Checked 25 October 2026. The format, the learning-outcome weightings, the edition dates and the tax-table figures were read on the CII’s R03 unit page, syllabus, examination guide and 2026/27 tax tables on 25 October 2026. This syllabus applies to exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027; check the unit page before relying on a figure.
The CII R03 Personal taxation exam is 50 multiple-choice questions in one hour: 39 standard format and 11 multiple response. R03 is in the CII’s words “a core unit for the Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning which meets the FCA’s qualification requirements for retail investment advisers.” The syllabus now in force is examined from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027, on English law and practice in the 2026/27 tax year. This page sets out the two question formats, how many questions the syllabus gives each of its four learning outcomes as a guide, the pass mark and how the CII adjusts marks, the tax tables you are given, and the official practice material. ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not affiliated with the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), and nothing here is official. Every format fact and figure below is quoted or summarised from the CII’s own pages and documents, read on 25 October 2026.
CII R03 unit page, syllabus and examination guide for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027, read 25 October 2026.
The two question formats
The examination guide describes both. A standard format question “consists of a problem followed by four options, labelled A, B, C and D, from which the candidate is asked to choose the correct response. Each question will contain only one correct or best response to the problem posed.” One mark is awarded for each correct response, and “No marks are deducted for candidates choosing an incorrect response.”
A multiple response question “consists of a problem, followed by between four to six options. For each question more than one option is correct. Candidates must select all the correct options to gain the mark.” Miss one of the correct options and the question does not gain the mark. The syllabus puts all 11 of these in two learning outcomes: 7 in outcome 2 (the taxation of investments) and 4 in outcome 3 (the role of tax in clients’ affairs).
| Format | How many | Options | Correct options | To score the mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 39 | Four, A to D | One (the correct or best) | Choose that option |
| Multiple response | 11 | Four to six | More than one | Select every correct option |
From the examination information in the CII’s R03 examination guide for 2026/27.
The syllabus: four learning outcomes
The syllabus gives a number of questions for each learning outcome. It calls this a guide: the specification “has an in-built element of flexibility”, is “not a statement of actual number of questions that will appear in every exam”, and the number testing each outcome “will generally be within the range plus or minus 2 of the number indicated.” Outcome 4, applying personal taxation to investment advice, explicitly requires calculations: of “basic elements of Income Tax, NICs, CGT, and IHT, including the impact of lifetime transfers and transfers at death”.
| Learning outcome | Questions (2026/27 syllabus) | What it covers (our summary) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Understand the UK tax system as relevant to the needs and circumstances of individuals and trusts | 15 standard | The main features of Income Tax, National Insurance, Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax; residence (the Statutory Residence Test and long-term UK residence); tax compliance (self assessment, PAYE, avoidance and evasion); stamp taxes; an outline of VAT and Corporation Tax. |
| 2. Analyse the taxation of investments as relevant to the needs and circumstances of individuals and trusts | 8 standard + 7 multiple response | Direct investments (cash, gilts, corporate bonds, equities, property) and indirect ones: pensions, ISAs, onshore and offshore collectives and life policies (including the effect of adviser fees on tax-deferred withdrawals), REITs, VCTs, EIS and SEIS, social investment and structured products. |
| 3. Analyse the role and relevance of tax in the financial affairs of individuals and trusts | 6 standard + 4 multiple response | The impact of taxes on individuals, trusts and their investments; Income Tax and CGT planning (spouses, civil partners, children, pension contributions, ISAs, CGT exemptions and reliefs); lifetime gifts, business relief, wills, trusts, joint ownership and deeds of variation in IHT planning; gifts and sales to family and charity. |
| 4. Apply the knowledge of personal taxation to the provision of investment advice | 10 standard | Calculations of Income Tax, NICs, CGT and IHT, including lifetime transfers and transfers on death; elementary tax planning recommendations in investment and pensions advice. |
Question numbers from the R03 syllabus examined from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027; the summaries are ours, from the CII’s assessment criteria and indicative content for 2026/27. Read the syllabus and indicative content themselves for the full list.
From the R03 syllabus for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027. The syllabus calls these numbers a guide: each will generally be within plus or minus 2 in any one exam.
What is the R03 pass mark?
The CII’s R03 unit page states: “The standard pass mark is 65%”, and “The 2025 pass rate for this unit was 59.61%”. On 50 questions, 65% is 32.5 marks, so 33 correct answers is the first whole score at or above it (our arithmetic). The standard is not a fixed raw mark on every paper. The CII’s guide “Understanding your exam result” explains that, “where necessary”, it will “automatically adjust the marks that every candidate receives on that exam version to compensate them for the degree of difficulty encountered”, and that it “will always report to you the moderated number of marks/adjusted marks relative to the standard pass mark”. The examination guide adds that “A pre-defined quota of passes to be awarded does not exist.”
The examination guide says your feedback shows the result and, for each syllabus learning outcome, the percentage of questions you answered correctly.
Which tax year you are examined on
The 2026/27 R03 syllabus says candidates “will be examined on the basis of English law and practice in the tax year 2026/2027 unless otherwise stated”, and that “It should be assumed that all individuals have long-term UK residence status unless otherwise stated.” The examination guide states the general rule: “the new tax year and changes arising from the Finance Act will be examined from 1 September each year. Other changes, not related to the Finance Act, will not be examined earlier than 3 months after they come into effect.”
So an exam sat between 1 September 2026 and 31 August 2027 is on the 2026/27 tax year. The “Tax year” line in the qualification update on the CII’s R03 unit page, read on 25 October 2026, still named 2025/26 for exams from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026; the 2026/27 syllabus and examination guide name 2026/27.
The tax tables you are given
The examination guide says: “Extracts from tax tables will be provided at each examination”, and “Candidates may not take their own tax tables into the examination.” The CII’s supporting exam documents page lists the tax tables “provided for candidates taking examinations from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027” for R03 (shared with CF1, LP2, R01, R02, R04, R05, R07, J10 and J12). Some of the figures they print for 2026/2027:
| Tax | Item | 2026/27 (CII exam tax tables) |
|---|---|---|
| Income Tax | Personal allowance | £12,570, reduced by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income over £100,000 |
| Income Tax | Basic, higher and additional rates | 20% on £0 to £37,700; 40% on £37,701 to £125,140; 45% on £125,141 and over |
| Income Tax | Savings | starting rate of 0% on savings income up to £5,000 (for non-savings income less than £17,570 only); personal savings allowance £1,000 basic rate, £500 higher rate, nil additional rate |
| Income Tax | Dividends | dividend allowance £500; rates 10.75% basic, 35.75% higher, 39.35% additional |
| NICs | Class 1 employee | 8% between £242 and £967 a week; 2% above £967 |
| NICs | Class 4 | 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270; 2% above £50,270 |
| CGT | Rates and exemption | individuals 18% basic rate and 24% higher rate; annual exempt amount £3,000 (trusts generally £1,500); Business Asset Disposal Relief 18%, lifetime limit £1,000,000 |
| IHT | Nil-rate bands | £325,000 nil-rate band; residence nil-rate band £175,000, tapered for estates over £2,000,000; 40% on death, 36% reduced rate, 20% on lifetime transfers to and from certain trusts |
| Pensions | Allowances | annual allowance £60,000, reduced by £1 for every £2 of adjusted income over £260,000 to a minimum of £10,000 if threshold income is also over £200,000; money purchase annual allowance £10,000; lump sum allowance £268,275, which may be higher with transitional protection and may be reduced where benefits were crystallised before 6 April 2024 |
From the CII’s tax tables 2026-2027 for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027, read 25 October 2026. The CII says these documents are for study purposes and that some detailed figures may differ from those in the examination; check the tables on the CII’s supporting exam documents page.
How the exam is taken
You can sit R03 at an exam centre or by remote invigilation. For remote invigilation, the examination guide says that once you have booked you can launch a tutorial from your MyCII/MyPFS dashboard, which “can only be accessed three times”, and which you cannot open in the 2 hours and 30 minutes before your scheduled exam. A calculator must be a silent battery or solar-powered non-programmable calculator; a financial or scientific calculator is allowed if it meets those rules. You may make rough notes.
Official practice from the CII
| Resource | What it holds | Where |
|---|---|---|
| R03 examination guide | The syllabus, examination information, a specimen examination, specimen tax tables, and the answers with the learning outcome each question covers | On the R03 unit page |
| Revision aids | Key Facts Booklet, Knowledge Checker (multiple-choice questions on the study text), E-learn and Audio Revision | From the CII |
| Revision Extra | A digital course with 11 hours of video support covering the syllabus, plus practice questions; not part of Enrolment plus | Bought separately from the CII |
From the CII’s R03 unit page and examination guide, read 25 October 2026. No prices were in the page text we read.
For questions in the same format, our R03 practice questions page works through three questions from the ProSyllabus CII R03 practice test, an independent test of two full 50-question exams for the 2026/27 tax year.
What we could not find
| Question | What we found |
|---|---|
| How far marks are adjusted on a given exam version | The pages we read describe the method only, not the adjustment for any real exam version. |
| R03 fees | No fee amounts were in the unit-page text we read, so none is quoted here. |
| Past R03 papers | None on the pages we read; the examination guide contains a specimen examination. |
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are in the CII R03 exam?
50 multiple-choice questions: 39 standard format and 11 multiple response, in one hour.
What is the R03 pass mark?
The CII’s R03 unit page states that the standard pass mark is 65%. Where necessary the CII adjusts marks for the difficulty of each exam version, and it reports your result against the standard pass mark. The page gives the 2025 pass rate as 59.61%.
Which tax year is R03 examined on?
For exams sat from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027, the 2026/27 tax year, on English law and practice unless otherwise stated.
Do I get tax tables in the R03 exam?
Yes. The examination guide says extracts from tax tables are provided at each examination and you may not take your own in. The CII publishes the tables for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 on its supporting exam documents page.
How do R03 multiple response questions work?
Each has four to six options, more than one of them correct, and you must select all the correct options to gain the mark. There are 11: the syllabus’s guide puts 7 in learning outcome 2 and 4 in learning outcome 3.
Is there negative marking in R03?
No. The examination guide says no marks are deducted for choosing an incorrect response.
Which learning outcome has the most questions?
Learning outcomes 1 and 2 jointly, with 15 each in the 2026/27 syllabus’s guide: outcome 1, the UK tax system, 15 standard questions; outcome 2, the taxation of investments, 8 standard and 7 multiple response.
More in this series
Sources
- official — CII: Personal Taxation (R03), unit page with the assessment, testing position and exam guide updates (read 25 Oct 2026)
- official — CII: R03 Personal taxation, examination syllabus, examined from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 (published June 2026)
- official — CII: R03 Personal taxation 2026/2027, assessment criteria and indicative content
- official — CII: R03 examination guide for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 (published June 2026), with a specimen examination
- official — CII: tax tables 2026-2027 (the supporting exam documents page lists them for R03 exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027)
- official — CII: supporting exam documents (which tax tables apply to which exam dates)
- official — CII: Understanding your exam result (how marks are moderated)
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
