBS testlets contain 2, 3, 3 tasks. The testlets total 72 MCQs and 8 TBSs.
Section type
Core
Testing time
4 hours
Multiple-choice
72 MCQs · 50%
Simulations
8 TBSs · 50%
Current REG content areas
Use these ranges to allocate coverage, then adjust for your own practice results. The ranges do not predict the exact number of questions or tasks on an individual exam.
| Area | Official content area | Score allocation |
|---|---|---|
| I | Ethics, Professional Responsibilities and Federal Tax Procedures | 10-20% |
| II | Business Law | 15-25% |
| III | Federal Taxation of Property Transactions | 5-15% |
| IV | Federal Taxation of Individuals | 22-32% |
| V | Federal Taxation of Entities (including tax preparation) | 23-33% |
Official facts reviewed 2026-08-03
Blueprint tasks are representative, not exhaustive. The number of listed tasks does not establish content weight or predict the exact questions a candidate will receive.
Current REG and TCP tax-testing boundary
Only H.R. 1 provisions within the applicable REG or TCP Blueprint scope are eligible for testing. Within that scope, provisions effective in 2024 or 2025 became eligible on July 1, 2026; all other provisions become eligible in the calendar quarter beginning six months after their effective date.
Read the official AICPA noticeKeep a section-specific sample offline
Request the REG MCQ and TBS PDFs when you want a portable sample. The PDF request is separate from creating a CPAPass account.
A complete CPAPass sample sequence for REG
This is CPAPass study guidance, not an AICPA timetable. Keep the stages in this order when they expose useful dependencies, but change the duration and repetition based on your baseline, work calendar, and timed results.
Sample REG study sequence
Select a stage to see its purpose. This is not an official timetable. Repeat or shorten stages according to your baseline, work calendar, and timed practice results.
Stage 1: establish procedure and law foundations
Review ethics, professional responsibilities, federal tax procedure, and the business-law relationships that determine rights, duties, and remedies.
Keep your primary course aligned with the current Blueprint, then use practice evidence to decide whether this stage needs more repetition.
REG practice focuses
Classify before calculating
Identify the taxpayer, transaction, tax year, character, and applicable limitation. A memorized threshold cannot rescue a question classified under the wrong rule.
Follow basis across events
Track beginning basis, contributions, allocated items, distributions, and ending basis separately for the entity and owner when the form requires it.
Keep law and tax consequences distinct
Business-law questions may turn on enforceability, authority, priority, or remedies rather than a tax calculation. Name the legal relationship first.
Worked REG study examples
These examples show how to turn a broad topic into a concrete practice response. They illustrate a study method and do not predict the exact questions on an exam form.
Classify a changed tax fact
Scenario: Two questions use the same payment amount, but one payment is made by an individual and the other through an entity. You apply the same rule to both.
Practice response: Rewrite each stem into taxpayer, transaction, timing, character, and limitation. Then identify which one changed. Recalculate only after selecting the rule that belongs to that taxpayer and event.
Trace partnership basis through a distribution
Scenario: A partner has beginning outside basis, a share of income, a cash distribution, and a property distribution. Your final basis is wrong even though each amount is familiar.
Practice response: Write the ordering as a basis rollforward and distinguish cash from property consequences. Apply increases before decreases, test any limiting rule at the correct step, and reconcile the final outside basis rather than netting all amounts immediately.
Important REG exceptions
- Tax rules depend on the testing date. Only H.R. 1 provisions within the REG Blueprint scope are eligible for REG testing. Within that scope, provisions effective in 2024 or 2025 became eligible on July 1, 2026; all other provisions become eligible in the calendar quarter beginning six months after their effective date.
- Taking REG before TCP can reduce relearning for some candidates, but REG is not an official prerequisite for TCP.
- A study sheet built for an earlier tax year may still explain a concept but can be unsafe for current thresholds, limitations, or eligible provisions.
REG troubleshooting
Diagnose the observable symptom before adding more study hours. A concrete next step is more useful than restarting an entire course because one practice set went badly.
You remember a threshold but repeatedly select the wrong rule.
Likely cause: Taxpayer type, year, transaction, character, or limitation is not classified before calculation.
Concrete next step: Add a five-column fact grid before solving. Change one fact in the missed question and explain why the applicable rule changes or remains the same.
Entity and owner basis numbers become mixed together.
Likely cause: Inside basis, outside basis, and account-level consequences are being tracked in one calculation.
Concrete next step: Use separate labeled rollforwards for the entity, asset, and owner. Reconcile each before computing the transaction consequence.
Current-law questions conflict with an older note or PDF.
Likely cause: The material predates the testing boundary for your scheduled exam window.
Concrete next step: Check the current AICPA Blueprint and tax-testing notice, mark the material by eligible testing date, and replace unsupported thresholds before continuing practice.
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REG CPA Exam questions
- What is the 2026 REG CPA Exam format?
- REG is a 4-hour Core section with 72 MCQs and 8 TBSs. The MCQs are split into testlets of 36 and 36, and the TBSs into testlets of 2, 3, 3. MCQs carry 50 percent of the score and TBSs carry 50 percent.
- Which tax-law changes can appear on REG after July 1, 2026?
- The AICPA notice limits REG eligibility to H.R. 1 provisions within the REG Blueprint scope. Within that scope, provisions effective in 2024 or 2025 became eligible on July 1, 2026; all other provisions become eligible in the calendar quarter beginning six months after their effective date.
- Do I have to pass REG before taking TCP?
- No. REG is not an official prerequisite for TCP. The sequence can be efficient because the sections share tax foundations, but eligibility and exam order remain separate decisions.
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