CPA Board Exam October 2016 - Taxation
October 9, 2016
Theories
I always loved answering theories in taxation since undergrad probably because I enjoyed studying Banggawan's textbooks. Our college professor in BusTax made us memorize and recite the VAT exempt, zero-rated transactions, etc. They were easier to recall when the formal review came. Atty. D’s catchy mnemonics (remember PAMBEERIL-O, anyone?) were also helpful during the actual exam. Being familiar with tax rates doesn't hurt.
Situational
I guess there are more or less 15 situational problems in this subject. Each situational problem has 3-5 questions. Be mindful about limits and the rules around them. For example, since EAR expenses have different maximum percentage ceiling whether the taxpayer is engaged in sale of goods (0.5%) or in sale of services (1%), this can affect your answer and may help you pick the right choice as well if you're doing the elimination method in answering. I vaguely remember also the need to use the given tax tables. Tax tables for income tax, donor's tax and estate tax are all given as usual.
Grammar
Fortunately, the grammar questions in our batch are easy. No questions about proper punctuation marks or appropriate words were asked. The statements are even related to taxation and all of them seem alike which made me do a double take when I encountered the first one because I thought it was a true or false question. The main focus this time is the proper usage of prepositions (e.g. in, on, with, by, for) and the usage of the past tense/past participle of a verb.
Take a look at this example:
A) Non-resident Individuals and Non-resident Corporations or their duly authorized representative who are income recipients from the Philippines and whose country of residents has an effective tax treaty with the Philippines can apply for Tax Treaty Relief Application (TTRA).
B) Non-resident Individuals and Non-resident Corporations or their duly authorized representative who is income recipients from the Philippines and whom country of residents has an effective tax treaty with the Philippines can apply for Tax Treaty Relief Application (TTRA).
C) Non-resident Individuals and Non-resident Corporations or their duly authorized representative who are income recipients from the Philippines and whose country of residents have an effective tax treaty with the Philippines can apply for Tax Treaty Relief Application (TTRA).
D) Non-resident Individuals and Non-resident Corporations or their duly authorized representative who were income recipients from the Philippines and whose country of residents had an effective tax treaty with the Philippines can apply for Tax Treaty Relief Application (TTRA).
The correct and original statement is copied from this site.
As you can see, the approach is like spot the difference. If you feel you're having trouble with the proper use of prepositions, just assess the euphony of the sentence. If it sounds awkward, then probably it's wrong :)
[This is a six-part blog post. Details about the remaining subjects are to be posted soon.]
