The Premier Income Tax Course for Financial Planners and Advisers

For the first time, I am making my Income Tax Course available in a face-to-face format.

This is not a workshop or a masterclass.  It is a full-blown, hands-on course.  I share everything you need to know below.

At a recent session, an Adviser personally told me that she always avoided tax when doing planning for clients and she told her clients to seek tax advice elsewhere.  After attending my classes, a whole new world opened for her and that she can’t believe she missed these opportunities for so long.

Many shy away from dealing with Income Tax as part of the financial planning process when it must be the starting point.  Not only must it be the starting point, but it must be considered throughout the process and every time the planning is reviewed or when changes are recommended.

Income Tax offers many opportunities to financial planners, advisers and other professionals, but also pitfalls if one is not knowledgeable and skilled in the area of Income Tax.  Income Tax is the one area where changes are introduced every year, therefore it is important to stay up to date with these and to understand how such changes impact current planning and structures.

The biggest pitfall of all is ignoring income tax altogether.  The second biggest pitfall is using marginal tax rates to account for income tax in the planning process.

Income Tax is also the area that most students struggle the most with when completing their financial planning and accounting studies.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) has a fundamental and direct impact on all areas of financial planning.  The impact of CGT can change a good investment into a bad one.  Disregarding CGT will result in objectives not being achieved.  A simple thing like running a business from one’s primary residence (like so many people do these days), can result in the primary residence becoming subject to CGT even if its value is below R 2 000 000.

What may seem like a simple and easy decision, may trigger a disposal for Capital Gains Tax Purposes.  A spouse donating assets or an investment to the other spouse, can still be held liable for CGT on such asset or investment.  How many times do you get the question “Should I rather invest the money in my spouse’s name?”.

Planning for business succession is another area where Capital Gains Tax must be considered.  Selling a business will trigger CGT and its impact must always be determined and planned for.

Enough with the doom and gloom!

What you should really see from the above, are loads of opportunities.

Capital Gains Tax presents the opportunity to increase your business significantly.  Not only will you increase your business, but you will enhance the trust clients put in you.  Our role as financial planners and advisers is to help our clients make better financial decisions.  Underlying great financial decisions is great and relevant information.  This means that it is up to you to foresee what the circumstances may be down the road, highlight risks and the impact of taxes (such as CGT).  You must be able to quantify and demonstrate any impact in a way that the client will understand.

What to expect

The Premier Income Tax course focuses on Personal Income Tax as well as Capital Gains Tax and specifically how it impacts and is impacted by, Financial Planning.  This course will equip you to do several things:

• Correctly calculate a client’s income tax for a specific year;
• In a practical manner, determine the impact of a Financial Plan (or different scenarios) on a client’s tax position;
• Understand the interplay between tax and different products;
• The latest on the changes to the “Expat Tax” exemption;
• Once and for all conquer tax on lump sums from retirement funds;
• Correctly identify and determine capital gains tax implications of different events and entities (individuals, companies, trusts and deceased estates);
• Identify Financial Planning Opportunities from a client’s tax assessment;
• Integrating tax into your financial and investment planning for clients; and
• Make informed recommendations.

As part of the program, you will receive:

• 24 hours of face-to-face classes
• Hands-on guidance
• Personal Income Tax for Financial Planning Handbook
• Examples to help you understand the concepts more easily
• Practical Case Studies
• Templates
• An assignment to complete
• A final closed book examination

Learning Outcomes / Objectives

• Identify opportunities to structure a client’s remuneration in a tax efficient manner;
• Understand the impact of different types of investments on the client’s tax position and vice versa;
• Understand the impact of risk strategies on the client’s tax position;
• Calculate the tax payable by a client for a given tax year for different scenarios;
• Know, understand and apply the Anti Avoidance Measures;
• Know and understand the latest tax changes (both implemented and proposed);
• Determine the maximum allowable deduction for Retirement Fund Contributions;
• Understand and utilise excess rollover contributions;
• Calculate and apply Medical Aid Tax credits correctly;
• Assist clients with Travel Allowances to determine how much they should ideally receive annually;
• Company Car Fringe Benefit Value Calculations;
• Employer Contributions and how it is treated;
• Calculate Tax on Retirement Fund Lump Sums;
• Compare different investments in terms of tax;
• Unlock new opportunities for financial planning;
• Know and understand Capital Gains Tax implications in a variety of situations;

Course Syllabus

We have put together a course that focuses on all the important aspects from a financial- and investment planning perspective.  The course is structured in a way that builds, step-by-step, from the basics.

For the full syllabus and what we cover in the course, please DOWNLOAD the syllabus here.

Pre-requisites

• Basic understanding of Income Tax will be beneficial but not a requirement;
• Good understanding of financial products;
• Eagerness to learn.

Who must enroll in the course

• Financial Planners & Advisers;
• Accountants
• Bookkeepers
• Tax Consultants
• Broker Consultants who want to provide enhanced value to their panel;
• Paraplanners;
• Sales and Branch Managers;
• Franchise Principals;
• Key Individuals;
• Support staff that helps with the Financial Planning process;
• Students studying an NQF6, 7 or 8 qualification in Wealth Management / Financial Planning.

Difficulty Level

The course starts off with some basics and it quickly builds from there to an intermediate and advanced level.

The course is rated as Intermediate/Advanced, as it is expected that you have a basic understanding of the subject already.  You will greatly benefit from this course and have more knowledge and skills to grow your practice and to increase the value you offer your clients.  We go into detail and therefore this is not an introductory course.  It is an intermediate/advanced course that includes some introductory elements which ensure you don’t get left behind.

CPD Points

CPD can be claimed for this.  Our programs are administered by Circulus Online and comply with all the requirements for Fit and Proper with the FSCA as well as the Financial Planning Institute.  Therefore, CPD may be claimed for both purposes.

• Total CPD points on successful completion:  12