COMMLAW 7013 - Income Taxation (M)

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2016

The course information on this page is being finalised for 2016. Please check again before classes commence.

This course provides an introduction to, and overview of, fundamental concepts of income tax law. Topics include Introduction to Taxation, including income tax, capital gains tax, fringe benefits tax, and goods and services tax; Jurisdiction to Tax; Assessable Income, including taxation of capital gains and losses; Non-Assessable Income; Deductions; Tax Accounting; Tax Treatment of Tax Entities; Anti-avoidance; and Tax Administration.

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Course Details

Course Code	COMMLAW 7013
Course	Income Taxation (M)
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Law School
Term	Semester 2
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 4 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Prerequisites	COMMLAW 7011
Restrictions	Not for Law Students
Assessment	Exam/assignments/tests/tutorial work as prescribed at first lecture

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Sylvia Villios

Semester 1
Lecturer Name: Domenic Carbone
Location: Room 4.16 Building: 4th floor, Ligertwood Building
Telephone: 8313 4759
Email: domenic.carbone@adelaide.edu.au

Semester 2
Lecturer Name: Sylvia Villios
Location: Room 4.17 Building: 4th floor, Ligertwood Building
Telephone: 8313 7223
Email: sylvia.villios@adelaide.edu.au

Course Website:

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .

Learning Outcomes

Course Learning Outcomes

This course is designed to:

1. Provide students with an understanding of the Australian income tax system in a range of contexts.

2. Provide knowledge of fundamental concepts of Australian income tax law.

3. Enable students to develop experience in identifying tax issues and applying the income tax law to arrive at reasoned solutions to problems.

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

4. Understand and apply fundamental concepts of Australian income tax law.

5. Research, analyse and evaluate income tax information and issues.

6. Apply critical thinking and problem solving skills to resolve income tax issues.

7. Communicate effectively orally income tax information and solutions to income tax issues.

8. Communicate effectively in writing income tax information and solutions to income tax issues.

University Graduate Attributes

No information currently available.
Learning Resources

Required Resources

Semester 1 Text Books
Income Tax Law Study Guide 2016
Core Tax Legislation 2016 (Oxford University Press)

Semester 1 Readings
The Income Tax Law Study Guide 2016 refers to further required reading from the Australian Master Tax Guide 2016. This is available free online through the Law Library’s Quick Links to CCH Online (via IntelliConnect). A Case Materials Booklet will also be made available that contains the essential tax cases that must be read.

Semester 2 Text Books
LexisNexis Australian Tax 2016
Lexis Nexis Concise Tax Legislation 2016
Lexis Nexis Quick Reference Cards I and II 2016

Recommended Resources

References
Australian Tax Handbook 2016 (Thomson Reuters)
Australian Taxation Law 2016, Woellner et al (Oxford University Press)

Case Books
Australian Taxation Law Cases 2016, Krever (Thomson Reuters)
Australian Tax Casebook 2016, Barkoczy (Oxford University Press)

Useful Internet Websites
www.austlii.edu.au – Legislation and case law.
www.comlaw.gov.au – Commonwealth legislation.
www.ato.gov.au – Australian Taxation Office (eg ATO publications and brochures, Public Taxation Rulings and Determinations, ATO case decisions and administrative guidelines, Taxpayer Alerts, etc).
www.taxboard.gov.au – The Board of Taxation (Independent, non-statutory body established to advise the Government on the development and implementation of taxation legislation and the ongoing operation of the tax system).
http://www.treasury.gov.au/Policy-Topics/Taxation – Commonwealth Department of Treasury information on taxation.
taxreview.treasury.gov.au/content/Content.aspx?doc=html/home.htm – Australia’s future tax system.
www.igt.gov.au – Inspector General of Taxation.
www.taxinstitute.com.au – The Tax Institute (Professional body for tax practitioners).

Online Learning

The PowerPoint slides used in lectures and other material for the course, such as Tutorial questions, will be made available on MyUni throughout the semester.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

The lectures will set out the approach to understanding the Income Tax Law and applying the different topics of the tax law to problems. Although attendance at lectures is not compulsory, it is highly recommended that students attend so that students get that understanding and familiarity with that approach to the topics.

Tutorials are a very important component of the way the course is taught. The Tutorial Questions will be made available throughout the semester and will be fairly simple at first, and will then progressively increase in complexity throughout the course. The tutorials will usually comprise practical problem type questions in which the income tax law or “theory” from lectures is applied to arrive at a solution supported by appropriate reasoning. This process of applying the income tax law to arrive at a reasoned solution is critical to doing well in the assignment, the exam and the course.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours for a three-unit course of private study outside of your regular classes.

Students in this course are expected to attend all lectures throughout the semester plus one tutorial class each week.

Learning Activities Summary

Lectures will cover:

1 Introduction to Taxation, including income tax, capital gains tax, fringe benefits tax, and goods and services tax

2 Jurisdiction to Tax

3 Assessable Income, including taxation of capital gains and losses

4 Non-assessable Income

5 Deductions

6 Tax Accounting

7 Tax Treatment of Tax Entities

8 Anti-avoidance

9 Tax Administration

Specific Course Requirements

None.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

The assessment components are:

Tutorial Attendance – Quantitative: 10 out of 11 tutorials 5%.

Learning objectives and outcomes being assessed: 4, 5, 6 & 7.

Tutorial Participation – Qualitative assessment 5%.

Learning objectives and outcomes being assessed: 4, 5, 6 & 7.

Assignment – Compulsory research assignment 25%. Individual or Group. Due Date: Friday 4^th September (Week 6).

Learning objectives and outcomes being assessed: 4, 5, 6 & 8.

Final Exam 65%

The exam will be 3 hours and open book.

Learning objectives and outcomes being assessed: 4, 5, 6 & 8.

Assessment Related Requirements

RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT
LLM and MBL students choosing to use this course to satisfy the requirements of the substantial research piece of scholarship for their program must undertake the required disciplinary research and produce a 7,000-8,000 word essay which will be assessed against publication standards. This essay will replace the above mentioned research essay.

ASSESSMENT NOTES
1. To gain a pass in the course, a mark of at least 50% overall is required. There is no requirement that a particular part of the assessment must be passed.
2. Examples of previous assessment (a sample exam) will be made available on the MyUni site.
3. Assessment marks prior to the final exam will be displayed on the course website. Students are encouraged to check their marks and notify the Lecturer-in-Charge of any discrepancies.
4. Legible hand-writing and the quality of English expression are considered to be integral parts of the assessment process. Marks may be deducted in the final examination because of poor hand-writing.
5. Students in this course may take into the examination an English or English-Foreign dictionary (paper only). The use of a calculator in the examination is permitted in this course.

TUTORIAL ATTENDANCE
To gain a mark of 5% for Tutorial Attendance, students must attend a minimum of 10 tutorials out of a total of 11 tutorials that will be held.

It is a student’s responsibility to ensure that their attendance at a tutorial is recorded by their tutor. This can be done by producing a student ID card and having the attendance noted on a class roll. However, a student's attendance will only be recorded if the student is present during the entire duration of a tutorial.

If a student does not attend at least 10 tutorials they will receive a NIL mark for this assessment component, unless the non-attendance is due to the student’s illness or exceptional personal circumstances. Such students must provide their tutor with a completed "Supporting Statement / Certification Form" that is part of the Replacement/Additional Assessment application available at:
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/maca_medical_compassionate_applic_aug2012.pdf

Students relying on medical reasons must visit their medical practitioner, with that approved University form, and have the medical practitioner complete it. A normal doctor's certificate will not be accepted.

Assessment Detail

Assignment Guidelines including Referencing Details
The Communication Skills Guide will assist you to write and structure your assignments. A copy of the guide can also be downloaded from:

This publication also provides guidelines on a range of other important communication skills including writing essays. In preparing any written piece of assessment it is important to draw on the relevant ‘literature’ to support critical analysis. Also essential is to reference the literature used. Correct referencing is important because it identifies the source of the ideas and arguments that you present, and sometimes the source of the actual words you use, and helps to avoid the problem of plagiarism. (Further information on plagiarism is provided later in this course profile.) The Harvard system is widely used in the Business School. Guidelines for the use of this style of referencing can be found in the Communication Skills Guide.
Further assistance with referencing is available from the Faculty’s Learning Centre Support. The contact details are provided on page 4 of the Communication Skills Guide.

Exams
The exam is “open book” but you must not bring into the exam room any book belonging to the 成人大片 Libraries. “Permitted Materials” in the exam room are the prescribed textbook or any other tax textbook, the legislation, course materials and handouts, your own lecture and other notes written and prepared by you, and not prepared by or taken from someone else. You may also bring into the exam room an English or English/foreign language dictionary (paper only), and calculator incapable of sending text.

It is each student's responsibility to read the examination timetable. Misreading the timetable is not accepted as grounds for granting a replacement/additional (sup) exam.

University staff are not permitted to provide examination times to students over the telephone or in response to personal enquiries.

Examinations will be held only at the time and locations stated in the University’s Examination Timetable, so they may not be taken in another country. Students should not make any arrangements to be absent until after the replacement/additional (sup) exam period.

Submission

Assignment Submission
1. Students must retain a copy of all assignments submitted.
2. Students must attach an ‘Assignment Cover Sheet’, which is signed and dated before submission. Lecturers may withhold students’ results until such time as the student has signed the Assignment Cover Sheet.
3. Lecturers can refuse to accept assignments, which do not have a signed acknowledgement of the University’s policy on plagiarism.
4. For this course, students are required to hand in assignments via ‘Turn it in’ which is a computer programme that detects plagiarised work. Further information can be found at:
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/myuni/tutorials/content/Turnitin_submitting_as_a_Student.html
5. Students must not submit work for an assignment that has previously been submitted for this course or any other course without prior approval from the Lecturer-in-Charge.

Late Assignment Submission
Students are expected to submit their work by the due date to maintain a fair and equitable system. Extensions will generally only be given for medical or other serious reasons. All requests for extensions must be emailed to the lecturer in charge of the course before the due date. Each request will be assessed on its merits.
An assignment extension request based on illness or on exceptional personal circumstances must include the "Supporting Statement / Certification Form" that is part of the Replacement/Additional Assessment application available at:
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/maca_medical_compassionate_applic_aug2012.pdf
Students applying for an extension based on medical reasons must visit their medical practitioner, with that approved University form, and have the medical practitioner complete it. A normal doctor's certificate will not be accepted.
A late assignment (without prior arrangement) will be penalised by a 10% mark reduction for each day that it is late.

Return of Assignments
Lecturers aim to mark and return assignments to students within two (2) weeks of the due date with written feedback.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through .

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
The University Writing Centre provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the 成人大片.

Practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.

For more information please check out the Writing Centre website at

Lex Salus Program

Lex Salus was founded in 2013 by Adelaide Law School Wellbeing officers Ms Corinne Walding, Ms Kellie Toole and Dr Mark Giancaspro. Lex Salus is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at raising law student awareness of the importance of mental, physical and nutritional health across all year levels of the degree, and of the various counselling, disability and equity services both within and outside the University that can provide help. Research shows that law students, both in Australia and in many jurisdictions around the world, experience the highest levels of stress, anxiety and depression out of any other discipline. Many do not get enough sleep, maintain a healthy diet or achieve a realistic work/life balance. Making matters worse, they are unwilling or afraid to speak up for fear of feeling 'weak' or because of the negative stigma that attaches to seeking help. Lex Salus is dedicated to tackling these problems head-on.

Counselling Service

The University Counselling Service provides a free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Counselling service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life. More information is available at /counselling_centre/.
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Plagiarism and other forms of cheating

Plagiarism is a serious act of academic misconduct. All students must be familiar with the Adelaide Law School Enrolment Guide, and should note in particular the sections relating to plagiarism, grievance procedures and academic conduct within the Law School and the University.

Plagiarism is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Please be aware that “academic dishonesty” (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to refuse to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia.

Academic honesty is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.

The 成人大片 is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The 成人大片 therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator

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