General Comments

The examination consisted of five compulsory questions. Question 1 for 30 marks, question 2 for 25 marks, and three further questions of 15 marks each.

Quite a few candidates found this examination time pressured, with several sections of the paper not being answered. This generally seemed to be because too much time was spent providing unnecessary explanations or on producing detailed workings for items that could easily have been included in the main computations. However, well prepared candidates had little difficulty in achieving a pass mark.

The value added tax (VAT) aspects of question two were generally answered unsatisfactorily, with many candidates not attempting this section at all. Candidates performed particularly well on questions 1 (a), 1 (b)(i), 1 (c), 2 (a)(i), 3 (a), 3 (b), 4 (a), 4 (c)(ii), 4 (c)(iii), 5 (a) and 5 (c). The questions candidates found most challenging were questions 1 (b)(ii), 2 (a)(ii), 2 (b)(i), 2 (b)(ii), 2 (b)(iii), 2 (b)(iv), 4 (b)(i), 4 (b)(ii), 4 (c)(i), 5 (b) and 5 (d).

Specific Comments

Question One

This 30-mark question involved Alfred and Edward King, who were trying to calculate their balancing payments for the tax year 2013-14. Alfred was in partnership with Anne Royal and Mary Regal, although Mary resigned as a partner on 1 January 2014. Edward was employed by Stately Ltd as a marketing director.

Question Two

This 25-mark question was based on Commerce plc. The company had prepared its own corporation tax computations for the year ended 31 March 2014, although there were various outstanding queries.

Question Three

This 15-mark capital gains tax question involved Patrick and Emily Grant, a married couple. They had both always been resident in the UK, but following Patrick’s retirement, the couple decided to move overseas, purchasing an overseas property on 6 April 2013. Patrick and Emily urgently needed to raise £80,000 in order to renovate their overseas property, and had three alternative assets which could be sold in order to raise the funds.

Question Four

This 15-mark corporate groups question involved three separate scenarios.

Question Five

This 15-mark question involved Tobias, who had recently inherited the residue of his aunt Mildred’s estate. He was going to use some of his inheritance to make an additional personal pension contribution, some to make a gift to his daughter when she got married, and also to invest the maximum possible amounts into ISAs.