The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has announced that it now has more than 18,000 members. This means the Institute’s membership has doubled in the last 23 years.
The 18,000th member is Alex Polding, who works for Deloitte. Alex passed the Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) qualification as part of the ICAEW CIOT Joint Programme, which enables students to achieve the CTA and the ICAEW chartered accountancy qualification (ACA) at the same time. The Joint Programme was launched in late 2012 and there are now over 500 students registered for it.
CIOT President Bill Dodwell commented:
“I am delighted to be able to report that we have now passed the 18,000 member mark. Our membership has now almost doubled since we gained our Royal Charter in 1994. On behalf of the Council, I welcome Alex Polding on becoming our 18,000th member and congratulate him on his achievement in passing the ACA CTA Joint Programme, gaining membership of both CIOT and the ICAEW via this new, flexible route.
“The CIOT has now grown for 41 years in a row (1975-2015), a tribute both to the staff and volunteers of the Institute, and the services and support they provide, and to the esteem in which the CTA qualification is held, as well as, perhaps, to the continuing complexity of the tax system, which means that professional tax advice is pretty much essential for millions of businesses and individual taxpayers if they want to ensure they comply with the law and pay the correct amount of tax.
“As well as gaining new members I am especially proud of our success at retaining members. Last year over 97% of those who were members the previous year, and could renew their membership, did so.”
Notes to editors
1. The ICAEW CIOT Joint Programme
This unique pathway enables students to achieve two prestigious qualifications – the ICAEW Chartered Accountancy qualification, the ACA, and the Chartered Tax Adviser qualification, the CTA. Those who successfully complete the Joint Programme are eligible to apply for membership of both ICAEW and CIOT, provided they have met the membership criteria of both bodies.
The aim of the joint programme is to recognise that a more streamlined approach to obtaining both qualifications can be key for both students and firms. It also gives an increasingly flexible choice of which areas of taxation to specialise in, which is vital for some of our students who need this from an earlier time in their career than ever before.
In 2015 the Joint Programme was extended to include a third option, the Owner Managed Business (OMB) route, on top of the existing Taxation of Major Corporates (TOMC) and Indirect Tax routes. This will use the existing OMB CTA advisory paper and students can register now to sit it as their first CTA paper under the Joint Programme in May 2016. There are a suite of papers available to choose as the option paper under this route, including two ADIT papers.
The third and fourth sittings for the two existing routes took place in July and November 2015
2. The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT)
The CIOT is the leading professional body in the United Kingdom concerned solely with taxation. The CIOT is an educational charity, promoting education and study of the administration and practice of taxation. One of our key aims is to work for a better, more efficient, tax system for all affected by it – taxpayers, their advisers and the authorities. The CIOT’s work covers all aspects of taxation, including direct and indirect taxes and duties. Through our Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), the CIOT has a particular focus on improving the tax system, including tax credits and benefits, for the unrepresented taxpayer.
The CIOT draws on our members’ experience in private practice, commerce and industry, government and academia to improve tax administration and propose and explain how tax policy objectives can most effectively be achieved. We also link to, and draw on, similar leading professional tax bodies in other countries. The CIOT’s comments and recommendations on tax issues are made in line with our charitable objectives: we are politically neutral in our work.
The CIOT’s 18,000 members have the practising title of ‘Chartered Tax Adviser’ and the designatory letters ‘CTA’, to represent the leading tax qualification.
Contact: Hamant Verma, External Relations Officer, 0207 340 2702 HVerma@ciot.org.uk (Out of hours contact: George Crozier, 07740 477 374)
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