Examiner's approach to TX-UK

The aim of the exam is to ensure that students have an understanding of the tax system, and a knowledge of income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax and value added tax. The syllabus covers virtually everything dealt with in the FTX, Foundations in Taxation exam, as well as some new topics introduced at the TX Taxation level. The exam provides a solid basis for those students who wish to progress to ATX-UK, Advanced Taxation.

The exam consists of three sections, with all questions within each section being compulsory.

Section A

Section A is comprised of 15 objective test questions worth 2 marks each. The questions could be on any area of the syllabus and will be a mix of computational and narrative.

Because Section A will include objective test questions from the whole of the TX-UK syllabus, it is very important that students ensure they cover the whole syllabus when revising for the TX-UK exam.

In addition, it is important that students do not spend too much time on any one question. It is important to remember that each objective test question is only worth two marks.

Section B

Section B is comprised of three questions each comprising five objective test items worth two marks each; therefore, each question is worth a total of ten marks. Each question will be based around a common scenario 'case' which can come from any area of the syllabus and will be a mix of computational and narrative.

Similar to Section A, some of the objective test items within these questions may take longer to answer than others, so students should manage their time across each 'case' question rather than trying to allocate time to each individual objective test item.

Section C

Section C is comprised of one 10-mark question and two 15-mark questions. The 10-mark question may come from any area of the syllabus.

The two 15-mark questions will focus on income tax (syllabus area B) and corporation tax (syllabus area E).

Questions in Section C will be predominantly computational, although each question may contain written elements. Unlike Sections A and B, which are auto-marked, the Section C questions are manually marked and so it is absolutely vital that all workings are clearly shown.

Higher skills

A question could involve more than one tax and/or could require students to have knowledge of basic tax planning. In a higher skills question of this nature, it is important that students carefully plan out the approach your answer will take.

Question 31 in the specimen is a good example of a higher skills style question.

Finance Act article

Candidates sitting TX-UK should read the relevant Finance Act article which is published each year on the ACCA website as this article is highly relevant to TX-UK (link below).

Other technical articles are also available on the ACCA website to assist students in preparing for exams. 

Practice Platform

Before sitting the TX-UK exam, students should become familiar with the software by attempting questions on the Practice Platform where there is access to a specimen exam and past exams.

There is also useful information on exam technique within the student study support resources on the ACCA website, including how to make best use of the tax tables provided in the exam.

Written by a member of the TX-UK examining team