ICAS ITP tax qualification
There is very little information on the new ITP ICAS tax qualification so I thought that it would be useful to post about this, and in particular the difference between ITP and CTA. The ITP is the ICAS equivalent of the CTA, and is less well known due to its relatively recent introduction in 2011, but its content is largely similar and hopefully will be recognised in the wider world as an equivalent to the CTA. I have not taken the CTA myself, but only know about it from others’ experiences and the comments from tax tutors, so it would be useful for somebody who sat the CTA to chip in with input if necessary. However, I have attempted every ITP exam that has been set so far (as it’s only been two years) – two intakes as practice, as well as the most recent intake which was my actual exam.
Broadly, the content of ITP is technically similar to the CTA. It’s just as dense, and most of the syllabus is similar, although there may be certain things in the ITP not in the CTA and vice versa. For example, the element of more than one restriction in restricted securities which is in ITP but not in CTA. In ITP it is mandatory to cover all elements of tax – so this includes Taxation of Individuals, Companies and Indirect Taxation, for the advanced tax exams. As far as I know, this is not necessary for CTA, where certain exams can be chosen, and indirect tax is multiple choice in CTA whereas it's a full-blown exam in ITP. The ITP is focused on more practical, scenario based questions, rather than the theoretical emphasis in CTA. So whereas in CTA from my "second-hand" experiences, one may get a question asking you to talk about the Section 16ZA TCGA 1992 election, an ITP exam would probably set up a scenario, and could prompt you to write a largely similar answer, but only by inference from circumstances in the scenario. Often while learning the theory in ITP isn’t ridiculously complex for the most part (although there are certain areas that can be), the density of information to be learned in a relatively short amount of time makes its difficulty on a par with CTA exams, although pass rates are marginally higher (at least at KPMG) than they were for CTA exams. The presentation of questions in a scenario form can also lead to confusion over what the question actually requires, particularly for the written sections – some elements appear clear, but there may be large areas missed without even realising that it was relevant.
The CTA is notorious for testing obscure sections of the syllabus at length in exams, which can often lead to good students failing – the ITP was expected not to be as bad in this respect, and is probably not quite as mean as the CTA in this respect. However, in all the exams I have attempted, there have been significant portions of the paper testing relatively obscure areas of the notes, and of which there were no practice questions provided, as the sections appear to be irrelevant. It also isn’t as simple as memorising the notes, often success in questions derives from logical deductions in a particular scenario, and won’t necessarily be reached as a conclusion from simply knowing the notes by rote, unless a full understanding is gained. As an example, in the 2013 Individuals paper, personal service companies (a small section which most tutors did not consider highly examinable) appeared as a 20 mark question, and seemingly insignificant payments on account formed 12 marks of a 20 mark question on the 2013 Indirect Taxation paper.
Overall, ITP tax provides comprehensive coverage of the tax syllabus (although only scratches the surface of tax itself in reality) although the exams themselves are on a par with CTA in terms of the level of difficulty. CTA exams are probably still a bit harder to pass due to the fact that ITP exams probably examine the content more fairly in relative terms, but even the ITP exams (unlike the CA exams) do not necessarily go for coverage over depth – they tend to test about a third of the syllabus of each type of tax in their respective exams, sometimes in quite some detail. So whereas in the TPS CA exams, you could gain a good knowledge of the core areas in each topic and still pass if you didn't know all the small obscure details for the extra marks, in ITP tax, it may not be the case depending on what you are dealt in the exam - you may well have to deal with areas that aren't considered "core" but could form a significant part of the exam. Of course, certain core areas will be tested as well.
To give you an idea of pass rates – these are the pass rates for KPMG (which are similar to the national pass rates as only 40 or so more people take these exams on top of KPMG’s intake)
2012 Pass rates –
Individuals – 57%
Companies – 63%
Indirect – 66%
2013 Pass rates
Individuals – 59%
Companies – 74%
Indirect – 54%
Broadly, the content of ITP is technically similar to the CTA. It’s just as dense, and most of the syllabus is similar, although there may be certain things in the ITP not in the CTA and vice versa. For example, the element of more than one restriction in restricted securities which is in ITP but not in CTA. In ITP it is mandatory to cover all elements of tax – so this includes Taxation of Individuals, Companies and Indirect Taxation, for the advanced tax exams. As far as I know, this is not necessary for CTA, where certain exams can be chosen, and indirect tax is multiple choice in CTA whereas it's a full-blown exam in ITP. The ITP is focused on more practical, scenario based questions, rather than the theoretical emphasis in CTA. So whereas in CTA from my "second-hand" experiences, one may get a question asking you to talk about the Section 16ZA TCGA 1992 election, an ITP exam would probably set up a scenario, and could prompt you to write a largely similar answer, but only by inference from circumstances in the scenario. Often while learning the theory in ITP isn’t ridiculously complex for the most part (although there are certain areas that can be), the density of information to be learned in a relatively short amount of time makes its difficulty on a par with CTA exams, although pass rates are marginally higher (at least at KPMG) than they were for CTA exams. The presentation of questions in a scenario form can also lead to confusion over what the question actually requires, particularly for the written sections – some elements appear clear, but there may be large areas missed without even realising that it was relevant.
The CTA is notorious for testing obscure sections of the syllabus at length in exams, which can often lead to good students failing – the ITP was expected not to be as bad in this respect, and is probably not quite as mean as the CTA in this respect. However, in all the exams I have attempted, there have been significant portions of the paper testing relatively obscure areas of the notes, and of which there were no practice questions provided, as the sections appear to be irrelevant. It also isn’t as simple as memorising the notes, often success in questions derives from logical deductions in a particular scenario, and won’t necessarily be reached as a conclusion from simply knowing the notes by rote, unless a full understanding is gained. As an example, in the 2013 Individuals paper, personal service companies (a small section which most tutors did not consider highly examinable) appeared as a 20 mark question, and seemingly insignificant payments on account formed 12 marks of a 20 mark question on the 2013 Indirect Taxation paper.
Overall, ITP tax provides comprehensive coverage of the tax syllabus (although only scratches the surface of tax itself in reality) although the exams themselves are on a par with CTA in terms of the level of difficulty. CTA exams are probably still a bit harder to pass due to the fact that ITP exams probably examine the content more fairly in relative terms, but even the ITP exams (unlike the CA exams) do not necessarily go for coverage over depth – they tend to test about a third of the syllabus of each type of tax in their respective exams, sometimes in quite some detail. So whereas in the TPS CA exams, you could gain a good knowledge of the core areas in each topic and still pass if you didn't know all the small obscure details for the extra marks, in ITP tax, it may not be the case depending on what you are dealt in the exam - you may well have to deal with areas that aren't considered "core" but could form a significant part of the exam. Of course, certain core areas will be tested as well.
To give you an idea of pass rates – these are the pass rates for KPMG (which are similar to the national pass rates as only 40 or so more people take these exams on top of KPMG’s intake)
2012 Pass rates –
Individuals – 57%
Companies – 63%
Indirect – 66%
2013 Pass rates
Individuals – 59%
Companies – 74%
Indirect – 54%
Thank you. That was very interesting as I am interested in obtaining a taxation qualification in the future and as you said there is not much information about it.
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