Advanced Certificate in Taxation of Trusts and Estates (Scotland)

What does this qualification cover?

• Income tax in the period to the date of death and during the administration of an estate
• Income tax rules applicable to trusts
• Capital Gains Tax (CGT): introduction
• CGT: in the period to the date of death and in the administration of the estate
• CGT: rules applicable to the administration of trusts
• CGT: the family home and other land including high value UK residential property (ATED)
• Inheritance tax (IHT) on lifetime transfers
• IHT - Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief
• The charge to IHT on death: exempt transfers and the burden of tax on beneficiaries
• The use of disclaimers and deeds of variation in relation to IHT and CGT
• The regime for taxing trusts
• Self-assessment: practice and procedure
• The foreign element: residence and domicile
• The administration of capital taxation and penalties

How is it delivered?

The programme is delivered through a combination of online learning and two online workshops and will take four months to complete. We recommend that you spend four to six hours per week on private study for the four months prior to the examination.

Completing the programme successfully will validate your competence and enhance your expertise in:

• describing the responsibilities of personal representatives
• managing testate, intestate, solvent and insolvent estates appropriately
• understanding the potential issues around estates which involve foreign wills or property

Who would find this qualification useful?

This Advanced Certificate and the Diplomas that it is included in, is suitable for a wide range of practitioners. Past graduates have included members of the accountancy, banking, legal and trust professions (at all levels); charity specialists; a wide range of support staff and paralegals; tax advisors; independent financial advisors and executorship administrators

What are the entry requirements?

Admission depends on meeting the Entry Level requirements, outlined in the Qualifications and Membership Framework.

We are moving to an annual rather than bi-annual cycle for the Taxation course, with the first Workshop taking place at the end of March, the second Workshop taking place at the end of April and the Computation Day (subject to sufficient interest) at the end of May. The examination will take place early-July. The benefit of this is that the course material will be updated on an annual basis only, at a logical time (the process of updating beginning after the publication of the Finance Act) and as of 2019 the aim is that material will be finalised further in advance of the teaching days and examinations.

The course material for the July 2018 examination sitting is currently being updated and will be available at the end of February.

An examination without the preceding teaching days will also take place in November for those who need to resit the exam or who have deferred their exam from a previous sitting. Please note that as this is a resit examination it will not be open to enrolment for new delegates. The November resit examination will be based on the same material as published earlier that year for the July sitting and we will deliver the Computation Day before the exam (subject to sufficient interest).

How long will it take to complete

Advanced Certificates take six months to complete from enrolling to sitting the examination.

How much will it cost?

The course fees for each Advanced Certificate can be found on the CLTI website

Where is it available?

This course is available in Scotland only. For full details visit the CLTI website

What are the course dates?

For full course dates visit the CLTI website

Find out more information on enrolment

For enquiries on course enrolment please contact CLTI at [email protected] or +44(0)121 362 7733. For any other queries regarding professional development please email STEP at [email protected].

Successful completion of this course gives you 30 Diploma Level (DL) credits that you can put towards a STEP Diploma. This Advanced Certificate is included in the following diplomas:

• STEP Diploma in Tax and Estate Planning - Scotland
• STEP Diploma in Trusts and Estates - Scotland

For more information on the specialist streams, please see the STEP Diplomas page.