Course Coordinator: Sylvia Villios

Name:                    Sylvia Villios

Location:                Room 4.15,     Building: Law School

Telephone:             8313 7223

Email:                    sylvia.villios@adelaide.edu.au

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

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.

Text Books
LexisNexis Australian Tax 2018
Lexis Nexis Concise Tax Legislation 2018

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 association of tax practitioners, ).

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.

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 progressively increase 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.

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

The assessment components are:

Assessment Task	Due	Task Detail (Group or Individual)	Weighting	Redeemable	Learning Outcome
Tutorial Participation – Qualitative assessment	Ongoing	Individual	10%	No	1,2,3 & 4
Online Test 1 – Qualitative assessment	Friday week 5 at 4pm	Individual	10%	No	1, 2, 3 & 5
Online Test 2 – Qualitative assessment	Friday week 8 at 4pm	Individual	10%	No	1, 2, 3 & 5
Final Exam The exam will be 3 hours plus 10 minutes reading time and "open book"	Exam period	Individual	70%	No	1, 2, 3 & 5

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.

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

Online Tests
Each of the two Online Tests 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 tests will cover as well as detailed instructions as to how to login online to complete the test.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.