CTA?

Should I

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With nearly 40 years of tax experience (20 HMRC and 17 in practice) I've never really aspired to vend myself of the money required for a professional qualification. However, the option is there for employer sponsored study and membership.

At nearly 56 years old, worth it? It would mean I could join in with the unqualified bashing, I suppose.

Replies (16)

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By sculptureofman
25th Sep 2020 10:23

I really enjoyed the CTA study course (sad, I know) and I learned a lot from it. I was fairly young when I did it though.

Since then the only interaction I've had with the CIOT is to give them money each year in exchange for ?????

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Replying to sculptureofman:
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By Cloudcounter
25th Sep 2020 10:49

Me too. I sat the exams 4 years after I'd qualified ACA, many moons ago. It was probably useful on the letterhead for the laarger practice that I was with then but although I kept it up until last year I'm not so sure that it did much when I became a sole practitioner. Interaction in the last 20 years was pay the sub, get the magazine.

Even with the sub the CIOT could be cheaper for ML supervision than HMRC!

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By Duhamel
25th Sep 2020 10:26

I did it because it would benefit my career, so if you think it will then go ahead. Otherwise, parts of it are interesting but I wonder if it is worth the hassle? You basically have to give up your life for a year or two.

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
25th Sep 2020 10:47

Does you brain still retain.

Whilst you luckily will already have a lot of the content already stored therein there likely will be some more you still need to learn, I have certainly found that as I have aged learning things takes far more effort than it did in say my teens/twenties, it just does not stick as well. However on the plus point your ability to analyse /solve problems ought to be greatly enhanced by your experience over the years which ought to be a plus.

However as one who has himself not embraced the dark side of the Force I really think you ought to stick with the unqualified Rebel Alliance, "SteveHa we need you, you're our only hope" in our wars against the Empire.

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FT
By FirstTab
25th Sep 2020 11:37

56 is young . You have many working years left.

Yes do it. Good for confidence and your career. You are bound to learn new areas in taxation.

I want what you have years of experience in tax.

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Replying to FirstTab:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
25th Sep 2020 11:58

Speak for yourself, now at 60 I am in wind down mode with retirement fast beckoning, sometime between April 2023 and 2026 being the landing zone. (Although I may keep a sort of non exec role with a few of the entities but someone else can certainly be the FD and try to keep up to date with HMG's utterances, to me just 4-5 board meetings a year each followed by a decent meal sounds about as much as I will want to do)

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By SteveHa
25th Sep 2020 11:45

Thanks for your thoughts.

The benefits as I see them are:

Potentially negotiate a pay rise, though I'm probably paid an equivalent now anyway, so not much room.
Letters after my name
Where I work, they will pay the annual sub.
Learn some stuff I may never use.

The downsides.

As Duhamel has said, the time cost for a couple of year.
As DJKL says, the empire needs me (there's never a Luke around when you need one)

I quite enjoy my work, and I enjoy the complex questions that need me to dig into the legislation and tax cases. I worry that the learning more stuff and just knowing it would hinder that enjoyment.

I do think I'm still very capable of learning new stuff, but at the end of the day, would it benefit me?

I'm starting to think probably not.

Oh, and @FirstTab - many years??? 12 maximum and less with luck (I have a CS pension I could draw on now if I wanted)

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
25th Sep 2020 13:05

If you were 26 or 36, id day got for it unconditionally if you have the ability. If only to put down those uppity CA's with a couple of modules of tax under their belts.

I was tempted when I started up (at 28) to fix the yawning holes in my tax knowledge but having fun whilst young and then family got in the way.

Im 46 now, and well set up and cant be bothered.

I hope to be winding down at 56 having made all my money, and coasting along for 5- 10 years part time before throwing a hissy fit about son_of_MTD and packing it in and being one of those people who are a member of every single club and committee going and know all the best pub lunches in the county.

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Replying to ireallyshouldknowthisbut:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
25th Sep 2020 13:38

Do not walk towards the Clubs, Do not walk towards the Clubs.

Despite trying to unwind positions (I retired as Treasurer of a local charity after 20 years plus gave up practice) I stupidly spoke up at an EGM of my fishing club. I am now, for my pains, the Property Convener plus assistant to the Treasurer (He was an E & Y insolvency partner so knows zip about tax).

My father used to advise me that Doctors and Lawyers ought to try to hide their occupations at social occasions, imho the same applies to accountants, retire and bury your past life deep.

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Replying to DJKL:
By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
25th Sep 2020 14:12

heh, im already doing the community pubs freehold company accounts (not the trading co.) and made the rookie error of attending the local flood group's zoom AGM and put my hand up to make a suggestion..........and am now local coordinator for the brook that runs along my garden. Oops. The chairman has taken a liking to me and is mid 60's, he keeps saying "we need some youngens like you" and cackling. I think I am the succession plan. I can think of worse things to do that prance about in waders a couple of times a year and eat the cake the neighbours who don't volunteer bring out!

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Replying to ireallyshouldknowthisbut:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
25th Sep 2020 16:05

If there is free cake say no more.

Age is certainly an issue with my fishing club though there are a few younger than me ,I think at 60 I am still just in the below average age bracket.

"Old fisherman never die, they just smell that way"

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By SteveHa
25th Sep 2020 13:45

Honestly, I'm surprised, but the responses from some I have a great deal of respect for on this forum tells me, "why bother?"

I know my stuff by and large, and when I doubt myself (including when there may be stuff I don't know I don't know) I know where to find the answers (surprisingly in TCGA more often than not).

I guess I'll plod on as an unprincipled cowboy for the next ten years (if recent posts on the subject here are anything to go by - John), then retire to the pub.

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Replying to SteveHa:
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By Dib
25th Sep 2020 15:33

I wouldn't do the CTA at your age (I am a couple of years older than you so not being ageist).

Also even with CTA you would still not be an accountant and, as John is only interested in qualified accountants v unqualified, you would continue to be an unprincipled cowboy, like me, even after all the effort!

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Replying to Dib:
Lone Wolf
By Lone_Wolf
25th Sep 2020 17:37

Aww man! I thought as a CTA I was part of the club. Oh well then. Yee-haw!

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By jon_griffey
25th Sep 2020 15:06

I think at 56 you do not do it to further your career but for the personal achievement/enjoyment/intellectual challenge. There will be a lot in there that is irrelevant to your work. I recall when I did ATII that there was a lot of emphasis on groups and trusts. However it shocked me that as a newly qualified ACCA, how much about tax I didn't know.

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By Gone Sailing
25th Sep 2020 15:34

Tax is endless.
The more complex the more qualified you need to be to 'brand' yourself.
The more complex the more you charge.
The more you charge the less time you work for the same pay.
Find your comfort zone.

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