Personal Tax and Trust Planning (AF1)

The qualities that mean you are effective with clients are many and various – knowledge is important and so is an ability to express yourself clearly – but the people skills are equally important. In the AF1 exam it is your technical knowledge of tax and trusts and its focused application to practical situations that counts. You will therefore need excellent technical knowledge, strong analytical skills, the ability to write clearly and concisely, and you must be able to perform within a tight timescale.

You should appreciate the standard of the Advanced Diploma examination: candidates must demonstrate that they are capable of advising clients whose overall levels of income and capital require a more sophisticated range of advice than is normally prepared by a diploma/certificate level adviser. Clients who feature in the Advanced Diploma case studies require a critical appraisal of the various financial planning options available to them.

To score high marks you must be able to apply your technical knowledge of tax and trusts to the scenarios posed in the exam questions, be able to explain the rationale behind your answers and handle a range of tax computations.

As the application of knowledge is so crucial, it is considered that the case study approach to learning is highly appropriate in preparing for the Advanced Diploma. For each case study in this workbook a full model answer with learning points is provided.

Please note: It is assumed that the candidate already has the knowledge gained from a study of units Personal Taxation (R03), Trusts (J02), elements of Financial Protection (R05) or equivalent.

Summary of learning outcomes

At the end of this unit, candidates will be able to:

Evaluate the complex needs of clients and recommend appropriate solutions based upon detailed understanding and analysis of the:

1. Process by which both individuals and parties to a trust are taxed;
2. Taxes on income and capital that may be charged during life and on death, the self-assessment system and how tax liabilities are calculated and applied to both individuals and trusts;
3. Tax treatment of different kinds of investments;
4. Impact of residence, domicile and long-term residence on an individual’s liability to UK tax;
5. Creation and use of trusts and the roles and responsibilities of all parties;
6. Implications of substituted decision making during lifetime, the use of Wills, the administration of an estate and dying intestate.

Assessment

• 3 hour exam
• Case study based with 3 compulsory questions
• The standard pass mark is 55% (for more information on standard pass marks please see here)
• The 2025 pass rate for this unit was 45.92%

Units treated as equivalent

Due to the extent of syllabus overlap, certain combinations of current and withdrawn units will result in only one award of CII credits.

If a withdrawn equivalent is held you may not need to complete a current unit in order to satisfy a qualification's completion rules. Clarification should always be sought from CII Customer Service.

Find out more about CII credit awards for equivalent units

Course delivery

Instructions on accessing your course on RevisionMate will be sent to your registered email address. This is typically within two working days of your order being placed, but may be longer, particularly if payment is made by bank transfer or the unit is available as a pre-order.