BLAW30002 Taxation Law I Subject Guide S2-2018 PDF

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Subject Guide...

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Melbourne Law School

Taxation Law I BLAW30002 Credit points:

12.5pts

Availability:

Semester 2, 2018

Class contact hours: 36 hours Total time commitment: 136 hours Timetable:

Please refer to your student timetable for your class schedule for this subject: https://my.unimelb.edu.au/

Subject Coordinator: Associate Professor Sunita Jogarajan [email protected] Coordinating Tutor: Julian Panetta [email protected]

THIS COMPILATION OF STUDENT READING MATERIAL HAS BEEN MADE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF PART VB OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT FOR THE TEACHING PURPOSES OF THE UNIVERSITY. FOR USE ONLY BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE ENROLLED IN THE SUBJECT: Taxation Law I – BLAW30002

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Melbourne Law School acknowledges the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nations as the Traditional Owners and custodians of the land on which the Law School stands. We pay our respects to their Elders both past and present.

BLAW30002 Taxation Law I: 2018 Subject Outline & Reading Guide

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Welcome to Taxation Law I This subject outline provides you with essential administrative information regarding the subject. Please read all of the information closely.

Contents 1

Subject information .......................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Overview .................................................................................................................. 4 1.2 Content .................................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Skills.......................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 General enquiries ..................................................................................................... 5 1.5 Subject Experience Surveys (SES) ............................................................................. 5 1.6 Relationship to Principles of Business Law .............................................................. 5 1.7 Critical Dates ............................................................................................................ 5 2 Teaching staff.................................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Subject coordinator and lecturer ............................................................................. 6 2.2 Other teaching staff ................................................................................................. 6 2.3 Contact with teaching staff ...................................................................................... 6 3 Classes............................................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Lectures .................................................................................................................... 7 3.2 Tutorials ................................................................................................................... 7 3.2.1 Changing tutorial groups ..................................................................................... 7 4 Assessment ....................................................................................................................... 8 4.1 Assignment (30%; 2000 words) ............................................................................... 8 4.1.1 Timing, availability and submission ..................................................................... 8 4.1.2 Word count limits ................................................................................................ 9 4.1.3 Academic integrity and honesty .......................................................................... 9 4.2 Final exam (70%) .................................................................................................... 10 4.2.1 Exam preparation hints ..................................................................................... 10 5 Tips on legal writing ........................................................................................................ 11 6 Feedback ......................................................................................................................... 12 7 Required materials ......................................................................................................... 13 7.1 Subject page ........................................................................................................... 13 7.2 Textbook ................................................................................................................ 13 7.3 Concise legislation .................................................................................................. 13 8 Additional resources ....................................................................................................... 14 8.1 Legal academic skills .............................................................................................. 14 8.2 Primary sources...................................................................................................... 14 8.3 Textbooks ............................................................................................................... 14 9 Law School and University policies and support ............................................................ 15 9.1 Your relationship with teaching staff and fellow students .................................... 15 9.2 Academic support .................................................................................................. 15 9.3 Wellbeing support .................................................................................................. 15 9.4 University policies and procedures ........................................................................ 16 10 Subject content ............................................................................................................... 17 11 Syllabus ........................................................................................................................... 23

BLAW30002 Taxation Law I: 2018 Subject Outline & Reading Guide

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1

Subject information

1.1 Overview This subject provides students with an overview of the operation of the Australian taxation system with an emphasis on solving common practical tax questions. The subject examines income tax, fringe benefits tax and goods and services tax law for different types of taxpayers. This subject does not assume and does not require an accounting or commercial background. Mathematical skills are also not required. 1.2 Content This subject provides students with an introduction to the Australian taxation system. Upon completion of this subject, students will have: ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

▪ ▪ ▪

a basic overview of the overall Australian tax system and the policy influences behind its design; some recognition of the tax systems of other jurisdictions and their similarities or differences to Australia; a working knowledge of the administrative aspects of the Australian tax system; an appreciation of the tax issues that arise in an international context, particularly with regard to the fundamental concepts of residence and source; a basic understanding of the key aspects of the Australian income tax system such as: ▪ the determination of tax payable; ▪ ordinary income; ▪ statutory income, including capital gains; and ▪ deductions; the ability to recognise the differences in taxation of different entities, with particular emphasis on understanding the dividend imputation system; a working knowledge of the fringe benefits tax system; and a working knowledge of the goods and services tax.

1.3 Skills This subject will also develop your: ▪ attitude towards knowledge that include valuing truth, openness to new ideas and ethics associated with knowledge creation and usage; ▪ capacity for close reading and analysis of a range of sources; ▪ capacity for critical and independent thought and reflection; ▪ capacity to solve problems, including through the collection and evaluation of information; ▪ capacity to communicate, both orally and in writing; ▪ capacity to plan and manage time; ▪ capacity to participate as a member of a team; and ▪ inter-cultural sensitivity and understanding. In addition, on completion of the subject, students should have developed the following skills specific to the discipline of law: ▪ Capacity to solve tax problems by collecting and evaluating information from a variety of sources; ▪ Communicate solutions to tax problems both orally and in writing; and ▪ Ability to work in groups to solve legal tax problems and critically analyse legal materials in a classroom setting.

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1.4

General enquiries

General enquiries should be directed to the Academic Support Office (ASO) at [email protected]. The ASO will respond to your enquiry directly or forward it to the appropriate staff member.

1.5 Subject Experience Surveys (SES) The SES plays an important role in the University’s quality improvement process for teaching and subject development. In response to the feedback we received from students who completed the SES for this subject in 2017, we have made several revisions to the course, including: ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

increasing the number of face-to-face student consultations held throughout the semester; increasing the number of consultations held during the SWOTVAC period; providing further guidance in tutorials and lectures on ‘how to’ construct and formulate responses to legal hypothetical problems; and providing additional feedback on the assignment.

1.6 Relationship to Principles of Business Law This subject is taught and assessed differently to its pre-requisite subject, Principles of Business Law. There are tutorials and face-to-face consultations, instead of an online tutor. This approach gives you the opportunity to have your understanding of the subject matter and your questions addressed personally. This subject emphasises understanding of the law, not remembering a list of legislative provisions or cases. You will discuss, and write about, the law as it applies to hypothetical situations. Taxation Law I provides excellent preparation for students wishing to undertake further law studies, either as breadth or through the Juris Doctor (JD) program, as it teaches the necessary analytical and writing skills.

1.7 Critical Dates There are 2 crucial dates relating to withdrawing from a subject: Census Date, and Last date to Withdraw without fail. These dates can be viewed in the handbook entry for each subject. Students can withdraw from a subject up to Census date and not be financially liable for that subject. Students can also withdraw between “Census date” and “Last date to Withdraw without fail”, however in this case they are financially liable for the subject and it will appear on their transcript with a result of WD (no grade is attributed to a WD result, meaning it will not affect their overall GPA).

BLAW30002 Taxation Law I: 2018 Subject Outline & Reading Guide

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2 2.1

Teaching staff Subject coordinator and lecturer

The subject coordinator and lecturer in this subject is Associate Professor Sunita Jogarajan. Her contact details are as follows: Room: 0846, Melbourne Law School Email: [email protected]

2.2

Other teaching staff

The coordinating tutor in this subject is Mr Julian Panetta. His contact details are as follows: Room: 0949, Melbourne Law School Email: [email protected] There are 9 additional tutors in the subject. Their contact details are on the LMS subject page.

2.3

Contact with teaching staff

Face-to-face consultation sessions with a member of the teaching staff will be held every weekday from Week 2. The times and locations of these sessions will be announced on the subject page. Consultations will also be held during the non-teaching period and swot vac. The details of these sessions will also be provided on the subject page. Questions relating to subject content will not be answered via email. Please attend a consultation session with these questions and they will be answered by the teaching staff. The nature of legal questions is such that they are more suitable for discussion and cannot be answered directly. Students are required to attend the consultations prepared with specific questions. The consultations are not intended to re-teach material or take the place of tutorials. Do not email questions directly to any member of the teaching staff. Please make use of the daily consultation sessions provided.

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3

Classes

3.1 Lectures All students must attend 1 two-hour lecture each week. Please refer to your timetable (available via the student portal https://my.unimelb.edu.au/) for your lecture details. You MUST attend the lecture in which you are enrolled. The lectures will be recorded using Lecture Capture. Students are expected to attend all lectures and the use of Lecture Capture is intended to supplement, rather than substitute, regular class attendance. Students should note that the provision of recorded lectures is not guaranteed as this service may be affected by technical difficulties outside of the lecturer's and Law School's control. Students should use the ‘report a problem with this recording’ link provided by Lecture Capture if experiencing a problem listening to a recorded lecture. Do not contact the subject coordinator in relation to problems with Lecture Capture. Students must obtain written approval from the lecturer before making recordings of classes via personal recording devices or any other medium. Please note that Lecture Capture recordings are ‘audio only’. Video recordings cannot be provided due to the use of copyright images in lecture slides. 3.2

Tutorials

In addition to lectures, all students must also attend 1 one-hour tutorial each week. Please refer to your timetable (available via the student portal https://my.unimelb.edu.au/) for your tutorial details. You MUST attend the tutorial in which you are enrolled. Tutorials will commence in week 2 and will continue every week until week 12. Tutorials will not be recorded and students must obtain written approval from their individual tutor before making recordings of classes via personal recording devices or any other medium. Approval will only be provided in special circumstances. The tutorial questions will be made available on the subject page in the week before the relevant tutorial. The tutorials are intended to be discussion based and students are expected to have prepared answers to the prescribed questions prior to class. Tutors may ask unprepared students to leave the room. Note that formal answers to the tutorial questions will not be provided. Tutorial questions generally revolve around a hypothetical set of facts and students are evaluated on the arguments made, based on the relevant law, in relation to those facts. There is no predetermined answer and outcomes will depend on the arguments made. 3.2.1 Changing tutorial groups To ensure uniformity of tutorial group sizes, once classes have been fixed, movement between the tutorial groups is generally not possible. You must NOT contact any of the teaching staff if you want to change tutorial groups. After class registration has closed (usually at the end of week two), you will only be allowed to change tutorial groups if there are exceptional circumstances. Please complete a Class Registration Enquiry form with your request to change tutorial groups.

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4

Assessment

The assessment in this subject is outlined below. Students should note that all aspects of assessment are compulsory. 4.1

Assignment (30%; 2000 words)

Students will be required to answer one complex hypothetical problem. Guidance in relation to answering a hypothetical problem is provided in section 5 of this Subject Outline. Students are to complete the assignment in pairs (groups of 3 or more are not permitted). Students are free to form their own pair for completing the problem. Students do not have to be in the same tutorial to form a pair. Both students in a pair will receive the same mark for their submitted answer. No marks will be awarded to any student whose details appear on more than one answer submitted for assessment. Students who submit individually without prior permission from the subject coordinator will receive a mark of 0. Individual submissions will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances. Any student who is unable to form a pair is to contact Mr Julian Panetta [email protected] on Monday 6 August 2018 and a partner will be assigned to them. We may not be able to provide a partner if a request is made after this date which will result in a mark of 0 for the assignment if submitted individually. In your email, please provide your student number (for our records) and email address. Your email address will be provided to your assigned partner. Late requests for partners or requests to submit individually will not be accepted unless there are exceptional circumstances. Please refer to the ‘Working in Pairs Guidance’ (available on the subject page) for helpful information on working collaboratively to successfully complete a law assessment task. The assignment will assess Topics 1 to 3 (inclusive) of the subject. A list of topics is included in section 10 of this Subject Outline. 4.1.1

Timing, availability and submission

The assignment will be made available to students through the subject page at 10am on Wednesday 1 August 2018. The due date and submission details are available under the ‘Assessment’ tab of the subject page. Submissions received after the due date will be subject to penalties. 4.1.1.1

Penalties for late submission

Late assignments will be subject to a marking penalty: 10% of the marks available for the assignment will be deducted for every day, or part thereof, beyond the due date for submission (or any extension granted). If you are experiencing difficulties with your personal internet connection, you are expected to ensure that you arrive at the University on the due date to submit your answer electronically using the computers in the library.

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4.1.1.2

Extensions and special consideration

The Melbourne Law School Academic Support Office processes all applications for extensions of up to 10 working days. Students are advised to apply for an extension as soon as it becomes evident that an extension is required. A delay in doing so may result in the application not being approved. Applications for extension of time for written assessment must be submitted at least three (3) working days before the assessment due date. Further information on extension applications and eligibility can be found here: http://ask.unimelb.edu.au/app/answers/detail/a_id/5667/~/applying-for-an-extension Students can apply for an extension online: https://mls.formstack.com/forms/mls_extension_application Students requesting special consideration must apply via their student portal. Please note that teachers cannot assist with student requests for special consideration. Students can apply for special consideration for short term circumstances via their student portal (https://my.unimelb.edu.au/). Please remember to attach relevant supporting documentation to your application. Please n...