ACA CTA Joint Programme

The Joint Programme assumes that you will be in a tax role, gaining practical experience of the taxation of the chosen specialism. If you are a CIOT student, you can join the Joint Programme provided you have not yet passed two CTA Advanced Technical Papers. 

The programme offers three specialisms – Taxation of Larger Companies & Groups, Owner-Managed Businesses or Indirect Taxation. Students will need to successfully complete the ACA and CTA modules and examinations alongside the professional development, ethics and relevant professional experience components.  

Please note: This is based on the current ACA structure. The Next Generation ACA launched on 1 July 2025. Details of the revised Joint Programme to fit with the Next Generation ACA can be found on our separate page. Transitional rules will apply to those who registered as students with ICAEW up to 30 June 2025.  

The three options are outlined below: 

Taxation of Larger Companies & Group : Students sit 14 of the 15 ACA modules (excluding Business Planning: Taxation), the CTA Advanced Technical examination: Taxation of Larger Companies & Groups, plus the CTA Professional Responsibilities & Ethics Computer Based Examination. Students then choose from a CTA Advanced Technical examination, CTA Application and Professional Skills Case Study or CIOT ADIT examination. For the full list of available papers refer to the exam structure diagram (link above).  

Taxation of Owner - managed Businesses: Students sit 14 of the 15 ACA modules (excluding Business Planning: Taxation), the CTA Advanced Technical examination: Taxation of Owner-Managed Businesses, plus the CTA Professional Responsibilities & Ethics Computer Based Examination. Students then choose from a CTA Advanced Technical examination, CTA Application and Professional Skills Case Study or CIOT ADIT examination. For the full list of available papers refer to the exam structure diagram (link above). 

Indirect Taxation: Students sit 14 of the 15 ACA modules (excluding Business Planning: Taxation), the CTA Advanced Technical examination: Domestic Indirect Taxation, plus the CTA Professional Responsibilities & Ethics Computer Based Examination. Students then choose from the CTA Advanced Technical examination: Cross-Border and Environmental Taxes, or the CTA Application and Professional Skills Case Study: VAT & other Indirect Taxes. 

You are required to complete 14 of the 15 ACA modules (excluding Business Planning: Taxation), your specialism paper, plus the CTA Professional Responsibilities & Ethics Computer Based Examination. You then choose from a CTA Advanced Technical examination, CTA Application and Professional Skills Case Study or CIOT ADIT examination. 

You must sit your CTA specialism paper before you can attempt the ACA case study module.  You must sit your Professional Responsibilities & Ethics CBE before you register for your final tax CIOT paper. 

More information is available on our website on the Advanced Technical and Application and Professional Skills papers.  

Once passed a tax paper is valid for seven examination sessions. 

Exams are held in test centres. 

If you are following the Larger Companies and Groups route, you may choose to sit one of two available ADIT papers – United Kingdom or United States. These papers are of 3 hours and 15 minutes duration.  

Please see our ADIT website section for past papers, fees and how to book. 

The deadline to book the June examination is the end of February. For the December session exam entry closes at the end of September.  

Once passed, an ADIT paper is valid for ten examination sessions. 

Of the CTA Computer Based Examinations, ACA/CTA candidates only need to sit Professional Responsibilities and Ethics. Full details and FAQs can be found on our CBE page

Professional Responsibilities & Ethics CBE passes are valid for nine examination sessions. For those students who sit and pass from December to May inclusive, the first session for which it will be valid will be the following November. For example if a pass was gained on 20 February 2021, it will be valid up to and including November 2025. 

For those students who sit and pass from June to November inclusive, the first session for which it will be valid will be the following May. For example if a pass was gained on June 2021, it will be valid up to and including May 2026. 

To join the ACA CTA Joint Programme, you need to first register as an ACA student with ICAEW, here.  

When you have received your ACA student number you can then complete your registration with the CIOT via our website, here. You need to provide your ACA student number in order to register. 

To gain membership of the CIOT via the Joint Programme, you must complete the exam requirements of both the CIOT and the ICAEW. You can attempt ACA exams until you reach the maximum of four attempts. You have no limit on the number of attempts on the CTA examinations. A CTA examination credit for passing remains valid for the next seven sittings following the sitting at which the credit was obtained. Professional Responsibilities & Ethics passes will remain valid for the next nine sittings.

Your CTA exam passes must be valid at the point you complete your ACA exams in order to apply for CIOT membership.

You should register as a CIOT student as soon as possible on starting your ACA training as you need to be a registered student for at least four months before you are allowed to enter for an examination. 

For the May exam session: you must register as a CIOT student by the last day of December. For the November exam session: you must register as a CIOT student by the last day of June. 

Please note that registrations for this Joint Programme will close after 31 December 2025. Transitional rules to move Joint Programme students to the Next Generation ACA CTA Joint Programme will apply. This is because the old ACA papers are gradually being phased out, so all students will need to be aligned with the updated Joint Programme.

In overview, the aim will be to move students to the Next Generation ACA CTA Joint Programme from November 2026, although some students who have already started under the old ACA CTA Joint Programme will be allowed to complete their studies under that route. Full details of the transitional rules can be found in this document. 

Once accepted as a CIOT student you will need to enter for your exams. The CIOT’s closing date for the May exam is the last day of February and the November exam is the last day of August. 

Please refer to our policy regarding examination cancellations, which also gives information on changing exam entries. 

Current fees for student registration and exam entries can be found on our fees page.  

Please note that student registration on the Joint Programme is valid for four years. Once this has expired, you will need to re-register and pay a further fee. 

For the Professional Responsibilities and Ethics CBE, you can purchase the study manual from our online shop. 

For the Advanced Technical and Application and Professional Skills papers, you can purchase study materials for the CTA tax papers from a course provider (below).  

The Institute sets the examination syllabus but does not offer tuition itself. The four principal tutorial organisations are listed below, alphabetically:  

• BPP Professional Education
• Kaplan Financial
• Tax Booster
• Tolley Exam Training

If you are following the Larger Companies and Groups specialist route and choose one of the two available ADIT papers as your second paper, you can purchase study materials and tuition from an ADIT course provider.  

If your personal circumstances are such that it takes you longer to read or write than is normally allowed for in an examination and you require additional time or alternative arrangements than the usual, you can apply for this via the extra time application form.  Find out more: 

www.tax.org.uk/extratime 

We recognise that some candidates may sit their (May/November) exams in difficult circumstances. You can apply for special consideration if you feel that your performance was affected by serious personal circumstances or technical issues during your exam. 

Please refer to policy and information on this page to find out more:   

www.tax.org.uk/special-considerations 

Under the sequential route to qualification of both ICAEW and CIOT, you undertake the ACA by successfully completing professional development, ethics and professional scepticism, 3-5 years practical work experience and 15 accountancy, finance and business modules. Once you become an ICAEW Chartered Accountant you then register as a CIOT student, complete the CTA qualification and apply for membership of the CIOT. The Joint Programme enables you to study the ACA and CTA qualifications simultaneously and to sit two less examinations. 

The traditional, individual route to both qualifications will be more appropriate for students who do not work with Owner-Managed Businesses/Corporates or Indirect Tax, or did not make the decision to specialise in tax at the beginning of their training. 

It is anticipated that it will take three to four years to complete the Programme. This does depend on workload, scheduling of courses, study and exam results. 

ACA students can join the Joint Programme if they have not yet completed the Business Planning: Taxation module. CTA students can join the Joint Programme provided they have not yet passed two CTA Advisory Papers 

Yes, there is complete flexibility to all employers. 

The Joint Programme and the TOMC Paper assumes that candidates will be in a tax role, gaining practical experience of the taxation of larger companies and groups. The Indirect Taxation route assumes that candidates will be in an indirect taxation role. 

To gain membership of the CIOT via the Joint Programme, you must complete the exam requirements of both the CIOT and the ICAEW. You can attempt ACA exams until you reach the maximum of four attempts. You have no limit on the number of attempts on the CTA examinations. A CTA examination credit for passing remains valid for the next seven sittings following the sitting at which the credit was obtained. Professional Responsibilities & Ethics passes will remain valid for the next nine sittings. 

Your CTA exam passes must be valid at the point you complete your ACA exams in order to apply for CIOT membership.

No. To gain the ADIT qualification students are required to register as an ADIT student and complete the requirements of this qualification. If a Joint Programme student chooses and passes an ADIT paper, it will count towards the ADIT qualification and will be valid for five years from the date of passing. If the ADIT qualification is not completed within this five year period, the student will have to sit the same paper again or another ADIT paper.