The time-fractional heat equation governed by nonlocal conditions is solved using a novel method developed in this study, which is based on the spectral tau method. There are two sets of basis functions used. The first set is the set of non-symmetric polynomials, namely, the shifted Chebyshev polynomials of the sixth-kind (CPs6), and the second set is a set of modified shifted CPs6. The approximation of the solution is written as a product of the two chosen basis function sets. For this method, the key concept is to transform the problem governed by the underlying conditions into a set of linear algebraic equations that can be solved by means of an appropriate numerical scheme. The error analysis of the proposed extension is also thoroughly investigated. Finally, a number of examples are shown to illustrate the reliability and accuracy of the suggested tau method.