A basic principle of Capital Gains Tax is that if a gain is exempt, a loss on the same asset is normally not allowable.

However, there are exceptions – the most notable being shares subscribed for in an EIS company where income tax relief was obtained.

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1. Total Income

2. Net Income

3. Taxable Income

Total Income

This is the sum of all sources of income – non-savings income (employment, trading and property income), savings income and dividend income.

The only deductions made in arriving at Total Income are those allowed in computing the income from…

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Where to go from here?

As I finished teaching Advanced Technical Large Corporate Groups last week, I made the point to my class that they should prioritise understanding and learning the core points of the most important topics first.

Then if you run out of time, the topics you haven’t covered will hopefully be the more minor and less exam-relevant ones.

So, the first thing to do is make a priority list of what you are going to study in what order.

If you are interested in a top up resource, I have recordings on tricky technical subjects for AT OMB, IND and LCG available for sale on my website There are five sessions for each paper, each about an hour long and come with supporting notes.

Price is £49 each or £225 for the 5. A relatively quick way to cover off some tricky topics, especially if you’re pressed for time!

www.roderickblacktraining.co.uk

And I know what you’re probably thinking: ‘Fine — but what do you mean by the core topics?’

Good question!

See below for key areas to get started on!

Get these nailed down and you’ll feel a lot better about your progress through the syllabus.

Wishing you the best of luck in your studies and of course in the exam in October.

Roderick

Roderick Black

CTA private and online tuition

LCG

· Adjustments of trading profits

· Capital allowances

· CT computation including quarterly instalments

· Losses

· Group relief

· Capital gains groups

IND

· Employment income - especially benefits in kind and expenses

· ALL the capital gains reliefs

· Share schemes - especially non tax advantage and EMI

· Overseas areas start with statutory residence test and FIG, TRF

OMB

· Adjustments of trading profits

· Capital allowances

· Losses

· Capital gains reliefs – Rollover Relief first then BADR, Gift Relief and Incorporation Relief

· PAYE & NIC

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The question here is, firstly, HOW should you study for APS?

Since APS is not primarily a technical challenge but one of technique your efforts should not just be focused on technical knowledge.

So, firstly keep the technical knowledge going from relevant the Advanced Technical paper. In this regard it’s important not to spend too much time on detailed computational aspects of that paper as computations are not a major part of APS.

There is also an Awareness syllabus for each APS paper and, although that is not guaranteed to appear in your particular paper, you should devote some time to revising that syllabus. But I would keep it relatively high level and again avoid the study of detailed computational aspects.

Your main study effort for APS should be practising the technique aspects. APS is primarily a technique challenge - most of the private tuition work that I do is for students who have failed this paper, sometimes multiple times, and in each case, it is always a failure of technique not technical knowledge.

So, once you have got clear in your mind what the techniques are for this paper, you need to practise them by doing past exam questions.

That is not a small undertaking!

You need to set aside a full three and a half hours and do the past exam question in one go and then you have to debrief your answer thoroughly, not only by reference to the examiner’s answer and marking guide but most importantly, study the candidate script on the Institute website.

There are often a number of these scripts varying in the mark achieved. Review your answer alongside what is a good pass rather than the best script. In other words, assess your answer by comparing it with a script that you can realistically achieve yourself.

I would think therefore it is full day’s work to do a past exam and debrief thoroughly. So probably you need to take a full day at the weekend or spread it over 2 half days.

How many of these past exam questions should you do?

I would aim for one a week through September and October, possibly increasing in number as the exam gets closer.

What should you do in August?

Brush up the technical knowledge (as above) and focus on understanding the techniques required for this paper.

Hope this helps and I wish you the very best of luck in the exam!

Roderick

Roderick Black

CTA online and recorded private tuition

Capital gains reliefs operate in one of three ways:

1. Exemption – the gain is not taxable

2. Deferral – the gain is not taxable now but will crystallise on a future disposal or other chargeable event.

3. Reduced rate of tax – the gain is taxed at a lower rate

Examples

Exemption

· Private Residence Relief (PRR)

· Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEI…

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Definition

Non-tax advantaged share scheme – any scheme that awards shares directly to employees that isn’t a Share Incentive Plan (SIP).

Non-tax advantaged share o…

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(1) The time limit for claims and elections run from the end of:

· Tax Year for Income Tax & CGT

· Accounting Period for Corporation Tax

(2) Most time limits are either:

· For IT/CGT - anniversary of 31 January following the Tax Year

· For CT - 2 years or 4 years from the end of the Accounting Period.

Exam tip!

If unsure, guess anniversary of 31 …

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UK companies or foreign companies in respect of a UK PE where there is more than 50% control.

An individual sole trader (or partnership) who controls such companies can also be part of the group registration.

Consequence

A VAT group is treated as a single taxable person. Therefore, intra-group supplies are outside the scope of VAT.

Exam trap: Don’t write “exempt” or “zero-rated”!

Other key points to remember

· You need to apply to HMRC for VAT grouping – it does NOT apply automatically!

· Can choose to leave any company out of the VAT group registration – this is often sensible where they make zero-rated supplies and monthly VAT repayments are advantageous.

· One group member is appointed the ‘representative member’

Key advantages

Simplification - representative member submits a single VAT return and VAT payment

Allows centralisation of group VAT affairs

Disadvantages

ALL companies remain jointly and severally liable for the VAT liability

If one group company delays providing information, the entire VAT group may submit or pay late. Any penalties are based on the group’s larger VAT liability and can therefore be significant.

Enjoyed these Tax Nuggets?

I’m posting this as a free Nugget to all subscribers and followers.

If you’d like to receive a new Tax Nugget every week—concise technical insights and exam techniques designed to help UK tax students remember the points that matter most - why not subscribe?!

I’m a freelance CTA tutor. Over many years I’ve taught many students across the CTA papers, mainly through Tolley and Kaplan, as well as providing one-to-one private tuition. Earlier in my career I was also an ICAS tax examiner, writing professional examination questions.

The aim of this publication is simple.

Every month I publish four concise Tax Nuggets covering technical tax topics and exam technique. They are designed to help you remember key principles, avoid common mistakes and maximise your exam marks.

These aren’t intended to replace your textbooks or manuals. Instead, they focus on the points that students most often forget—or wish they’d remembered when they walked into the exam!

Over the months running up to the exam, just a few of these Nuggets could gain you those vital extra marks!

Free subscribers

As a free subscriber, you’ll receive occasional posts – for example about frequently asked questions such as: Should I sit APS at the same time as Advanced Technical or not?

I’ll also send you my exam predictions of what topics might come up in selected Advanced Technical papers. And so on!

Paid subscribers

A paid subscription gives you access to:

• Four new Tax Nuggets every month.

• A growing archive of previous Nuggets.

So, you’ll receive:

• Concise exam relevant technical points covering a wide range of UK tax topics.

• Practical exam technique tips drawn from many years of teaching professional tax qualifications.

At just £5.99 per month (or £59 per year), that’s little more than £1 per Tax Nugget.

I’ve included a sample Tax Nugget below to give you a flavour of what you can expect.

Whether you’re studying CTA, ATT, ACA, ACCA or ICAS tax papers, I hope you’ll find the publication a valuable addition to your studies.

Thank you for subscribing, and I wish you every success in your exams.

Roderick Black

Subscribe now

Tax Nugget #1

Exam Technique Nugget

Relevant to: ALL UK tax exams (CTA • ATT • ACA • ACCA • ICAS)

The three things every written answer should contain

Whenever an examiner asks for a written explanation, make sure your answer contains these three elements:

1. THEORY

What are the relevant tax rules?

2. APPLY

Apply those rules to the facts in the question.

3. CONCLUDE

Give a clear answer to the client or examiner.

Remember:

THEORY → APPLY → CONCLUDE (Mnemonic– TAC)

Exam shortcut

If you find it easier, start with your conclusion.

Then simply add the following word

“BECAUSE”

And finish the sentence or paragraph!

This shows the examiner that not only do you know the correct answer but he can see you know WHY – ie know the rules and can apply them!

Example

Conclusion

The gain on the disposal of the 15% shareholding is taxed at 18% because Mr X qualifies for BADR.

Theory applied

This is because he has been an employee, the company has been trading, and he has owned at least 5% of the ordinary share capital for the 24 months before disposal.

A claim must be made by 31 January 2029.

The CGT payable is £xx.

Remember ….

THEORY

APPLY

CONCLUDE

If your answer contains all three, you’re far more likely to score the technical and application marks available.

I’m a freelance CTA tutor. Over many years I’ve taught many students across the CTA papers, mainly through Tolley and Kaplan, as well as providing one-to-one private tuition. Earlier in my career I was also an ICAS tax examiner, writing professional examination questions.

The aim of this publication is simple.

Every month I publish four concise Tax Nuggets covering technical tax topics and exam technique. They are designed to help you remember key principles, avoid common mistakes and maximise your exam marks.

These aren’t intended to replace your textbooks or manuals. Instead, they focus on the points that students most often forget—or wish they’d remembered when they walked into the exam!

Over the months running up to the exam, just a few of these Nuggets could gain you those vital extra marks!

Free subscribers

As a free subscriber, you’ll receive occasional posts – for example about frequently asked questions such as: Should I sit APS at the same time as Advanced Technical or not?

I’ll also send you my exam predictions of what topics might come up in selected Advanced Technical papers. And so on!

Paid subscribers

A paid subscription gives you access to:

• Four new Tax Nuggets every month.

• A growing archive of previous Nuggets.

So, you’ll receive:

• Concise exam relevant technical points covering a wide range of UK tax topics.

• Practical exam technique tips drawn from many years of teaching professional tax qualifications.

At just £5.99 per month (or £59 per year), that’s little more than £1 per Tax Nugget.

I’ve included a sample Tax Nugget below to give you a flavour of what you can expect.

Whether you’re studying CTA, ATT, ACA, ACCA or ICAS tax papers, I hope you’ll find the publication a valuable addition to your studies.

Thank you for subscribing, and I wish you every success in your exams.

Roderick Black

Tax Nugget #1

Exam Technique Nugget

Relevant to: ALL UK tax exams (CTA • ATT • ACA • ACCA • ICAS)

The three things every written answer should contain

Whenever an examiner asks for a written explanation, make sure your answer contains these three elements:

1. THEORY

What are the relevant tax rules?

2. APPLY

Apply those rules to the facts in the question.

3. CONCLUDE

Give a clear answer to the client or examiner.

Remember:

THEORY → APPLY → CONCLUDE (Mnemonic– TAC)

Exam shortcut

If you find it easier, start with your conclusion.

Then simply add the following word

“BECAUSE”

And finish the sentence or paragraph!

This shows the examiner that not only do you know the correct answer but he can see you know WHY – ie know the rules and can apply them!

Example

Conclusion

The gain on the disposal of the 15% shareholding is taxed at 18% because Mr X qualifies for BADR.

Theory applied

This is because he has been an employee, the company has been trading, and he has owned at least 5% of the ordinary share capital for the 24 months before disposal.

A claim must be made by 31 January 2029.

The CGT payable is £xx.

Remember ….

THEORY

APPLY

CONCLUDE

If your answer contains all three, you’re far more likely to score the technical and application marks available.