Chair's view, Issue 1

When I first became a CTA, or ATII as the qualification was known then, in 1983, only a small number of members had any involvement with international tax. Nowadays it is hard to find any of us who do not have some kind of professional contact with the world outside the UK. The Institute responded to this trend in 2003 by introducing a new qualification, the Advanced Diploma in International Tax, now known around the world by its designatory letters, ADIT, and comparable in stature to the CTA. There are now more than 2,800 ADIT students, graduates and International Tax Affiliates in 110 countries and territories. The biggest employers include PwC, KPMG, EY, Deloitte, HMRC and Shell. In Shell we were looking for a comprehensive technical training programme suitable for those wishing to specialise in international tax and decided to recommend ADIT after surveying all of the international tax qualifications in the market, because it can be done anywhere in the world and is subject to rigorous standards and quality control exercised by an academic board that consists of the most respected names in the industry. The board members are:

Dr John Avery Jones CBE
Pump Court Tax Chambers and Retired Judge of the UK Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber)

Dr Philip Baker QC OBE
University of Oxford

Malcolm Gammie QC CBE
London School of Economics

Prof. Dr Luís Eduardo Schoueri
University of São Paulo

Dr Partho Shome
Ministry of Finance, Government of India

Prof. Dr Kees Van Raad
University of Leiden

Jefferson VanderWolk
OECD, Washington, DC

Prof. Richard Vann
University of Sydney

The board is supported by a committee that is intended to be representative of the ADIT population. The committee also includes directors/managers from the Institute, including Rory Clarke who is dedicated to ADIT. If you have any questions about the qualification, please contact Rory at rclarke@adit.org.uk or, should you meet any of us at an event or professionally, fell free to ask us about ADIT!

The ADIT exam syllabus consists of three papers

1. Principles of International Taxation
2. Advanced International Taxation, with options by jurisdiction
3. Advanced International Taxation, with options by theme 

To achieve ADIT, students must complete Paper 1 and any two option papers from the Paper 2 and/or Paper 3 suites. The technical articles contained within each edition of ADIT Voice will be directly relevant to the ADIT syllabus, and comprise another useful resource with which to keep up-to-date with technical developments whether you are an ADIT student, a holder of the qualification, or just interested in international tax.

I am particularly interested in your feedback about the direction we should be taking to make the qualification even more relevant to international tax practitioners around the world. Recently we added two options, one focusing on EU VAT and the other on Upstream Oil and Gas, to the thematic section of the syllabus.

If you are an ADIT holder, please spread the word about how good the qualification is. If you are not, you can find out more about ADIT at www.adit.org.uk. And if you are a student, good luck in your exams!