Most examiner reports are vague. This one wasn’t. The ICAG Principles of Taxation Chief Examiner’s Report for the March 2025 diet named, in plain language, the three topics that a meaningful chunk of candidates skipped — and then did the math on what it cost them. Only around 40% of candidates passed. The examiner’s own estimate: full coverage of those three topics would have pushed the pass rate past 50%.
The Three Named Topics
The report states it directly: “It seems some of the candidates did not pay attention to certain topics. Probably, thinking those topics were not so important. Such topics are Ghana National Pension Scheme, Tax Administration, and Value-Added Taxation.” None of these are conceptually difficult — two of the three are almost entirely descriptive knowledge, the kind of marks that are either in your head on exam day or they aren’t.
Tax Administration — 10 Marks for Knowing the System
Candidates were asked to state four areas that usually need tax reform and six actual tax administration reforms made in Ghana over the years. This is a “know your system” question — the shift toward self-assessment, e-filing through GRA’s online systems, TIN/Ghana Card integration, the Modified Taxation Scheme for small businesses, and simplified compliance procedures. There is no calculation risk here at all.
Value-Added Tax — Where Speed Matters as Much as Knowledge
Four separate VAT scenarios packed into 20 marks: circumstances where a voluntary VAT registration application can be declined; the VAT treatment when a deposit-based sale is cancelled before full payment; whether input VAT before registration can be deducted; and reverse-calculating VAT, NHIL, GETFund Levy, COVID-19 Levy, and Communication Service Tax out of a single total phone bill. That last part trips candidates who know VAT in theory but have never drilled a reverse calculation under time pressure.
Ghana’s Pension System — Five Marks Most Candidates Leave on the Table
A three-tier structure: Tier 1 (mandatory, 13.5%) and Tier 2 (mandatory, 5%) compulsory, Tier 3 voluntary. Employees contribute 5.5% of basic salary; employers contribute 13%, remitted by the 14th of the following month. Tiers 1 and 2 are fully allowable deductions before tax; Tier 3 is deductible up to a cap of 16.5% of basic salary.
Exam tip: Read every number’s unit before you calculate. The same report flags that allowances given as monthly figures caught out candidates who forgot to multiply by 12 — a technically-correct method with a wrong final number. Underline “monthly,” “annual,” and “per annum” every time you see a figure.
The Myth the Examiner Killed Himself
Perhaps the most useful sentence in the entire report has nothing to do with tax law: “There is nothing like ‘the examination trend.’ Candidates are to be examined on all the topics.” Most students prepare using pattern recognition — the Chief Examiner is telling you, in his own report, that this strategy has a hard ceiling.
Conclusion
This paper didn’t fail candidates on difficulty. It exposed a coverage gap the examiner named specifically and explained in numbers. Tax Administration and Ghana’s Pension System are near-guaranteed marks for anyone who studies the full syllabus. VAT rewards drilled speed, not just theoretical understanding.
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