This CPP cheat sheet compresses the Certified Payroll Professional exam into a fast, printable review of the payroll facts examiners test most. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Pair it with the rest of your free CPP toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
CPP exam at a glance
- Questions: 190 multiple-choice (165 scored + 25 unscored pretest)
- Time: 4 hours (computer-based, Pearson VUE)
- Passing score: Scaled score of 300 — pass/fail, equated across forms
- Cost: $435 members / $635 non-members (verify at payroll.org)
- Certifying body: PayrollOrg (formerly the American Payroll Association)
What’s on the CPP cheat sheet
- Core Payroll Concepts (24%) — worker classification, the FLSA, FICA and FUTA taxes, fringe benefits, imputed income, and deferred compensation — the largest domain.
- Calculation of the Paycheck (22%) — the gross-to-net sequence, overtime and the regular rate, supplemental-wage withholding, garnishments, and pre-tax vs post-tax deductions.
- Compliance / Research & Resources (14%) — wage-and-hour laws, tax deposit schedules, multi-state and reciprocity, penalties, and the IRS research publications.
- Payroll Process & Supporting Systems (14%) — the processing cycle, time and attendance, HRIS integration, data security, system selection, and paying employees and third parties.
- Payroll Administration & Management (10%) — policies, confidentiality, metrics and analytics, service standards, outsourcing, and continuity planning.
- Audits (8%) — internal controls, segregation of duties, reconciliation, year-end, and the types of payroll audit.
- Accounting (8%) — debits and credits, the payroll journal entry, accruals, and how payroll hits the financial statements.
How to use it in your final week
- Memorize the current tax figures cold — the CPP is closed-book: Social Security 6.2% up to a $184,500 wage base, Medicare 1.45% with no cap, 0.9% Additional Medicare over $200,000, and FUTA at a net 0.6% on the first $7,000.
- Front-load Core Payroll Concepts and Calculation of the Paycheck — together they are roughly 46% of the exam, so master those two areas from the sheet first.
- Drill the gross-to-net order until it's automatic: gross, then pre-tax deductions, then each tax on its own wage base, then post-tax deductions to net.
- Read the sheet the morning of the exam, then pair each review pass with a short timed practice set to keep your four-hour pacing sharp.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your CPP practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
CPP cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the CPP cheat sheet downloads as a PDF at no cost and with no sign-up. It sits alongside Career Employer's free Certified Payroll Professional toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards, all free too.
It compresses the highest-yield payroll facts into a quick reference: the gross-to-net sequence, FLSA overtime and the regular rate, FICA and FUTA rates and wage bases, supplemental-wage withholding, and garnishment limits — grouped by the seven domains PayrollOrg weights the exam around.
Because the CPP is closed-book, lock in the current tax numbers: the Social Security wage base ($184,500 for 2026) and 6.2% rate, Medicare 1.45% with no cap, the 0.9% Additional Medicare threshold ($200,000), FUTA at 0.6% net on the first $7,000, and the 22% flat supplemental rate — the cheat sheet lists them all in one place.
No — the CPP requires payroll experience and heavy calculation practice, so the sheet is a review and last-week cram tool, not a full course. Use it to fix facts in memory, then run full-length, domain-weighted practice tests to reach the scaled score of 300 you need to pass.
The rates and wage bases are pulled from the current IRS Publication 15, the SSA contribution base, and the PayrollOrg content outline, and we review them each cycle. Always confirm the year's figures against payroll.org and IRS.gov before test day, since limits change annually.
References
- 1.PayrollOrg. “CPP Exam Content Outline.” payroll.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.PayrollOrg. “Certified Payroll Professional (CPP).” payroll.org, 2026. ↑
- 3.Internal Revenue Service. “Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide.” IRS.gov, 2026. ↑
- 4.Social Security Administration. “Contribution and Benefit Base.” SSA.gov, 2026. ↑
- 5.U.S. Department of Labor. “Fact Sheet #23: Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA.” DOL, Wage and Hour Division, 2026. ↑
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