COMMLAW 7013MELB - Income Taxation (M)

Melbourne Campus - Semester 2 - 2024

This course provides an introduction to and overview of the fundamental concepts of income tax law. Topics include Introduction to Taxation, International 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. The course also provides an introduction to Fringe Benefits Tax, Goods and Services Tax and the tax law research process.

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Course Details

Course Code	COMMLAW 7013MELB
Course	Income Taxation (M)
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Law School
Term	Semester 2
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	Melbourne Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	N
Prerequisites	COMMLAW 7012 or (COMMLAW 7012AMELB and COMMLAW 7012BMELB)
Restrictions	Only available to University of Adelaide College Melbourne Campus students
Assessment	Exam/assignments/tests/tutorial work as prescribed at first lecture

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Sylvia Villios

Course Timetable

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

Course Learning Outcomes

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

Identify and apply fundamental concepts of Australian income tax law.
Investigate and analyse current income tax information and issues.
Apply critical thinking and problem solving skills to resolve income tax issues.
Communicate income tax information and solutions to income tax issues.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.	1
Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.	2, 3
Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.	3
Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.	4
Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.	2,3
Attribute 6: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural competency Graduates have an understanding of, and respect for, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander values, culture and knowledge.	2,3
Attribute 7: Digital capabilities Graduates are well prepared for living, learning and working in a digital society.	4
Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.	4

Learning Resources

Required Resources

LexisNexis Australian Tax 2024

Recommended Resources

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.
www.igt.gov.au – Inspector General of Taxation.
www.taxinstitute.com.au – The Tax Institute (Professional association of tax practitioners).

Online Learning

The lecture recordings, 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. Before a lecture, students are expected to have at least read the PowerPoint slides for the topic being covered.

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 progressivelyincrease in complexity throughout the course. The tutorials will usually consider and discuss 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 exam and the course. Self-study problems will also be available throughout the semester to assist students to reinforce their learning.

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.

Learning Activities Summary

Topic
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

Assessment Task	Task Type (Group or Individual)	Due	Length	Weighting	Redeemable	Learning Outcome
Online Test	Individual	Friday week 5	15 questions	10%	No	1, 2, 3 & 4
Assignment- Research Essay	Individual or group	Friday week 8	2000 words	20%	No	1, 2, 3 & 4
Exam	Individual	Exam period	180 minutes	70%	No	1, 2, 3 & 4

Assessment Related Requirements

Assessment Notes

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.
Examples of previous assessment (eg a sample exam) will be made available on the MyUni site.
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.

Assessment Detail

Online Test
The Online Test comprises 15 multiple choice questions and students must answer all questions in 45 minutes, in a single sitting. Further details will be provided to students about the topics which the online test will cover, as well as instructions as to how to login online to complete the test.

Assignment
The assignment consists of a 2,000 word written research essay. Students will be provided with further information in relation to the research topics and required format for the assignment at the beginning the semester.

Students may submit this assessment piece as an individual assignment or a group assignment (up to 5 people in a group) where all group members will be awarded the same mark. All students must sign up (self-select) into a group. Please note that a formal process will be available to address any issues relating to the contribution to the group of each member.

The word limit for this assessment is 2000 words regardless of if you submit as an individual assignment or a group assignment.

Exam
The final Exam in this course is “open book”. The exam will be of 180 minutes in duration. Further details will be provided closer to the final exam period.

It is each student's responsibility to read the examination timetable. Misreading the timetable is not accepted as grounds for granting a replacement/additional exam. University staff are not permitted to provide examination times to students over the telephone orin response to personal enquiries.

Submission

All assessments will be submitted and monitored through textor code comparative software (e.g. Turnitin) where possible.

Assignments
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.
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 Course Coordinator.

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/policies/3303/?dsn=policy.document;field=data;id=7446;m=view

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 5% mark reduction for each day or part thereof that it is late.

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 Access Adelaide.

Finality of Assessment Grades
Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).

Moderation
In accordance with the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:
assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.

Approval of Results by Board of Examiners
Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the University are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester.

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 feedback The course is constantly being updated and revised to reflect the evolution of the law, to respond to student feedback, and to engage with the latest teaching practices. Student feedback is collected each time the course is run, including through SELT reports. Previous SELT reports, and staff feedback on them, are posted on the course MyUni site for students to view and consider.
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 University of Adelaide.

The centre offers 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.

Lex Salus Program
Lex Salus (law and wellbeing) is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at destigmatising mental health issues; promoting physical, mental and emotional wellness; building a strong community of staff and students; and celebrating diversity within the school. It also seeks to promote wellness within the legal profession, through the involvement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, the Honourable Chris Kourakis, as the official Patron of the program.

Students can participate in the Lex Salus program by attending barbecue lunches, pancake breakfasts, knitting and crochet circles, seminars, guest speakers, conferences and other activities. Our Facebook page, website and regular all-student emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness.

Our Lex Salus YouTube channel also includes videos on topics like managing stress, and interviews with LGBTQ lawyers and their supporters which celebrate diversity and individuality. Students who commit to 10 hours of volunteering with Lex Salus in one year can have their service recognised on their academic transcript and through a thank you morning tea with the Chief Justice and law school staff.

Student Life Counselling Support
The University’s Student Life Counselling Support service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life.
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Academic Integrity
All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Integrity Policy. Academic Misconduct is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic Misconduct (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia. Academic Integrity 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’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide 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