COMMLAW 7013 - Income Taxation (M)

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2018

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.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code COMMLAW 7013
    Course Income Taxation (M)
    Coordinating Unit Adelaide Law School
    Term Semester 1
    Level Postgraduate Coursework
    Location/s North Terrace Campus
    Units 3
    Contact Up to 3 hours per week
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y
    Prerequisites COMMLAW 7012
    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: Dr. Sylvia Villios
    Location: Room 4.17
    Building: 4th floor, Ligertwood Building
    Telephone: 8313 7223
    Email: sylvia.villios@adelaide.edu.au

    Semester 2

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

    Course Timetable

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

  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes
    This course is designed to:
    • Provide students with an understanding of the Australian income tax system in a range of contexts.
    • Provide knowledge of fundamental concepts of Australian income tax law.
    • 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:
       1 Identify and apply fundamental concepts of Australian income tax law.
       2 Investigate and analyse current income tax information and issues.
       3 Apply critical thinking and problem solving skills to resolve income tax issues.
       4 Communicate effectively orally income tax information and solutions to income tax issues.
       5 Communicate effectively in writing 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)
    Deep discipline knowledge
    • informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies
    • acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1
    • accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)
    1
    Critical thinking and problem solving
    • steeped in research methods and rigor
    • based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development
    • demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment
    2, 3
    Teamwork and communication skills
    • developed from, with, and via the SGDE
    • honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies
    • encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning
    3
    Career and leadership readiness
    • technology savvy
    • professional and, where relevant, fully accredited
    • forward thinking and well informed
    • tested and validated by work based experiences
    4
    Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
    • a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal
    • open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers
    • able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate
    5
  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources
    Text Books
    LexisNexis Australian Tax 2018
    Lexis Nexis Concise Tax Legislation 2018
    Recommended Resources
    References
    Australian Master Tax Guide 2018 (Oxford University Press)
    Australian Tax Handbook 2018 (Thomson Reuters)
    Australian Taxation Law 2018, Woellner et al (Oxford University Press)

    Case Books
    Australian Taxation Law Cases 2018, Krever (Thomson Reuters)
    Australian Tax Casebook 2018, 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. Before a lecture, students are expected to have at least read the chapter of the Australian Tax 2018 prescribed textbook and 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 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
    2 Jurisdiction to Tax
    3 Assessable Income
    4 Non-assessable Income
    5 Deductions
    6 Tax Accounting
    7 Tax Entities
    8 Anti-avoidance
    9 Tax Administration
    Specific Course Requirements
    None.
  • Assessment

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

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

    Assessment Summary
    Assessment Task Task Type Due Weighting Redeemable Learning Outcome
    Tutorial Participation Qualitative 10% No 1, 2, 3 & 4
    Online Test Qualitative Friday week 6 at 4 pm 10% No 1, 2, 3 & 5
    Assignment- Research Essay Qualitative Friday week 9 at 4pm 20% (Individual or group) No 1, 2, 3 & 5
    Final Exam
    3 hours plus 10 minutes reading time and "open book"
    Qualitative 60% No 1, 2, 3 & 5
    Assessment Related Requirements
    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.

    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 Course Coordinator of any discrepancies.
    Assessment Detail

    Tutorial Participation
    Students will be assessed by their tutor on their tutorial preparation and input into the tutorial discussion.

    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 at the beginning of the semester as to the topics which the online test will cover as well as detailed instructions as to how to login online to complete the test.

    Assignment Guidelines including Referencing Details
    The assignment consists of a compulsory 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 of the semester. The Communication Skills Guide will assist students to write and structure their assignments. A copy of the guide can also be downloaded from:http://www.adelaide.edu.au/professions/hub/downloads/Communications-Skills-Guide.pdf 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.

    Exam
    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 orin 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.

    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.

    Submission
    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

    that is available on the Examinations Forms website page.

    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.

    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.

    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 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 Honesty
    Academic dishonesty is a serious act of academic misconduct. All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Honesty Policy.

    Academic dishonesty is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic dishonesty (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 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’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.