The tax bill was passed in 2017 and this will have a direct and significant impact on the CPA exam.
The new tax law will be eligible for CPA testing starting on January 1, 2019. CPA candidates will be responsible to know the new law and how it should be applied.
Any time a monumental tax law is changed you do not want to be the first candidates taking the CPA exam as you will be like a guinea pig. No one knows what the new questions will cover and usually, the first round of new questions are more difficult because AICPA has not had time to calibrate the exam. This means that you should aim to take the REG exam before December 10, 2018.
You can expect significant changes to the questions relating to:
- Federal Taxation of Property Transactions
- 2. Federal Taxation of Individuals
- 3. Federal Taxation of Entities
I would encourage all students to structure their CPA exam order to get REG out of the way in the next testing window. Usually, we do not encourage students to take the REG exam first. However, given the changes on the horizon, I would probably push students to focus on REG in the next two testing windows.
As always, we will update our materials in January 2019 and all CPA candidates will receive free updates.
