It is administered by the Steering Committee for the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (SC-TOP) (Chinese: 國家華語測驗推動工作委員會; pinyin: Guójiā Huáyǔ Cèyàn Tuīdòng Gōngzuò Wěiyuánhuì).

For children aged 7–12, an age-specific test exists called the Children's Chinese Competency Certification (or CCCC, Chinese: 兒童華語文能力測驗; pinyin: Értóng Huáyǔwén Nénglì Cèyàn).

[1] The test cannot be taken in Mainland China, Hong Kong or Macao, where only the PRC's HSK exam can be taken.

The Steering Committee for the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (SC-TOP) was established in November 2005 under the direction of the Republic of China's Ministry of Education.

It is the result of a joint project of the Mandarin Training Center, the Graduate Institute of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, and the Psychological Testing Center of National Taiwan Normal University.

TOCFL test takers who reach the level requirements will receive a certificate, which can serve as a credential of proficiency in Chinese for: Currently some[quantify] undergraduate and graduate programs in Taiwan adopt the TOCFL certificate as the requirement for admission or as the evaluation of an applicant's Chinese proficiency.

[2] In addition, many international businesses in Taiwan, such as LG, adopt TOCFL as a reference for their employee dispatch programs.

Please note: Taiwan Benchmarks for the Chinese Language (臺灣華語文能力基準, TBCL) is a guideline developed by Taiwan's National Academy for Educational Research to describe seven levels of Chinese language proficiency.

[3][4] For exams starting from August 2021, the TBCL ability level column will be added to the transcripts to help Chinese learners around the world understand the correspondence between TBCL, CEFR, and ACTFL guidelines.

[5][6] It is difficult to directly compare the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) with the TOCFL.

The objective is mainly to assess the competence of the test takers to effectively accomplish the communication tasks verbally in different language contexts.

The TOCFL Writing test is an evaluation of the test-taker's ability to use written materials to effectively transmit information in particular contexts.

The level-based grading system is based on the appropriateness and substance of the test-taker's responses to situational tasks, compositional structure and completeness, correct syntax, and the use of a suitably wide range of appropriate vocabulary.