The ADIT qualification offers a fantastic return on investment. This article explains the costs of ADIT to help you decide on investing in your international tax career.
1. Mandatory Fees to Chartered Institute of Taxation
The initial cost of ADIT is registering with the CIOT as an ADIT student. This is a one-off fee of £210. Registration as an ADIT student remains valid for 5 years.
If you are already a member of the CIOT (e.g. a CTA), you may not be required to pay this fee. If this applies, you should contact the ADIT Education Team to discuss registering as an ADIT student.
There is an entry fee of £195 for each exam paper (or the extended essay option).
Therefore, the total fees for registering as an ADIT student and sitting three ADIT papers are £795.
2. Costs for Permitted Texts
The syllabus for each ADIT module lists books which you are permitted to bring into the exam hall to use as reference materials during the examinations (known as Permitted Texts). You should include the costs of buying at least some of these Permitted Texts when evaluating the costs associated with ADIT.
It is possible to obtain free online copies of some of the materials, e.g. the UN Model Convention & Commentary, to use in your studies. However, it is not possible to bring printed versions of these materials into the exam centre, as all Permitted Texts must be bound books.
As a minimum, you should purchase the latest version of the relevant volumes of ‘Materials on International, TP and EU Tax Law’ by Kees Van Raad. These are available to buy from the International Tax Center Leiden‘s webshop at https://webshop.itc-leiden.nl/.
The volumes and current prices for the Kees Van Raad materials are:
- Volume A – focuses on international tax law materials and includes the OECD Model Convention & Commentary, the UN Model Convention & Commentary, key OECD reports and the BEPS reports on Actions 2 & 7. A full table of contents is available here.
- Price: €60 (currently out of stock as the 2020/21 version is being released in April 2020).
- Volume B – contains the most relevant texts on transfer pricing, including the 2017 version of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines and the UN Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing for Developing Countries. A full table of contents is available here.
- Price: €45
- Volume C1 – contains EU texts, including the full text of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, updated texts of various Directives and 65 decisions of the EU Court of Justice relating to income tax issues from the period July 2016 – April 2018. A full table of contents is available here.
- Price: €45
- Volume C2 – contains decisions of the EU Court of Justice relating to income tax issues from January 1986 to July 2014. A full table of contents is available here.
- Price: €40
Volume A is essential for Principles of International Taxation and many of the optional ADIT papers, including the jurisdictional options. Volume B is essential for the Transfer Pricing module. Volumes C1 & c2 are essential for the EU Direct Taxation module.
Buying all four volumes of Materials on International, TP and EU Tax Law currently costs €190 plus postage. These materials are a good investment for any practitioner of international tax, whether or not studying for ADIT.
3. Costs of ADIT Course Providers
The most significant part of your investment in your ADIT studies is likely to be the cost of ADIT training courses. There are a variety of options on structure, delivery, pricing etc. and you’ll need to decide which options will give you the best learning experience for your investment.
The CIOT publishes a list of ADIT course providers here. You’ll have to visit their individual websites or contact them for pricing details. The CIOT recommends that you ask questions to evaluate the following factors when deciding on your ADIT course provider:
- Style
- Content
- Success rates
- Experience and qualifications held by the tutors
You can find detailed information about the ADIT training provided by Extratax Training at ADIT Information and ADIT FAQ. We measure success not just in terms of achieving your ADIT diploma or certificate – also by how we increase your international tax skills and knowledge to help your career advancement.
4. Benefits of ADIT
The costs of ADIT are easier to quantify than the benefits, but we believe that investing in ADIT offers a significant return on investment. Our tutors can tell you their personal stories about their ADIT success. If you’d like to hear what senior international tax experts have to say about ADIT, visit the ADIT section of the etaxjobs website to read comments including:
“ADIT provides in-depth knowledge of cross-border tax, invaluable to a global company like Michelin. It enhances the value that I am able to add to the business and provides opportunities to extend my horizons beyond the UK.”
Michelin | Robert Johnstone ADIT, Director of International Taxation | Singapore
“ADIT has a perfectly balanced curriculum which enabled me to study international tax in a systematic manner, and I found that completing my LL.M. was much simpler because of my previous ADIT studies.”
P.R. Bhuta & Co. Chartered Accountants | Harshal Bhuta ADIT, Partner | India
“The addition of the ADIT qualification was a clear choice to enhance our offering as an independent consultancy. It strengthens our own brand, and offers our clients the security that the advice they receive is of an assured, global standard. We have not looked back.”
Priority Tax Consulting | James Ryan ADIT, Principal | Ireland
“In pursuing the ADIT exams, I developed a strong technical understanding of international tax issues, and by successfully completing ADIT I was able to gain the confidence to apply this technical knowledge of important topics affecting my clients, such as transfer pricing and permanent establishments. My success, first as an ADIT student and now as an International Tax Affiliate of the CIOT, has not only assisted my self-development, but has helped me to gain significant recognition as an international tax practitioner.”
Grant Thornton | Quang Tran-Trung Phan ADIT, Tax Manager | Malaysia
We’re always happy to answer questions about our online ADIT training courses and give you the benefit of our ADIT experience. Email us at info@extrataxtraining.com or start a conversation with our founder, Catriona Loughran, on LinkedIn.
CIOT has announced the 10th Joint International Tax Conference, being held in London on Tuesday 17 March 2020.
This leading international tax conference is jointly arranged by ADIT, King’s College London and the UK branch of the International Fiscal Association. The conference fee is set at an attractive rate of £120 for this full day event, plus there’s a reduced fee of £100 for ADIT International Tax Affiliates and current ADIT students.
This upcoming conference follows the inaugural ADIT Conference held in London in September 2019 and offers industry insights and experiences from renowned tax professionals. The event will build on the success of previous International Tax Conference events organised by King’s College and the Chartered Institute of Taxation, and previous joint meetings between IFA and the CIOT’s European Branch.
The agenda includes hot international tax topics:
- Emerging General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAARs) in international tax
- Taxation and the digital economy
- International tax dispute resolution – now and looking forward
- Tax aspects of future UK trading relations
The 10th Joint International Tax Conference takes place in the Great Hall, King’s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS. Register online to secure your place at this interesting event.
We hope to see you there. Please come and say hello to our founder, Catriona Loughran, who loves to talk about ADIT & international tax!
Looking for more exam-standard questions as part of your preparation for the ADIT UK paper?
We’ve compiled the list below of recent past paper questions from the CTA Awareness & Advanced Technical papers which overlap with the Option 2.09 syllabus.
Our advice is to attempt these questions under exam conditions, being careful to stick to the timing of 1.8 minutes per mark. It’s tempting to read the question & then the answer, and tell yourself that ‘I would’ve got that point’! You’ll have a much better idea if this is true by writing out your answer and using the marking guides to see how you’ve performed.
Individuals, including Globally Mobile Employees
- Deemed domicile and remittance (Q1 Taxation of Individuals – May 2019 Advanced Technical Paper)
- Note on ‘Transactions in UK Land’ anti-avoidance (Q2 Taxation of Individuals – May 2019 Advanced Technical Paper)
- UK employee on secondment to Germany (Q4 Human Capital Taxes – May 2019 Advanced Technical Paper)
- Individual moving tax residence from UK to Spain (Q5 Taxation of Individuals – November 2018 Advisory Paper)
- Note on Business Investment Relief for non-UK domiciled individual (Q6 Taxation of Individuals – November 2018 Advisory Paper)
- Dutch company engaging a UK employee (Q1 Human Capital Taxes – November 2018 Advisory Paper)
- Global secondments from a UK company (Q3 Human Capital Taxes – November 2018 Advisory Paper)
- German workers coming to the UK (Q1 Human Capital Taxes – May 2018 Advisory Paper)
- UK employee relocating to Australia (Q5 Human Capital Taxes – May 2018 Advisory Paper)
- New Zealand resident spending time in the UK (Q1 Human Capital Taxes – May 2017 Advisory Paper)
As the CTA exams focus on specific areas of UK tax, you will find that some of the questions (e.g. Human Capital) require more in-depth knowledge than typically required for the ADIT UK option. Tackling these questions is a good way to confirm your understanding & prepare you for the challenges of the ADIT paper.
Corporation Tax & Anti-Avoidance
- Hybrid mismatch & Controlled Foreign Companies (Q4 Taxation of Major Corporates – May 2019 Advanced Technical Paper)
- Corporate migration (Q5 Taxation of Major Corporates – May 2019 Advanced Technical Paper)
- Corporate residence, permanent establishment and Withholding Tax (WHT) on royalties & service fees (Q5 Taxation of Major Corporates – November 2018 Advisory Paper)
- Transfer pricing & Diverted Profits Tax (DPT) (Q6 Taxation of Major Corporates – November 2018 Advisory Paper)
- Scope of UK corporation tax, entity classification, Controlled Foreign Companies and international financing structures (Q4 Taxation of Major Corporates – May 2018 Advisory Paper)
- Cross-border dividend, interest & royalty payments (Q3 Advanced Corporation Tax – November 2017 Advisory Paper)
- Note on Diverted Profits Tax (DPT) (Q2 Advanced Corporation Tax – May 2017 Advisory Paper)
- Acquiring a group with Controlled Foreign Companies (CFCs) (Q5 Advanced Corporation Tax – May 2017 Advisory Paper)
See the CIOT website (https://www.tax.org.uk/students-qualifications/studying/past-exam-papers) for the past papers, suggested solutions and candidate scripts. Please remember that the answers will reflect the law at the date of the exam.
For information on online training for Module 2.09, click here.