ATX (Malaysia) SEPTEMBER 2020 ACCA SPOTS AND TIPS BY MR.JAY FCCA

ACCA ATX HOT TIPS FOR EXAMS

Its back to that time again, where everyone is panicking and trying to get into what to do in this coming exams.  It is critical that you have complete knowledge of the syllabus and not bits and pieces of the knowledge.

The following are spots for September 2020 ATX (Malaysia) paper and are only best guesses of what can come out - it is not a guarantee so don't bet only on it.

The spots given is based on the fact of analysing the examiner past questions and assessing current situation faced by the country.

The March 2020 paper was released recently - this is a blessing for those who set for that paper

Now for what can come out for the September 2020 ACCA ATX (M) paper - assuming that you had studied all the areas

Incentives - R&D, MITC, AEA - then followed by PS, ITA and Export incentives

Financing question with leasing

PE and Double tax agreements - tax credit treatment + Labuan payments

SST - Sales tax on importation and exports

Salary package, loss of employment compensation, residence 

RPGT - options, contingent payments, rpc, death

Estate planning with trust treatment

Tax admin related to employees and individuals

Unit trust

Business takeover; business re-organisation - MBO

Treatment of expenses and income

Badges of trade

Rental treatment - IBA + agricultural allowance discussion

Those planning to prepare for Dec 2020 ACCA exams, Jpotraining will be starting the preparation cycle from September 12th onwards - face to face; live online + pre-recorded with regular online catch-up meets.  This is a 3 months intensive weekend only classes that prepares you for the final exams with more than 90+ hours of case studies and tailor made knowledge check questions for practice. Visit our website for timetable and pricing - www.jprotraining.com

Tips for September 2020 ATX Malaysia

Its time again for you to start your preparation for the exam.  

In teaching this paper over time, it has come to my attention that this paper requires some memory work and also practical exam approaches to pass.

In designing the notes for ACCA ATX, I have researched all the past papers and found the best notes are ones that have the least amount of knowledge that you need to pass - the simplest notes are usually the best.

During my time in preparing for the Big 4 exam techniques session; I had to find ways to compress the knowledge for this paper into 4 - 5 hours of training - this can be done if you have innovative IT skills and a strong understanding of the ACCA ATX examiner approach to questioning.  If you want to experience this; you need to join those sessions or join Jpro or Sunway College Johor - only 3 places to get this experience.

So just having the areas that will be examined is not enough for this paper; you also need to have a good set of notes that support your studies and training on how to use those notes to score marks.

Tip to pass the paper - join Jprotraining for the revision course for ATX that will provide you with this set of notes and the most comprehensive set of past papers to practice.

In the coming September 2020 ACCA ATX Malaysia exam; do expect the following areas to be tested
- RPGT
- Unit Trust
- Incentives [please study all]
- Group relief
- Personal tax [Remuneration, ESOS, Contract for/of services]
- IHT
- Control transfer
- Tax admin - appeals
- Corporate situations - liquidation; restructuring; financing
- WHT

Good luck in preparing for the exams.  You will be getting better tips later, but those that are preparing - this is the best you can get.

Those self-studying; put in the extra effort for this paper since it would not be easy to be disciplined

ACCA ATX (Malaysia) September 2020 Preparation

Preparing to study for ACCA ATX (Malaysia) for September 2020; Jprotraining will be starting their classes for this semester online from May 31 onwards.

If you want to study the paper with the pioneer of online learning in Malaysia; we have been maintaining an average pass rate that exceeds the world pass rates. 

The September 2020 exams is the last sitting with the old syllabus before there is a change in the exam syllabus.

If you working and need the flexibility for the course; Jprotraining has been focusing on working adults as our core approach when preparing students for the exams.

Passing the paper will be dependent on getting quality guidance and notes that are tailored to the needs of students that have limited time to study and need effective study materials

Sign up now for the online classes that has been developed since 2010; with over 10 years experience in handling the needs of online students and settling their certification requirements

What is ACCA afraid of?

Oddly, ACCA professional papers for SBL / SBR / APM / AFM / ATX has not been published for all 4 sittings.

This are new papers and there is a need for good cases bank to be provided for the students to prepare for the paper.

ICEAW publishes all their 4 sittings for their students and ACCA examining team has yet to do this. CPA does not publish any exams because their exams are mostly MCQ based.

This goes against basic transparency requirements that stakeholders of the exam required.

It also leads to a situation where there is an unfair level of playing field as markers who teach the paper have "insight" into the paper that they marked that will not exist for those that are not markers.

It also leads to a situation where students get feedback in their examiner report for sitting, and no way to understand their mistakes - their post-mortem of the exam is half cooked at best and highly irrelevant.

Using Tucker 5 question view of the decision by ACCA Examination team not to publish all 4 professional paper

Profitability - 1
This goes against profitability as it leads to weaker pass rates overall, which in turn slows down the progress of students to membership
The savings in terms of PDF and data storage is insignificant.
The long-term benefit of improving overall student performance against short-term savings seems to be questionable

Legality 0
There is no law that requires publication of the exam papers.

Fairness - 1
It is not fair to the students as those that sit for the exams in March and September only get a partial understanding of the failures compared to those that sit for June and December sitting

It is not fair to students that have set for December paper only to be shown the September sitting paper for SBL - there is zero feedback that is vouchable to their experience in the exam.

It is not fair for the lecturers who are not markers of the paper as they will have no insight into the papers that are not published compared to lecturers that are involved in the marking process.

Right - 1
ACCA values states " We’re ethical, honest and accountable and encourage the same from others. We act in the public interest and focus on long-term value."

The act of publishing all papers for professional papers would be consistent with transparency requirements, which is closely linked to the idea of accountability.

Lack of transparency reduces accountability.

In making the decision to withhold papers for professional papers would be a breach in the value system of ACCA.

Sustainability - 0
There is a limited impact in terms of environmental damage from this decision

Overall the decision was 3 negative scores over 5; indicating that this decision would fail Tucker evaluation.

In fact for ACCA to consider proctored exams during the current COVID crisis - it highlights that the threshold for the examination can be re-examined when circumstances change.

CPA Australia and ICEAW examinations are open-book exams for the finals compared to close-book exams for ACCA.

In my exposure to both; it seems that examination in ACCA has a long way to change before they get any better. However, the current question remains - what is ACCA afraid of in terms of publishing all their examinations for professional papers?

The views expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of other organisations.

March 2020 ATX Malaysia tips

Jpro training is back again to provide some insights into the coming March 2020 exams.

In the period of stress caused by virus issues and geopolitical tension rising, ACCA will hold their first CBE professional level exams.

Malaysia will still have the paper-based exams till Dec 2021; so we still have some time before technology strikes us.

IF you are planning to take another professional exam for June 2020 sitting - Jpro Training has already opened the classroom and online session for booking for ACCA APM; AFM; SBL; SBR; AAA; ATX(M).  The physical classroom will not exceed 24 students - that is our promise to quality interaction between the student and lecturer.

We also ensure that all classes are not more than 4.5 hours in total to ensure that you have maximum retention and ability to understand the materials.

This is because education quality standards mandate that providers have an ideal level of 1:60 as a maximum number lecturer: students ratio.  Anything in excess is usually a dilution of learning ability and quality of the experience.

Now to the matter at hand - tips for the coming March 2020 exam cycle for ACCA ATX paper brought to you by ATX Expert lecturer Mr.Jay.

1. ITA vs RA

2. Group relief + Controlled transfer

3. Trust + Unit Trust

4. RPGT - RPC and Small asset exemption

5. Badges of trade + Capital vs Revenue

6. Time limit for tax

7. Transfer pricing + WHT + PE + Unilateral relief

8. Individual - Job vs Business; Salary design

9. Interest income treatment

10. Rental income + rental exemption 

Mr. Jay teaches at Platinum college Sunway College Johor; Sunway College Velocity and his own centre at J Pro Training.  If you want to experience high quality teaching for ATX - you can sign up for 3 months part-time course or 3 - months online course @ Jpro Training or 6 months blended course @ Sunway College Johor.

Good luck in the exams; hope for the best.

Preparing for ACCA ATX Malaysia - March 2020

Planning to take the most tedious paper in ACCA syllabus in March 2020.

Well, there are few lecturers that are providing tuition to support the students for this exam in Malaysia - all have their own ability and skill to deliver the materials.

At Jprotraining - Mr.Jay's class for ATX is one of the most comprehensive classes that provides extensive coverage of all the past questions to date and also discuss the relevant career plans for the students that are currently pursuing their ACCA classes.

In preparing for the March 2020 ACCA ATX paper it is vital that you start preparing earlier for the paper as it has significant memory work to be completed.

Students that want to study for the paper online or on weekend, the classes at Jpro are available and even if you had missed the classes - it is always possible to catch up.

ACCA ATX Malaysia 2019 Dec Exam tips and spots

The time is here for the ATX examination and you are swimming in a pool of tax knowledge, not knowing whether the questions you have is enough to get you through the whole situation faced.

In this case, Malaysia ATX paper is really wide in terms of knowledge required and the current period is the worst due to the level of updates that have been applied.

In preparing for ACCA ATX paper - Jpro training practices around close to 200+ questions with discussion on the past question that has "what if" possibilities included.

We can say that we are one of the only places that practice that level of questions for the students to prepare for every possible scenario that can come out in the exam.

The key tip for passing the ATX paper - target 50 marks and the balance is luck.

Try to attempt Q3 and Q4 first, before heading to Q1 and Q2; unless it is really easy.

This is what I think is possible for the current exam sitting 
- Group relief
- Group registration in SST and exemptions in SST
- Group restructuring - possible impact in terms of RPGT and Stamp duty
RPGT - new rules - small capital exemption; update for acquisition period, contingent liability treatment, options, RPC and exemption planning within wife and husband - private residence - based on examiner article; death treatment.
RPGT - compliance issues with the non-citizen sale
WHT - all issues 
Labuan - tax computation and changes within the Labuan tax approach.  Payment by a resident to Labuan entity and Labuan entity treatment of IP based income - based on examiner article
Commencement of business
Treatment of repairs and maintenance
Rental income; - new 50% exemption rule and discussion between rental being business or pure rental source
Interest income - timing issues based on the article examiner has written.
Incentives - cover all incentives possible with PS > ITA > RA > Export > R&D
Incentive - automation allowance vs RA is also possible
Individual tax - ESOS; Contract for / of services difference, estate.
Unit trust taxation or LIHC taxation
Leasing business - computation of lease income and assessment of income.
Compliance - error relief, power of DGIR and also consider submission dates
Anti-avoidance discussion on interest using the earnings stripping rules
Trust tax - treatment of beneficiaries
Agricultural allowance and IBA discussion.
Capital vs Income treatment

That is the focus areas that I think may come out in the current sitting but as you know this is a best guess and may not come out at all.

Make sure you do not going in with hope the above appears, this will disappoint you.  Best is for you to make sure your knowledge is sound before entering the exam.

Jpro training will be starting ACCA March 2020 classes on Dec 7, 2019 with the timetable already available

If you are planning to do the class for March 2020 or know of a friend - please do recommend them to try us out.

Our classroom is limited to 24 students only to ensure that you have quality discussion with the lecturer and engage the lecturer with your issues.

Good luck in preparing for the exams