Becoming a member of STEP

Becoming a member of STEP

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I am a CTA and was thinking about becoming a member of STEP - has anyone out there done that (or not) as the case may be, and think it was a good move. It looks like I would go for the Diploma route. I think I would get exemption for two of the papers, or possibly only one (tax of trusts and estates), but it is a rather hefty bill! The website says that they recommend 4-6 months per paper. Does anyone know if this is reasonable, and what their experience of it was? The exam dates of May and November would seem to fit in with my current client schedule quite well.

This is definitely where I want to head my work towards, and am not advising any clients in this type of work at the moment, as I regard it as beyond my expertise. Does anyone have any experience of working in the area without the qualification and whether this impacts on what they are able to offer to their clients.

Any comments would be appreciated.

HD

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By AnonymousUser
26th Sep 2007 13:20

STEP
As a CTA & TEP, practising in the non-corporate sphere, I find STEP membership is far more useful than than that of the CIOT. STEP provides more relevant professional information than the CIOT, both in terms of quality and quantity. The STEP database of technical resources is better also.

STEP has a more focused networking and advertising presence but, from a commercial perspective, STEP membership tends, in my experience, only to have recognition value when dealing with other professional firms. Most consumer clients could still be expected to head straight to a firm of solicitors if they needed trusts or estates related services.

CIOT is dominated by the large accountancy practices, and STEP by the large legal firms. The usefulness of STEP to a propsective member would presumably come down to where you fall between the two ends of the spectrum.

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By User deleted
26th Sep 2007 13:31

Tragedy!
I wouldn't bother, I don't think Steps are ever going to get back to the big time! Concentrate on your dance routine and ability to lip-sync and look into applying for the X Factor next time :)

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By User deleted
26th Sep 2007 14:22

Go for it
As a qualified CTA and TEP I would recommend the STEP qualification. The CTA route focuses simply on the tax issues involved with trust and estate taxes, whereas the STEP route is more geared towards administration and some accounting invovled with trusts and estates.

I got an exemption on the tax paper but sat the accounting paper as its been a few years since I had prepared any accounts! While the papers look straight forward they require A LOT of knowledge - 6 months can fly by easily and I would definately only do one paper at a time - you need to remember legislation, case law etc etc. If you take a look at the pass rate and past examiners reports you'll see what I mean.

I only completed my last paper in May and the majority of those doing the exams seemed to have a number of years experience in trusts and estates.

The likelihood the majority of the administration work will be undetaken by solicitors, but if you have the knowledge to advise clients in respect of issues and you deal a lot with iht planning then STEP is the way to go - at the very least you'll have a few more letters after your name!!


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