Advisory Papers

Advisory Papers

Introduction

There are six Advisory papers from which you must select two. They are traditional style 3 hour tax papers and you must sit and pass both of your chosen papers, as well as your Awareness and Application & Interaction papers to become a Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA). They are set in May and November each year.

Each Advisory paper consists of between 5 and 10 long form questions worth between 10 and 20 marks. They are all compulsory. Please note that when selecting your Advisory papers from the list below this will dictate the Awareness modules that you will have to sit. It is therefore important to choose your two Advisory papers before you book your Awareness course.

The six Advisory papers are:
Taxation of Individuals
Taxation of Owner-Managed Businesses
Advanced Corporation Tax
Inheritance Tax, Trusts and Estates
VAT on UK Domestic Transactions (including SDLT)
VAT on Cross-Border Transactions and Other Indirect Taxes

The aim of the Advisory papers is to examine your knowledge at a detailed advisory level. You should therefore choose the two topics that are most related to your day-to-day work.

Pre-requisites

In order to sit the Advisory papers you must have registered as a student with the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT). You should be registered for at least 6 months prior to the examination. As we are completely independent of the CIOT we cannot do this for you. The CIOT handle all of the administration relating to the real examinations and further information can be found on their website.

Our objective is to provide you with first-class training materials and courses in order to help you pass the examinations.You do not need to have sat any other paper before sitting the Advisory papers but because of the link between the Advisory and Application & Interaction papers you must ensure that you carefully consider the order in which you sit these papers. There is some overlap between the tax syllabuses for different papers and because of this there are certain advantages to sitting the papers in a particular order where you are planning on splitting your attempts.

What we offer

Correspondence course (Traditional)

This consists of the appropriate study manuals for your chosen paper, together with a question bank for each study manual. It also includes two 3 hour link exams and a 3 hour pre-revision mock exam, for you to submit to us for marking. For May 2010 examinations onwards it will also include a pre-revision bank of further exam standard questions which will be sent to you in February if you are sitting the May examination or August if you are sitting the November examination. Finally, it includes access to our unique Online Academy. Please note that it does not include the Tolley Yellow and Orange legislation as many firms provide these direct to their students. We can supply these separately at a discounted price if necessary.

Tolley's Online Academy

Our unique Online Academy is a web based system allowing access to your study manuals and question banks online, enabling you to study anytime, anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection. It also includes our audio visual lectures and MP3 player sound files covering the entire syllabus. There are also tutor and student forums available providing essential information and answers to queries.

Correspondence course (Online)

This contains everything that is included in the correspondence course except you do not get hard copy manuals or question banks, and the price you pay reflects our reduced printing and despatch costs. You can access all of the study manuals and question banks in pdf format on the Online Academy and print them out, chapter by chapter, should you wish. You will, of course, have access to all of the functionality of the Online Academy.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS OPTION MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE IF YOU DECIDE TO ATTEND A CLASSROOM COURSE. YOU ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE HARD COPY STUDY MANUALS FOR THESE COURSES. IF YOU DO DECIDE TO ATTEND A CLASSROOM COURSE YOU WILL NEED TO PRINT OUT YOUR MANUALS BEFORE THE COURSE. YOU MAY FIND THAT THE TRADITIONAL CORRESPONDENCE COURSE IS MORE APPROPRIATE.

Revision material

Those students who are not attending our revision course can purchase our revision question bank, revision mock examination and memory joggers separately. These are available to purchase shortly before the revision course and details are posted on our website after the publication of the examination results from the previous sitting. Please note that if you are enrolled on the Guaranteed Pass Scheme or have booked a revision course this material is included as part of your course fee.

Guaranteed Pass Scheme

Our results show that if students follow a structured programme of study their chances of success are greatly increased. This package consists of our traditional correspondence course (including Online Academy access), classroom courses and revision course. Not only do we give you a discount compared with booking everything separately but in the unlikely event that you are not successful we will give you a revision course and updated material free of charge for your next attempt. For full terms and conditions please click here but the key aspects of the scheme are that you must submit all of your link exams in line with your study programme and attend every day of the classroom and revision courses. You must pay the course fee in advance and fees are not refundable.

Classroom courses

For those who do not wish to commit to the Guaranteed Pass Scheme you are able to book individual courses if you wish. The classroom courses are mainly lecture based with question practice being done at home. Please note that if you wish to attend the classroom courses individually you must also purchase the correspondence course. If you have chosen to purchase the Online Correspondence Course (which does not include the hard copy manuals you must print out the required manual(s) prior to attending a classroom course). The classroom courses are included as part of the Guaranteed Pass Scheme.

Revision courses

We also offer revision courses for those students who want a final boost prior to the examinations. These courses are mainly question based and concentrate on examination technique with the focus on getting the required marks to pass the examination. All of the material is included in the fee and the price includes a mock examination that you sit under examination conditions that is marked and returned to you. Unlike the classroom courses you do not need to have purchased our correspondence course to attend the revision course. The revision course is included as part of the Guaranteed Pass Scheme.

How long should I be studying for?

It is difficult to be precise as different people study at different rates but as a rough guide we would expect around 130-140 hours of home study for each Advisory paper in addition to the courses. If you are studying by correspondence course only you are likely to need another 30-40 hours.

What else do I need to think about?

You are able to take a copy of the Tolley Yellow and Orange Legislation (or CCH equivalents) into the exam with you. It is therefore advisable to acquire a set and we can supply these at a discounted price. There is a separate section on the enrolment form should you wish to buy these. Please note that whilst you may highlight, underline and sideline the legislation, the books must contain no other markings (although you are permitted to write your name on them). You are also not allowed to use post it notes or page flags.

Actual exam entry is a separate exercise from student registration and you are responsible for ensuring that you are entered for the examination, we are unable to do this for you. You must enter for the examination by 28 February if you are sitting in May, or by 31 August if you are sitting in November.

Deferrals

If you find that you wish to defer your attempt at the examination to a later sitting you can do this but additional fees will be payable, particularly if you are deferring from November to May when a new set of material is required because the Finance Act will have changed. But you should note that if you defer more than once it might affect your status under the Guaranteed Pass Scheme.

Material updates

Our material is published in the autumn for exam sittings in the following calendar year. If you are booking a course before this point and taking the exam in the following calendar year you will initially be provided with the material for the earlier Finance Act. You will then automatically be sent a set of updated material, free of charge, as soon as it is published. This also applies to the availability of material on the Online Academy.

Our terms and conditions

You will be asked to confirm that you agree to them when placing an order.