Professional Ethics
What the domain tests
Professional ethics tests the CITN Code of Conduct and Ethics in tax-specific situations. It is not abstract philosophy: the TPC gives you a client request, a fee arrangement or a conflict, and asks what threat arises, which fundamental principle is affected, and what safeguard or action follows.
Core rules
- Five fundamental principles: integrity; objectivity; professional competence and due care; confidentiality; professional behaviour.
- Threats: self-interest, self-review, advocacy, familiarity and intimidation. Identify the threat, evaluate its significance, then eliminate it or apply safeguards such as independent review, disclosure and consent, or declining the work.
- Confidentiality: do not disclose client information without authority. Exceptions include a legal or regulatory requirement, a court order, or a professional duty. Share only on a need-to-know basis.
- Conflicts of interest: identify early, disclose to both clients, obtain informed consent where appropriate, use separate teams and information barriers, or decline.
- Fees and gifts: avoid fee arrangements that reward a particular return position; disclose referral arrangements; do not accept gifts that create familiarity or self-interest threats.
- Tax evasion: refusing to assist is mandatory. False invoices, hidden income and backdated documents are evasion, not planning.
Worked example
A client asks the practitioner to record family school fees and a personal vehicle as business expenses "because everyone does it". The correct response is to refuse, explain that the expenses are private and non-deductible, and document the advice. If the client insists, the practitioner should decline to sign the return and consider withdrawing. Confidentiality does not authorise participation in a false return; it protects information, not crime. A suspicious-transaction report may also be required under anti-money-laundering rules, and the client must not be tipped off.
Traps
Believing confidentiality covers an ongoing fraud; accepting a "success fee" tied to a tax saving; failing to document a conflict consent; treating a client's instruction as a substitute for professional judgement; and continuing to act after discovering a material error because withdrawal feels awkward.