Posted by The Team at Brand Financial Training on April 12, 2022 in Newsletter
12 April 2022
It is heartbreaking to see the scenes in Ukraine and the millions of children seeing, hearing, and having to cope with things that no child ever should. This month, we have made a donation to UNICEF to protect children caught up in this horrific war. We plan to make more donations this year and are also waiting to hear from the Government about other ways that we, as a business, can help even more.
We couldn’t make this donation without you, our customers, so thank you for making it possible for us to make this donation.
Best Wishes,
The Team at Brand Financial Training
Featured Article
Tax Relief on a Large Employer Pension Contribution
The rules around corporation tax relief on a single large employer pension contribution are not easy, so this article looks at one of the examples from our R04 calculation workbook to shed some light on this subject.
Tax relief on a large employer contribution will be spread over a period of years if:
it exceeds 210% of the contribution in the previous accounting period and
the excess amount is £500,000 or more.
Example:
Up Sticks Ltd has made an annual contribution of £2.200,000 this accounting period to its SSAS. This is an increase from £700,000 last accounting period and has been made in recognition of the members’ contribution towards the firm’s significant increase in profits.
Calculate how the contribution in the current accounting period will be treated for the purposes of tax relief, including the amount that will qualify for tax relief in the current accounting period.
Here, we talk about how people have adapted to work in harmony with nature, the land and the seasons. We ask the question: should you change your study patterns to align with the seasons – and, if so how?
Historically, we have adapted
Throughout human history, people have adapted to their environment and found new ways to make the most of the resources to hand. They have devised clever strategies to survive sometimes unforgiving climates.
Those working the land, for example, have traditionally started and finished work at slightly different times, depending on when the sun rose and set. Meanwhile, in Scotland, the custom of ‘tattie holidays’ started in the 1930s and were a two-week period in the autumn (now the autumn half-term break) during which young people were excused from school to help with the local potato harvest.
So, evidently, there’s nothing new about working in harmony with nature, the land and the seasons. But how relevant is that notion to our modern, ‘always on’ digital and screen-bound, 24-hour society in which the concept of seasonal produce, for example, increasingly barely registers, and fewer of us are working outdoors or in natural light? (Not to mention 21st-century offices, which tend to be almost always at a constant temperature.)
In 2022, the Met Office is predicting that the year will be one of the planet’s hottest, continuing a series of record-breaking years that began in 2015. That projection starts this spring, with above-average temperatures expected.
So should you be starting to change your study patterns to align with the seasons – and, if so, how?
In these short, ‘bite-sized’ videos, we will be sharing some useful tips to help you grasp key concepts you will need to understand before you take your CII exam.
Topics will vary across the Diploma syllabus, so keep an eye out for the Brand Bitesize videos relevant to your exam. You can watch the first bitesize about the Transferable Nil Rate Band on our blog.
Calculation Workbooks
..."The calculation workbooks for R02 and R03 are very good indeed. They were a major factor in helping me achieve good scores in these exams (89% and 80% respectively)..."
Julian Sellen, Leatherhead
Available for AF1, AF4, R02, R03, R04, R06, J05, J10, J12, CF6
Many exam-takers lose vital marks when it comes to performing calculations as they haven’t nailed down the exact process and order in which to perform the calculations, and haven’t spent enough time practising them.
The number of marks gained or lost on calculation questions can make the difference between a pass and a fail. Just a little more time taken on calculations during the revision period can give you the confidence you need to perform any calculation that could come up, so that you know you will gain top marks on all those calculation questions.
Our calculation workbooks guide you through the calculations, step-by-step, and providing detailed answers, with cross references to the relevant CII study text. All questions and answers kept up-to-date to reflect changes to the exam syllabus and tax year, and you can download them instantly in PDF format.
Why not try before you buy? Download one of our free tasters:
..."I passed R02 - No doubt thanks to your fantastic workbook which helped no end! With the extra work that I did going through your workbook, this helped a great deal with feeling confident which in this exam particularly was useful given that the technique and timing is as important as the knowledge and skill in ensuring that you get through the questions in a timely manner. One could so easily become distracted or frustrated trying to work out/remember one particular formula to the deficit of the other questions but your workbook enabled me to feel glad that there were so many calculations in the exam whereby before I actually feared them."...
David Gunn, Adviser, Nottingham
Updates to CII Study Texts
Here’s a reminder that the CII update their study texts throughout the examinable year to either incorporate new legislations, correct errors or clarify information. Many candidates aren’t aware of this, which can result in candidates studying out-of-date information.
To find out if you have the most up-to-date information, visit the CII website, navigate to your chosen exam and click on ‘learning solutions update’ in the ‘Unit updates’ section in the sidebar.
Note that we keep our resources up-to-date with any updates from the CII.
Did You Miss These Posts on Our Blog?
Articles and Help for All Your Exams
You’ll find that there’s something for everyone when you check out our blog:
specific topics and how-to articles;
reviews of recent CII exam papers;
our Friday Five – a weekly quiz to give you a fun break from reading the study text;
study techniques that help you to retain your revision and keep your brain working for you, when you need it
Here are the blog posts you might have missed since our last newsletter:
There’s such a variety of information on offer to help you as you tackle your CII exams, that you won’t want to miss a single post. We’ve made it easy for you; just click the button below and enter your email details. Be ‘in the know’ with CII-exam-related tips and info – straight to your inbox!
Quote of the Month
..." You are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training, grooming, and encouraging your greatest asset. "...
Top Hopkins
Friday 5 Focus on...
"5 Questions in 5 Minutes Every Friday"
Each week, we ask questions relating to one of these topics: Investments, Taxation, Pensions, Protection, or Regulation. The challenge is for you to answer them in 5 minutes.
Where do I find the Friday Five?
We post each week’s Friday Five to our blog first thing every Friday. You can either visit our blog every Friday at https://brandft.co.uk/blog/ or you can simply go there now, and click on the subscribe button in the top right-hand corner of the blog and sign up to receive notifications of our Friday Five posts.
Note that we don’t email the Friday Five out to everybody every Friday, so we recommend you sign up to our blog at https://brandft.co.uk/blog/ so that you receive an email notification when it is posted. It will only take you a minute to sign up.
A bit of Friday Fun, but with the added benefit of testing your exam knowledge!
