Name:                    Sylvia Villios

Location:               Ligertwood building

Telephone:             8313 7223

Email:                    sylvia.villios@adelaide.edu.au

Course Website:     www.myuni.adelaide.edu.au

This course is designed to:

1. Provide students with an understanding of the Australian income tax system.
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.

Income Tax Law students will develop the following skills:

4. Understand 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.

Text Books

Lexis Nexis Australian Tax 2015

Lexis Nexis Concise Tax Legislation 2015

Lexis Nexis Quick Reference Cards I and II 2015

References
Australian Master Tax Guide 2015 (CCH)
2015 Australian Tax Handbook (Thomson Reuters)
Australian Taxation Law 2015, Woellner, Barkoczy, Murphy, Evans & Pinto, 25th ed (CCH)

Case Books
Australian Taxation Law Cases 2015, Krever (Thomson Reuters)
Australian Tax Casebook, Barkoczy 13th edition (CCH)

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 of tax practitioners).

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.

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. 

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.

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

None.

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 4th 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 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.

COMPULSORY ASSIGNMENT
 
Each student must submitting an essay assignment as part of the assessment for this course. The assignment can be submitted individually or in a group of up to three (3) team members. 

The assignment forms 25% of the total assessment in the course. 

The essay must be no more than 2,000 words in content excluding footnotes. A penalty, of a reduction in mark, may be imposed if this word limit is exceeded. 

The essay must be type written (double spaced on one side of A4 paper), a font size of not less than 12 must be used, and a word count must be shown at the end of the essay. An assignment that does not have a word count shown may not be marked. 

For this course, the use of footnotes is preferred over the use of endnotes. 

The assignment must be lodged no later than 4.00 pm on Friday, 4 September 2014. Students should ensure that a copy of the assignment is kept.

Please refer to the MyUni Group Sign-Up & Assignment Submission Instructions for detailed instructions as to how to sign-up to a group and for individual assignment submission.

Late submission of assignments is dealt with in the Course Profile. 

A request for a re-mark of an assignment must be made within 10 business days of assignments being made available for collection. Requests made outside this time limit will not be considered. 

Assessment criteria

1. The extent to which the essay identifies relevant income tax issues and sets out sound reasoning in support of the discussion.

2. The extent to which the essay demonstrates research into relevant topics of the income tax law, including having references to relevant sections of the tax legislation, applicable case law and ATO administrative guidance. The essay should include at least three references to materials that have been accessed from the Tax Institute’s Tax Knowledge eXchange database. For example, this can include articles from journals Taxation in Australia, The Tax Specialist and Australian Tax Forum.

3. Whether the essay is easy to read and understand. Ease of reading can be achieved, for example, by the use of headings and sub-headings.

EXAMS

The exam is “open book” but you must not bring into the exam room any book belonging to the University of Adelaide 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.

 

Exams
The exam is “open book” but you must not bring into the exam room any book belonging to the University of Adelaide 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.

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. Students must apply for an extension by completing the online Application for Extension form before the due date. Each request will be assessed on its merits.

Extensions are granted at the discretion of Course Coordinators or Assessment Officer in compliance with the Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment Policy. Extensions beyond the due date are usually only granted in the case of significant medical, compassionate or extenuating circumstances which affect a student’s capacity to demonstrate their demonstrate their true level of competence in an assessment task.

A late assignment (without prior arrangement) will be penalised by a 5% 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.

Word Length: Assignments which exceed the allocated length (word length or page limit) will be subject to a penalty of 5% of total marks possible per 100 words or part thereof (ie with a word limit of 3,000, an essay graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is 3001 words long, for a final grade of 58%, 10% if it is 3101 words long, etc). Words are calculated including all footnotes and headings within the text but excluding cover page information. Quotations and all referencing information are included in the word count.

 

Courses for which a result of conceded pass has been obtained may not be presented towards the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Laws or the Honours Degree of Bachelor of Laws programs, or any postgraduate law program, nor to satisfy prerequisite requirements within any law course.

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.

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 http://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/

Further information regarding the Law School Policies and Procedures in relation to Supplementary Assessment, Extensions, and Remarks etc can be found at:

https://unified.adelaide.edu.au/group/law-school/policies-and-procedures

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 2014, 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.