Multiple memberships

PGM

How many people have more than one accountancy membership, or plan to do so?

No that I have AAT and ACCA, the costs are a little high..

What are the benefits of having both?

Bluewednesday

HI PGM

I had kept both of mine going as my work paid AAT and I paid ACCA. It really pains me to say but I think I am going to have to let me AAT go as everything I need is covered by ACCA but I just can't keep paying the fees this year and if my AAT goes my boss might cover my ACCA ones.

I didn't want to do it but am really struggling to see what benefit AAT gives me that ACCA doesn't.

If work paid for both I wouldn't even dream of leaving as AAT is a brilliant qualification and I want to support it and help the recognition but when I'm covering just short of £200 of fees myself then it's almost a whim.

Dcollins

I left ACCA a while ago (long story), but intend to reinstate my membership next year. If that works out I plan to keep my AAT membership because I do get a lot out of it.

The branch events, CCH Online and CPD articles and podcasts are worth the AAT fee itself. I like the AAT's UK focus, it's more relevant to my work than ACCA's global fixation.

I'm earning very little at the moment, and will be paying for both myself, but can see advantages of being in both associations so I think it's worth it.

Bluewednesday

See I find the ACCA CPD articles much more useful although I do agree with the global fixation of ACCA as opposed to the UK one.

I have found that AAT events are good but have never been able to use CCH online (I thought it was MIP only - am I wrong?) but have used ACCA's technical advice line that is open to all members.

I don't feel good about maybe leaving, but I have to question value for money which I am getting from ACCA and it sort of feels like I'm paying twice for the same thing.

Don't get me wrong, if I possibly could I would be doing both without a shadow of a doubt, mainly for the branch events which I have used.

Maybe there is more there than I know about?

Monsoon

I think CCH online is MIP only. I access it via my MIP area.

When hell freezes over I should get ATT after my name as well (yes, I'm feeling positive about my exams!) and when I do I'd like to keep both, but I know it's not cheap, so time will tell.

Rozzi Rainbow

I am still studying ACCA so am only paying the student rate and also get my AAT at a reduced rate so I think it's worth it for now. But once I qualify with ACCA and have to pay higher rates for both, I don't think I'll be able to keep AAT. I don't want to drop it but because I'll be paying for both myself I don't think I can justify it. I enjoy reading the AAT magazine but that's all I feel I get from it as all the branch events are too far away for me. It's a shame really, perhaps after reading this the AAT can come to some arrangement where if you have another membership you can somehow get one cheaper!!

qwerty

I thought about giving up my AAT membership as I have other memberships which provide more than my AAT one does. However, I don't believe the costs are very much (especially in comparison to Chartered fees) and as I put in a lot of work to obtain MAAT, I decided to leave things as they were.

I would love my fees to be £200 - I currently pay over £1,000 p.a., thank god for tax relief which nearly halves the cost. Still, I choose to pay this and it includes normal membership fees and faculty membership fees, all of which help keep me up-to-date and look good on my CV.

Personally, I would say keep your AAT membership for at least a year. Do not rush into giving it up, you too worked hard to gain it, don't just throw it away.

PGM

If you do let the AAT membership lapse, is there any penalties to restart it?

Dcollins

I did let my AAT membership lapse, after qualifying with ACCA, and came back after 4 years. If I remember rightly, I had to pay something like £45 + the current membership fee, and fill in a form. Memory's a bit foggy on that, but I don't remember having any problems coming back.

AK002

If you're paying it yourself I hope you are claiming tax relief for it?

It's not much, but every little helps .

Rozzi Rainbow

Thank you, I am definitely claiming! The first year I was happy to wait until after 5th April to claim but once I had, they changed my tax code for (what was) the current tax year so I've been getting relief in year since. As you said, it all helps!

PGM

AK002 wrote: »

If you're paying it yourself I hope you are claiming tax relief for it?

It's not much, but every little helps .

Good point!

Work has usually paid it, but now I'm qualified ACCA I don't get the studenty discounts on membership.

I feel like its enough just having ACCA, but as other have pointed out; after all the hard work to get AAT you don't want to give it up!

*Jo

Hi all,

Is it just the membership fee you can claim tax relief on or can you on your studies as well?

Im self funding CIMA now so would be good if got the tax back on that.

How do you go about getting your tax code changed?

Thanks in advance,

Jo

P.S. I know i'm being a little lazy and could just call HMRC but i'm really hoping I don't have to be put on hold forever and ever and ever

Bluewednesday

Membership fees that you pay yourself is a definite.

Training is a definite no!

*Jo

Bluewednesday wrote: »

Membership fees that you pay yourself is a definite.

Training is a definite no!

Never mind the Membership Fee bit will help anyway.

Thanks for getting back so quickly.

uknitty

Can you back date claims for membership fees for up to the last 6 years in which you have paid tax ?

I know that on the rebate you can claim for laundering uniforms you can claim the 6 previous tax years and the current one - just wondered if this would work the same way.

I've not studied any of the tax units yet. Can you tell ?

coojee

Bluewednesday wrote: »

Membership fees that you pay yourself is a definite.

Training is a definite no!

Note that you do have to be working in a role that requires you to be qualified. You can't reclaim membership fees if you're working on the checkout in Tesco for example. It still has to pass the test of wholly, exclusively and necessarily.

Bluewednesday

Sorry coojee yes I had made the assumption that it was required for employment but obviously it may not always be the case.

Rozzi Rainbow

uknitty wrote: »

Can you back date claims for membership fees for up to the last 6 years in which you have paid tax ?

I know that on the rebate you can claim for laundering uniforms you can claim the 6 previous tax years and the current one - just wondered if this would work the same way.

I've not studied any of the tax units yet. Can you tell ?

I've just checked the HMRC website here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/how-to-get.htm

and it seems you have until 31st January 2012 to claim for the 05/06 tax year. That'll be a nice rebate for you if you get six years' worth in one go! This is assuming you don't complete a tax return, if you do it's two years less.

AK002

Yeah you can back date the claims which is good.

uknitty

I started studying last year and I have paid student membership fees to AAT and to ICAEW. I work as an accounts assistant, so I hope I should be able to claim both lots of fees back,

*Jo

Rozzi Rainbow wrote: »

I've just checked the HMRC website here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/how-to-get.htm

and it seems you have until 31st January 2012 to claim for the 05/06 tax year. That'll be a nice rebate for you if you get six years' worth in one go! This is assuming you don't complete a tax return, if you do it's two years less.

Thank you so much for the link, i've discovered not only can I get tax relief on my membership but my partner is a printer and his brother in law a joiner and they can get tax relief too.

Rozzi Rainbow

No problem, glad to help. HMRC seem to be making it a bit easier to find out what and how you can claim, as when I first started studying I wasn't aware of it at all until my then tutor, who also worked in practice, told us. Even then it took ages to find the right form to claim on from the website. Now they seem to have much more information including a list I found of all the approved organisations you can claim membership fees from.