Registered AITI Tax Qualification Info and Questions

Legend100 · 26-07-2011 10:14AM

oops didnt think about that re Taxfind!!

I sent mine off straight away but it said that the fee is for 6 months aiti membership to the end of march which would be a september start so i dont think we will become members until then anyway

plus my credit card hasnt been charged the fee yet either

REDSOCKS22 · 26-07-2011 10:40PM

jarvis_c82 wrote: »

Passed Indirect went down in Personal by 2%. Blaming a poor Continuous Assessment for that. Ah well, have to sit it once more.

Well done to everyone who passed.

Would you not get it rechecked??It's only 2% you never know and it's only €60 to get it rechecked I def would if I was you.Three out of four isn't bad though so well done and you'll def get it next time.

whatyathink · 28-07-2011 08:21PM

Congrats to everyone that passed their exams in the May sitting, i'm so jealous of ye!!
Unfortunately i failed all 4, i'm so disappointed as i was hoping to get at least 2 of them:(

Does anyone have any advice on how to start back studying or how they approached their study as there's only a little over 4 weeks left and i have done nothing since May and i have only a few weeks off work!!

Would appreciate any advice at all:)

Mr. Incognito · 29-07-2011 10:44AM

See my reply on the last page

The Oggmonster1 · 30-07-2011 12:07PM

In terms of the Part 3 Personal tax exam, can somebody confirm whether the high earners relief restriction is a guaranteed question on the paper. It seems to have appeared in each of the last 6 papers. Is this just a mere coincidence or is it like the Revenue Audits question in the Prof Advice paper which is an "unofficial" guaranteed question. Please only respond with sensible answers. Thanks.

Jackjake · 05-08-2011 01:50PM

Hi, doing my part 2 exams for first time in a couple of weeks. Can someone help me in relation to referencing? Can the Regulations be tagged? Or is it restricted to the legislative references in the actual act itself? thanks a million.

scheister · 08-08-2011 09:22AM

hi

Studing atm for my part 1's and after after the revision weekend the lecturer has confused me on one small part around residence. Would someone here be able to help.

If someone is resident, non ordinary resident and Irish Domiciled are they taxable on worldwide income
or
treated the same as been non resident but ordinary resident and Irish Domiciled where its irish income and foreign non employment income over €3,810
and yes i have tried the revenue website already and could not find an answer.

arrowman · 08-08-2011 03:44PM

Hi scheister (great name by the way!!)

A domiciled, resident, non orddinary resident person is subject to income tax on worldwide income and CGT on worldwide gains.

This was a recent change in Finance Act 2010 - see section 71 (2) & (3) TCA 1997

scheister · 08-08-2011 04:37PM

arrowman wrote: »

Hi scheister (great name by the way!!)

A domiciled, resident, non orddinary resident person is subject to income tax on worldwide income and CGT on worldwide gains.

This was a recent change in Finance Act 2010 - see section 71 (2) & (3) TCA 1997

thanks leaving cert accounting teacher gave me the name.

thats what i taught thanks for clearing that up arrowman

whatyathink · 10-08-2011 11:33PM

Hi all
Just wondering was anyone at any of the Personal tax (Part 3) revision course at the weekend and if so, was there any tips given? Any help greatly appreciated!

heffelump · 15-08-2011 12:04PM

Anyone got any tips on how to memorise the cases in chapter 18 advanced business tax? My head is fried trying to remember them all :-(

Gomer Pyles · 16-08-2011 10:59PM

Hi I have been thinking of doing the AITI exams. As a recent member of the ACCA I would be exempt from part 1. Im just a small bit worried that commencing at part 2 will be a massive jump. Particularly seeing as I havent studies tax for about 2 years.

Can anyone advise me on how tough part 2 exams are and if you are at a disadvantage if you have been exempt from part 1

TheScriptFan · 17-08-2011 08:23AM

Gomer Pyles wrote: »

Hi I have been thinking of doing the AITI exams. As a recent member of the ACCA I would be exempt from part 1. Im just a small bit worried that commencing at part 2 will be a massive jump. Particularly seeing as I havent studies tax for about 2 years.

Can anyone advise me on how tough part 2 exams are and if you are at a disadvantage if you have been exempt from part 1

If you are a qualified ACCA, you are more than capable of slotting into part 2 and will find it no problem. The AITI are a good deal harder than accountancy exams, I would advise studying hard from the get-go in part 2, because when you get to part 3 there is a massive jump and you need to know your basics very hard.

good luck!

Mr. Incognito · 17-08-2011 09:07AM

scheister wrote: »

hi

Studing atm for my part 1's and after after the revision weekend the lecturer has confused me on one small part around residence. Would someone here be able to help.

If someone is resident, non ordinary resident and Irish Domiciled are they taxable on worldwide income
or
treated the same as been non resident but ordinary resident and Irish Domiciled where its irish income and foreign non employment income over €3,810
and yes i have tried the revenue website already and could not find an answer.

Yes- this is a basic tenant and it is where people still consistently lose marks at Part three.

There are two tests- one for Income Tax and One for CGT- I suggest you write it on the inside of your income tax book and keep refering to it.

Income tax

The default position is that Irish source employment income is taxed in Ireland regardless. The employer is usually oblidged to register and account for PAYE/ PRSI- This is a bit beyond part one though

Resident, Ord Res, Dom: Taxed on Worldwide Income
Resident, Non Ord Res, Dom: Taxed on worldwide income earned after date of residence. Can remit capital that is accrued before the became resident tax free.

Non Res, Ord Res, Dom: Irish source income and foreign earnings >3,810
Non Res, Non Ord Res, Dom: Irish source income only if in Ireland > 30 days

Res, Ord Res, Non Domiciled: Irish Source income and remittances.
Non Res, Ord Res, Non Domiciled: No charge. If Irish income it may suffer with-holding tax (eg rental income)

CGT

You will see that if you are either res/ord res and dom it's worldwide and non dom is specified assets only.

Res, Ord Res, Dom: Worldwide gains
Non Res Ord Res, Dom: Worldwide gains
Res, Non Ord Res, Dom: Worldwide gains

Non res, Non Ord Res, Dom: Irish specified assets only

Res, Ord Res, Non Dom: Irish specified assets only
Non res, Ord Res, Non Dom: Irish specified assets only
Res, Non Ord Res, Non Dom: Irish specified assets only.

They tend to teach these as a combined test but it's easier to break them out - one for Income tax and one for CGT

Reference:http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/res1.html

Slither89 · 17-08-2011 11:29AM

TheScriptFan wrote: »

If you are a qualified ACCA, you are more than capable of slotting into part 2 and will find it no problem. The AITI are a good deal harder than accountancy exams, I would advise studying hard from the get-go in part 2, because when you get to part 3 there is a massive jump and you need to know your basics very hard.

good luck!

I can easily agree with this. I just repeated the Personal tax exam for Part 2 on Monday and must admit they are extremely tough. I work in a tax practice and am a Member of ACA and think that you should try and consider the ACA tax course. The AITI course at the moment is very unbalanced. The materials you recieve to study for the exams are not even close to the standard you will see in the exam and the exams have gotten much more difficult since 2010.

Also, in the part 2 papers they tend to ask quite alot of questions from part 1! Which they have been doing alot since last year so if you haven't done Part 1 I'd advise to study that course too.

They also aren't as helpful in my experience as the ACA and mark the papers quite hard....so kinda annoyed I didn't look into the ACA course more before trying AITI!!! But if you decide AITI best of luck!

Legend100 · 17-08-2011 11:42AM

Isnt the chartered tax consultant course with the ACA exclusively for ACA members?

The query on the AITI course was from someone who is ACCA

heffelump · 17-08-2011 05:54PM

I completely agree. If you can do the exams with any other institute go for it. I wish I could. Wouldn't recommend doing
The course with the ITI I found SOME of the lecturers very poor and couldn't answer basic questions and the papers are marked ridiculously hard. The material provided
Is extremely poor. We are constantly being asked about prior years study and criticised if our information is based on prior tax yrs as were in the old manuals. They'll tell you you can get up to date manuals on taxfind but they don't print well and make sure to check for the errata pages on the website because the manuals always have mistakes.

In my opinion they do all this because they have had the monopoly on the qualification and they make a fortune out of students failing. It's not in their interests for students to pass and now with the new rules about going back to year one if you don't pass after 4 sittings they'll definitely be laughing all the way to the bank.

Another employee recently asked to be enrolled in the course and my employer said straight away that he will not be putting any more of us through these and is looking forward to when the ACCA or a similar institute offer students a fair
Chance of qualifying

If you do go with ITI my advice would be for any part two exam buy the up to date part one manual and when you get to part three you will need the up to date part one and two manual of the corresponding subject

Slither89 wrote: »

TheScriptFan wrote: »

If you are a qualified ACCA, you are more than capable of slotting into part 2 and will find it no problem. The AITI are a good deal harder than accountancy exams, I would advise studying hard from the get-go in part 2, because when you get to part 3 there is a massive jump and you need to know your basics very hard.

good luck!

I can easily agree with this. I just repeated the Personal tax exam for Part 2 on Monday and must admit they are extremely tough. I work in a tax practice and am a Member of ACA and think that you should try and consider the ACA tax course. The AITI course at the moment is very unbalanced. The materials you recieve to study for the exams are not even close to the standard you will see in the exam and the exams have gotten much more difficult since 2010.

Also, in the part 2 papers they tend to ask quite alot of questions from part 1! Which they have been doing alot since last year so if you haven't done Part 1 I'd advise to study that course too.

They also aren't as helpful in my experience as the ACA and mark the papers quite hard....so kinda annoyed I didn't look into the ACA course more before trying AITI!!! But if you decide AITI best of luck!

Mr. Incognito · 17-08-2011 07:47PM

In relation to the above.

I am not affiliated with the Insitute but I am AITI Qualified.

I would have to disagree with a whole host of those points. The courses in my experience have been taught extrememly well, especially at part three level.

Regardless tax isn't something you can be "taught" per se, it's something you have to teach yourself. People are used to being spoon fed or learning out of a manual. The tax exams are not like that- you have to learn how to interpret legislation and the only way to do that is to get in the habit of going to the pimary legislation, reading it until you get the knack of picking it up.

The papers are not, in my experience marked "ridiculously hard"- there is only one right and wrong answer in most subjects like VAT, Income Tax and corp tax- there is no room for subjection. You are either right, or you are wrong. Tax management is one that has various scenarios for tax planning but it has to be based on knowledge and critical analysis.

And as for a racket- try dealing with the law society. I am a solicitor and a tax head and I found the tax institute friendly, courteous and they do specials for people that have lost their jobs. If anything the exams are getting easier as you can carry over credits now if you pass- when I sat them you needed 60% to keep a subject if you failed other ones.

In closing can I say the exams are hard because they are SUPPOSED to be. Tax is a highly specialised, technical area of study and the ramifications for the wrong tax advice are harsh, expensive and unforgiving. Persons that are qualified have a professional standard and it is only by applying yourself that you will pass- not by blaming the manuals, the lecturers or the institute.

heffelump · 17-08-2011 09:00PM

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

In relation to the above.

I am not affiliated with the Insitute but I am AITI Qualified.

I would have to disagree with a whole host of those points. The courses in my experience have been taught extrememly well, especially at part three level.

Regardless tax isn't something you can be "taught" per se, it's something you have to teach yourself. People are used to being spoon fed or learning out of a manual. The tax exams are not like that- you have to learn how to interpret legislation and the only way to do that is to get in the habit of going to the pimary legislation, reading it until you get the knack of picking it up.

The papers are not, in my experience marked "ridiculously hard"- there is only one right and wrong answer in most subjects like VAT, Income Tax and corp tax- there is no room for subjection. You are either right, or you are wrong. Tax management is one that has various scenarios for tax planning but it has to be based on knowledge and critical analysis.

And as for a racket- try dealing with the law society. I am a solicitor and a tax head and I found the tax institute friendly, courteous and they do specials for people that have lost their jobs. If anything the exams are getting easier as you can carry over credits now if you pass- when I sat them you needed 60% to keep a subject if you failed other ones.

In closing can I say the exams are hard because they are SUPPOSED to be. Tax is a highly specialised, technical area of study and the ramifications for the wrong tax advice are harsh, expensive and unforgiving. Persons that are qualified have a professional standard and it is only by applying yourself that you will pass- not by blaming the manuals, the lecturers or the institute.

I respect your comments and too have sat through the 60% to pass. I am aware that there is an amount that has to be learnt ourselves but in my experience I have had lecturers read the manual to us and as you said yourself that type of spoon-feeding is not needed. We are all capable of reading.

I don't believe that I'm the brightest of people but if the lecturers I had don't work through examples and can't answer questions how exactly do I learn how to apply the manual to questions

I disagree with aspects of the course, mainly the learning of tax briefings and pension manual off by heart. I work in practice and have done for 10 years and I would never advise a client without reviewing my advice. I believe if part three is to be examined on a practical level more home assignments are necessary to really assess a student or assignments completed under supervision.

I find the girls in the institute fantastic and couldn't fault them but even when we complained about the lecturer we were told there was nothing they could do and apologised.

As an aside its a pity you dont lecture Mr Icognito I feel like I learn more from your bits of advice here than I did throughout the year. do you give grinds?

Mr. Incognito · 18-08-2011 08:27AM

I've never actually thought about grinds, I think the only way to learn this stuff is to sit down and work through it yourself and each area is specialised. While I would be kick ass at VAT and Income tax and tax management, my corp tax knowledge is quite basic as I do not work in that Industry.

If you or anyone else is stuck kindly open a thread and we can work through it for people that are having difficulties with any particular area- this Forum was initially set up for that purpose- discussion of taxation theory.

Unfortunately it has turned into a free advice shop but ce la vie.

TheScriptFan · 22-08-2011 10:57AM

Hi Part 3'ers...wondering if anyone has any tips on personal? did anyone go to the revision at the AITI as opposed to NCI one?

gallyer · 22-08-2011 08:05PM

no unfortunately dont know of any tips. I was actually going to ask the same question for personal and indirect taxes. Good luck with the study.

PabloIndentes · 30-08-2011 06:42PM

Just wondering if anyone has the latest Part 1 books / manuals & past exam papers.

Looking to start March 2012, but am exempt from part 1, thanks to the ACCA.

I did the Advanced paper P6, but would like to look them over to see what the level is.

Thanks

P

gallyer · 04-09-2011 08:28PM

How did any Part 3ers find the exams last week. i was doing personal and indirect, thought personal was pretty difficult and hope I done enough to get a pass. indirect was a lot fairer I thought, and I'm pretty hopeful I got it.

Michael1987 · 06-09-2011 05:51PM

Hi guys, can anyone give me an estimate on study hours for Part III AITI tax exams? I'm trying to do it outside a full time job that won't give me any leave to do it. My plan was to try to get into an "hour a day" routine from the start in the hope that this would be enough while balancing work and family - this would give me about 300 hours outside of lectures. Would this be sufficient? I passed the part 2 exams first time but I was out of work at the time so I had the four weeks before to study a lot. Hope to hear back soon as registration is coming soon! Thanks!!

The Oggmonster1 · 06-09-2011 10:30PM

If you cannot get more than a couple of weeks off before the exams, I would advise you to use both the May and August sittings to get you through. Register for all 4 and turn up for all four papers in May but only study for two for the May sitting and study the other 2 for August.
You have to remember that you are up against guys who work in Tax in the Big Four who will get 7/8 weeks off before the exams. It's not a level-playing field and you will find it very tough to pass all four at once with little or no study leave (I'm speaking from experience!!).
Best combo is prob Business Tax and VAT in May and then PT and Professional Advice in August.

Legend100 · 07-09-2011 08:35AM

Michael1987 wrote: »

Hi guys, can anyone give me an estimate on study hours for Part III AITI tax exams? I'm trying to do it outside a full time job that won't give me any leave to do it. My plan was to try to get into an "hour a day" routine from the start in the hope that this would be enough while balancing work and family - this would give me about 300 hours outside of lectures. Would this be sufficient? I passed the part 2 exams first time but I was out of work at the time so I had the four weeks before to study a lot. Hope to hear back soon as registration is coming soon! Thanks!!

I was in a similar situation to you as i was not going to be given any leave from work to study for them. I got all four first time but I took my entire years annual leave to study for the exams and the exam week. That gave me three weeks off to study which wasnt nearly enough. I started studying 4 nights a week (not every week...but that was my intention!) from January after the continuos assesment. The step up from part 2 cannot be underestimated both in terms of difficulty and amount of material. Everything from part 1&2 is examinable plus you have all the part 3 material and the external reading (which is a must given that there are often parts of q's that are directly relating to it especially in personal for the secondment material)

As the previous poster said, you could always work hard on two and repeat the other 2 in August....only drawback is if you were to fail one of the two you study for!

tbukela · 08-09-2011 08:52PM

Just wondering if anyone else having problems registering online. I can get as far as the review final details but the submit button isn't click-able?

SquishyLady · 08-09-2011 09:04PM

Hi
I had the same problem. I've emailed them to see if they payment was accepted, but I haven't heard back yet. I'm out of work until Monday but I'll post as soon as I receive a response.

Muzi5434 · 13-09-2011 06:37PM

Hey guys,

I applied for the part two course just there, I'm exempt from part one because of doing a masters. Was wondering if anyone going into audit (trainee) is doing the same as me?
First year: AITI part 2
Second year: FAE
Third year: AITI part 3

Registered AITI Tax Qualification Info and Questions

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