[CPA2BinCA]

NINJA Question –

Background: I have been at the CPA for over 4 years. I haven’t been able to get through REG but I passed the other three exams while working full-time and with long commutes. REG has been my stumbling block and I end up having to retake AUD, FAR and BEC after they expire, so I have passed them multiple times. Not proud of this but wanted to show that I am capable of passing them while juggling late nights during ME, QE and YE.

I have never taken a college course in tax so I got introduced to US tax while studying for the CPA. I used Becker (self-study) for the first REG attempt, but after that I used Ninja exclusively. It didn’t matter if I got through 1000 Ninja mcqs or 2000, I seem to get the exact same score each time!

Here’s my question – Do you think I should invest in an online course? If so, which one would fellow Ninjas recommend? I have a baby at home so all studying would have to be done after the she goes to sleep from 9/10pm till 2/3am. I am worn out as it is. I have BEC, I just wrote FAR, have to re-write AUD and pass REG. I am confident I can pass AUD with Ninja alone, but I would like suggestions on how to tackle my next and hopefully last attempt at REG. I plan to write it mid-August.

Thanks in advance!

AUD - Done
FAR - Done
BEC - Done
REG - TBD

[M123]

That's a tough one. What are your statistics for the major sections of Ninja? What areas were you stronger/weaker on the exam results?

If MCQ is not helping understand and increase scores, it seems possible that either you're not learning from each question or that there is a fundamental of tax that you are not getting.

The benefit of a college course in tax is that it would have some of the logical reasons for tax, direct, indirect, sin taxes, as well as the concepts that are key to understand such as concepts of deferral, not double dipping, etc. But one college course would likely not be enough or take you further than you have already studied. An entry level tax course may be boring at this stage – that's for you to decide.

Is there any way for you to join an in-person study group? While all these online options are convenient, it sounds like human interaction may be the thing to help. Iron sharpens iron, and all. Get on your rolodex, linkedin, facebook (do people still use that) or whatever – pick 5 current CPAs that you know. Contact them – ask them for coffee, advice, contacts to study with. Be vulnerable.

To summarize:
* Real people
* Try to find a book or resource that explains the principles of tax – not just the litany of rules
* Make sure that for every question you do in MCQ – that you can explain in your own words why. Right or wrong answers! Use the Japanese way – “5 whys”. If you can explain the why of each why – you will master this. Work slowly and methodically – it sounds like 30 questions done very slowly and carefully is better than blasting through 90 at the moment.

[CPA2BinCA]

HI M123,

I really appreciate the detailed feedback. I will definitely tap into my CPA resources for lessons/potential study buddies.

After reading your response, I went back to my test scores and tried to look for trends. In my last attempt, I was ‘Comparable' or ‘Stronger' for all but two areas: BLaw and Taxation on Entities. I was also ‘Stronger' on the MCqs. However, I was Weaker on the Sims, which was the opposite of how I did on previous REG attempts.

You are right about missing fundamentals in tax as Blaw and Taxation on Entities have been my weak areas in all of my previous attempts. I don't know why I didn't notice it before.

I suppose I can work on Blaw by reading my Becker and Ninja notes and doing mcqs.

You had mentioned getting a textbook for tax, can you or any other Ninja recommend one?
A Google search recommended the ‘Your Income Tax' J.K. Lasser

Since I've been consistently scoring poorly on Taxation of Entities, I looked up books on corporate tax and found the following:
a) Federal Income Taxation of Corporation and Shareholders by Bitker and Eustice (seems hard to get an actual copy of this)
b) Examples & Explanations: Corporate Taxation, 4th Edition by Cheryl D. Block
c) Black Letter Outline on Corporate and Partnership Taxation, 7th (Black Letter Outlines) by Steven Shwarz

Have you or any other A71ers used this books while in college or while studying for REG? If so, please comment on whether they are helpful to have for someone without a tax background.

Thank you in advance!

AUD - Done
FAR - Done
BEC - Done
REG - TBD

[Wanna_B_TXCPA2014]

@cpa2binca I had one tax course in my grad studies and 2 seasons at H&R block like 5yrs ago. Just took REG for the 3rd time. Don't get down on yourself. Tax is alot of info. I too struggled with entities my advice write your notes like this

Entity: Partnership
Partner Partnership
Basis=
Income=
Separately Stated=

You have to keep the shareholder separate from entity because if not they will confuse you. Something that helped me was to see the individual side of the business entities a diff way. The interest in any form is an investment and the benefits of income or loss on investment is based up your level of investment (ie your basis) Basis is the cummulative changes in value based around individual/organization and organization/customer transactions. Once I was able to see it from that prospective I feel like my understanding got better.

Business law is keeping the story straight. I tried making a narrative out of some of the to help with memory. This test is a grind for sure as I've been at it since Oct 13. Keep your chin up. Success is not given to those who ask, but to the one's will the unrelenting will to take it!

[M123]

Bittker and Eustice is extremely thick and detailed. It does have a lot of background for material but it's a bit of a rathole.

I'm even thinking a few chapters in Economics on Tax Policy. I really like “Public Finance and Public Policy” (Gruber) – section 5 has US tax policy.

A careful look online may reveal a PDF of it but even an older copy on Ebay would be good.

Some of the things I'd want to define are:
– Why is some tax deferred while other forms are due at time of transaction? what is the benefit to the economy or government?
– Who bears tax incidence?
– What is the motivation of the government to create tax credits and deductions?
– Why do pass-through entities exist?
– What are the differences with territorial and worldwide tax and how does the US stay competitive?

I'm thinking if some of these concepts resonate, then some of the answers also will make more sense. I'd love to hear what others say.

[Author]

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