Which pathway should I take through the exams? This depends on what you re doing now and what you re planning on doing in the future. Depending on the pathway you choose, the diagrams below show you what you need to do to complete your journey to success in the CTA exams. We recommend you take papers in May (or November), your Law and Ethics computer based assessments before you get your results in July (or January), and the remaining two papers in November (or May). Of course, you can do it quicker or slower if you like, but we do think you ll do better if you take the papers in the order shown, so if that s likely to be a problem, please call us and we ll be happy to help you find a solution that will maximise your chances of success. There are 3 typical pathways to obtaining the CTA qualification for those specialising in direct taxation. They are the General Practice pathway, the Corporate Specialist Pathway and the Personal Specialist Pathway. The General Practice Pathway People who work in general practice need to know a lot about everything. They may work on corporation tax computations on Monday, advise shareholders on their income tax liabilities on Tuesday, and advise a client about a PAYE enquiry on Wednesday. This pathway is particularly suited for those who are going to be advising businesses on all areas of taxation. This may be within a small firm or perhaps within a large firm in a particular department specialising in entrepreneurial taxation. This pathway is also a good choice for those starting out in their career that have yet to decide what areas of tax they are most interested in. So, if this is the type of Tax Adviser you want to be, or if you simply want to keep your options open, then we d recommend what we call the general practice pathway. This is the most popular route and will give you exposure to all of the main taxes, will equip you to advise in most situations and you can build on the knowledge you have gained if and when you decide to specialise in a particular area. These are the papers you need to take if you choose this pathway: Awareness Advisory Individuals Law CBA OMB Advisory OMB Inheritance Tax, VAT and Corporation Tax modules Taxation of Owner Managed Businesses
The Corporate Specialist Pathway If you already work in a corporation tax advisory role or really want to go in that direction in the future, then you should consider what we call the corporate specialist pathway this will give you more exposure to some of the high level corporate tax advisory issues you re likely to meet in practice. This pathway is much more than just being able to deal with corporation tax computations. You ll learn about all sorts of reorganisation and restructuring provisions, and you ll be exposed to lots of international corporate tax issues as well. It s very helpful if you already have some experience dealing with some of these issues in your day to day work. If you don t, then you might find it easier to pass by following the general practice pathway you can always specialise or move departments after you ve qualified! If you aren t sure what to do, then give us a call or pop in to one of our offices and we ll talk you through your options. These are the papers you need to take if you choose this pathway: Awareness Advisory OMB Law CBA ToC 3 Advisory ACT Inheritance Tax, VAT and Taxation of Individuals modules Advanced Corporation Tax 3 Taxation of Companies The Personal Specialist Pathway If you want to work with high net worth individuals, and are interested in trust and estate planning, then you should consider what we call the personal specialist pathway, which will give you more exposure to some of these issues. Just like the corporate specialist pathway, this path is much more than just being able to deal with income tax returns. You re likely to have to deal with some complex Inheritance Tax planning, and you ll be advising on the use of UK and non-resident trusts, as well as overseas aspects of personal taxation. This pathway tends only to be followed by those who are already working in these areas. That doesn t mean that you shouldn t follow this path if you re not already involved in this sort of planning, but it might be worth having a chat about your options with us first.
These are the papers you need to take if you choose the personal specialist pathway: Awareness Advisory IHT Law CBA IITE 3 Advisory Individuals VAT, Corporation Tax and Taxation of Unincorporated Businesses modules Inheritance Tax, Trusts & Estates 3 Individuals, Inheritance Tax, Trusts & Estates Some notes about booking options Materials The price of the classroom courses includes course notes or revision notes, as appropriate, but the study texts, course exams, mock exams and revision kits are included in the study materials section. You need to buy the study materials to qualify for Pass Assurance (which entitles you to a FREE taught or revision course if you fail the exam) where it s available. You can choose to sit your course and mock exams at home, or you can come in to BPP and sit them with us, under timed conditions. It s entirely up to you (or possibly your employer where they re paying), but if you sit them with us, we won t send them to you as part of the learning materials (so you re not tempted to have a look at them in advance). If you do want to sit them at BPP, make sure you let us know when and where on the booking form. Of course, if you wanted to sit them with us but it doesn t look like you re going to be able to make it, you can just give us a call and we ll send them straight out to you so you can do them at home. Make sure you submit them by the deadline date though, or you won t qualify for Pass Assurance. The Awareness Paper The CTA Awareness Paper contains five modules from which you need to choose three. Each module contains short-form questions worth 5 marks and you will need to obtain at least 50% to pass the paper. The modules are VAT, Inheritance Tax ( IHT ), Corporation Tax ( CT ), Taxation of Individuals ( Individuals ) and Taxation of Unincorporated Businesses ( TUB ). You are not allowed to choose the same topic at Awareness and Advisory papers, so different pathways will take different modules. Each module is covered on different days but as our Awareness courses are arranged by pathway you will automatically be booked on the days that are relevant to you.
Advisory: Individuals Essentially, this paper covers Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax. We teach them separately, so you ll need to book both courses. If you re following the general practice pathway, then some of the income tax course is also examinable in the Advisory OMB paper (see below) Advisory: Owner Managed Businesses The syllabus for this paper contains income tax and corporation tax. We teach this through an Income Tax course and a Business Tax/Corporation Tax course. The Income Tax course is the same course that you need to take if you re also taking the taxation of Individuals Advisory paper. If you have already booked or attended this course there s no need to do it twice. If you are worried you might forget what you ve learned, don t forget that with effect from courses running to May 0, you have access to all of the online lectures until after the next exam, so you can review the material and recap as often as you like before then. If you ve already got a copy of the Taxation of Individuals study text, because you bought it as part of the Individuals Advisory materials, then you don t need another copy. If this is the case we ll adjust your order and charge you a reduced price for your OMB materials. If you are following the general practice pathway but you ve decided to do the OMB paper first then you ll need to book on the Income Tax course and you ll also need a copy of the Taxation of Individuals study text a bit earlier than you otherwise would to make sure you ve got the entire OMB syllabus covered. In this case, we ll adjust your Individuals Advisory study materials order later so you don t get charged twice for the same book. Advisory: Advanced Corporation Tax The syllabus for this paper is, as you might expect, mostly Corporation Tax. We teach the syllabus of this paper through the Business Tax/Corporation Tax course and the Corporation Tax course. The Business Tax/Corporation Tax course is the same course that you need to take if you re also taking the OMB Advisory paper. If you have already booked or attended this course there s no need to do it twice. If you are worried you might forget what you ve learned, don t forget that from courses running to May 0, you have access to all of the online lectures until after the next exam, so you can review the material and recap as often as you like before then. If you ve already got a copy of the Business Taxation study text, because you bought it as part of the OMB materials, then you don t need another copy. If this is the case we ll adjust your order and charge you a reduced price for your ACT materials. Advisory: Inheritance Tax, Trusts and Estates This course is an online course. It runs for around weeks and is an integrated course containing taught and revision elements. All of the material you would normally get on a standard daytime course is included, and is sent to you in hardcopy (as it becomes available so you may receive multiple deliveries) and is also available online the week before the course starts. Online lectures, regular tutor contact and online forums are also included.
Law and Ethics This course is an online course. It runs for around 8 weeks and is an integrated course containing taught and revision elements. All BPP material is included and is sent to you in hardcopy (as it becomes available so you may receive multiple deliveries) and is also available online the week before the course starts. Ethics material is also available online. Online lectures, regular tutor contact and online forums are also included. You ll need to buy the Law text direct from the CIOT. Don t forget, you must have passed your CBAs by the time you register to sit your final exam. Application and This paper has three direct tax options: Taxation of Owner managed Businesses; Taxation of Companies; and Taxation of Individuals, Inheritance Tax, Trusts and Estates. You will be automatically booked on the days that are relevant to your pathway, but other combinations are possible. Please call us if you want to discuss your options.