Students

ACCG909 – CPA - Taxation

2018 – S1 Evening

General Information

Download as PDF
Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Moderator
Catriona Lavermicocca
catriona.lavermicocca@mq.edu.au
Contact via Email
4 Eastern Rd, Room 308
Tom O'Sullivan
tom.osullivan@mq.edu.au
Contact via E-mail
Weeks 2 to 4: 7 Wally's Walk, room 149; and Weeks 5 to 13 to be advised on this unit's iLearn page
Wednesdays 4-6pm (Weeks 2-4); and Weeks 5 to 13 to be advised on this unit's iLearn page
Rahat Munir
rahat.munir@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
4
Prerequisites Prerequisites
ACCG907 and ACCG908 and ACCG913 and ACCG924
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
This unit provides extended formal academic support for full-time students concurrently enrolled in the Advanced Taxation segment of the CPA program. This unit examines advanced tax issues including income tax law for a variety of business structures and investment entities; goods and services tax; international tax; and anti-avoidance regimes. It also considers the tax implications of complex business structures and corporate financing arrangements.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the income tax laws relating to individuals, partnerships, trusts and companies.
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the Australian taxation law relating to income tax, GST and FBT.
  • An ability to work individually and in a team to apply the relevant tax laws to a problem or fact situation.
  • An ability to provide strategic advice regarding the tax issues in common business situations.
  • An ability to critically analyse a tax scenario and explain the tax consequences of that scenario.

General Assessment Information

In grading the assessment tasks completed in this unit the Macquarie University Grading Policy will be applied. Please refer to the policy at http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/ policy.html. 

Feedback

To assist in your learning, feedback will be provided about each class test during the class held in the week following the test. It is your responsibility to ensure that you turn up to class to receive this feedback. A marking rubric will be placed on iLearn to indicate how your oral presentation will be marked. 

Turnitin

All text based assessments must be submitted through Turnitin as per instructions provided. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that work is submitted correctly prior to the due date. The Turnitin version will be taken as the record of submission.

It is the responsibility of the student to retain a copy of any work submitted. Students must produce these documents upon request. Copies should be retained until the end of the grade appeal period each term. In the event that a student is asked to produce another copy of work submitted and is unable to do so, they may be awarded zero (0) for that particular assessment task.

Satisfactory completion of this course

To satisfactorily complete ACCG 909, students must:

1.  receive an overall pass grade (or higher) for the internal assessment component of the course; and

2. receive a pass grade (or higher) for the CPA external examination.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Class Test 1 15% No 28 February 2018
Class Test 2 30% No 4 April 2018
Group task and presentation 25% No 2 May 2018
Final Exam 30% Yes CPA exam period

Class Test 1

Due: 28 February 2018
Weighting: 15%

1  hour duration

Submission: Held in seminar on 28 February 2018.

Extensions: No extensions will be granted. Students who do not attend the class test on the allocated date will be awarded a mark of zero, except for cases where an application for special consideration is made and approved.

Penalties: Zero marks for non-attempt.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the income tax laws relating to individuals, partnerships, trusts and companies.
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the Australian taxation law relating to income tax, GST and FBT.
  • An ability to critically analyse a tax scenario and explain the tax consequences of that scenario.

Class Test 2

Due: 4 April 2018
Weighting: 30%

2  hours duration 

Submission date:  Held in seminar on 4 April 2018. 

Extensions:  No extensions will be granted. Students who do not attend the class test on the allocated date will be awarded a mark of zero, except for cases where an application for special consideration is made and approved.

Penalties: Zero marks for non-attempt
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the income tax laws relating to individuals, partnerships, trusts and companies.
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the Australian taxation law relating to income tax, GST and FBT.
  • An ability to critically analyse a tax scenario and explain the tax consequences of that scenario.

Group task and presentation

Due: 2 May 2018
Weighting: 25%

Submission:  The group assignment must be submitted by 4.30pm on 2 May 2018 on Turnitin. A hard copy must also be provided to the lecturer at the start of class on 2 May 2018. The individual presentation on the group assignment is due in class on 2 May 2018. 

Mark allocation: The group assignment is worth 12.5% and the presentation component is worth 12.5% combining to a total of 25%. A group mark will be awarded for the assignment and an individual mark for the presentation.

Extensions: No extensions will be granted for the presentation or written assignment. Students who do not present on the allocated day will be awarded a mark of zero for the task. With respect to the written assignment, there will be a deduction of 10% of the total available marks made from the total awarded mark for each 24-hour period or part thereof that the submission is late (for example, 25 hours late in submission – 20% penalty). These penalties do not apply for cases in which an application for special consideration is made and approved.

Penalties: Zero marks for non-attempt.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the income tax laws relating to individuals, partnerships, trusts and companies.
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the Australian taxation law relating to income tax, GST and FBT.
  • An ability to work individually and in a team to apply the relevant tax laws to a problem or fact situation.
  • An ability to provide strategic advice regarding the tax issues in common business situations.
  • An ability to critically analyse a tax scenario and explain the tax consequences of that scenario.

Final Exam

Due: CPA exam period
Weighting: 30%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)

The CPA exam period is between 14 April 2018 and 29 April 2018. 

The three-hour open book examination will be held under the rules and conditions of CPA Australia.

Submission/Extension/Penalties: The examination will be held under the rules and conditions of CPA Australia. Please refer to details provided by CPA Australia.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the income tax laws relating to individuals, partnerships, trusts and companies.
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the Australian taxation law relating to income tax, GST and FBT.
  • An ability to provide strategic advice regarding the tax issues in common business situations.
  • An ability to critically analyse a tax scenario and explain the tax consequences of that scenario.

Delivery and Resources

Classes

There are 3 hours of face-to-face teaching per week consisting of a 3-hour seminar. Please refer to the following webpage for the specific seminar day and time http://timetables.mq.edu.au.

Students are required to attend all classes.

Required and Recommended texts and/or Materials

Required texts

CPA Program: Advanced Taxation, Study Materials, Deakin University (provided to you by CPA Australia)

Recommended texts

Students will need to refer to legislation throughout the course. No legislation reference is prescribed as compulsory, but students would find useful:

OUP Core Tax Legislation and Study Guide (2018 edition), or

Thomson Reuters Fundamental Tax Legislation (2018 edition).

Alternatively, students can access tax legislation at www.comlaw.gov.au.

Additional references

The following books are not required to be purchased, but students would benefit from reference to any of the following as additional reading:

OUP Australian Taxation Law, Woellner, Barkoczy, Murphy, Evans and Pinto (2018 edition)

CCH Australian Master Tax Guide (2018 edition), or

Thomson Reuters Australian Tax Handbook (2018 edition).

Students would also benefit from referring to the 27th edition of the OUP Australian Taxation Study Manual (Nethercott, Devos and Gonzaga ) which provides questions and suggested solutions to tax problems for the 2016/17 tax year.

Many of the recommended texts and additional references are available in the Library and for purchase from the Macquarie University Co-op Bookshop.

Unit Web Page

Course material is available on iLearn.

Teaching and Learning Activities

The unit is broken up into seminars in which students and the lecturer discuss readings, case studies and assigned questions on specified taxation topics that correlate with the 13 modules. Each seminar will be held on the scheduled date for 3 hours. In between these seminars, students are required to work through and complete nominated modules in the CPA program, as well as work on assessment tasks.

In preparation for a seminar, students should work through the relevant modules in the CPA program, as well as work on assessment tasks and self-assessment tests.

Each seminar will consist of a mixture of activities based around the CPA program modules. These will include:

•    discussion of case studies, examples and questions relating to the previous week's module, and

•    review of the main concepts and content, and their practical application, arising from the current week's module.

Group/team work is required in completing the assignment and associated presentation.

The workload in completing this unit is 150 hours.

Technology Used and Required

 Students are expected to have:

 •    proficiency in Word, Excel and Powerpoint

•    knowledge of Macquarie University's online system for downloading materials, and

•    knowledge of the library resource database for accessing additional research material.

Unit Schedule

Week

Date of Class

Agenda

 

1

31 January 2018

 

 

Introduction

 

Module 1: Tax administration

 

2

7 February 2018

Module 2: Principles of assessable income

 

3

14 February 2018

 

Module 3: Principles of General and Specific Deductions

 

Group assessment topics and groups handed out

 

4

21 February 2018  

Module 4: Capital expenditure allowances

 

5

28 February 2018

Module 5: Capital gains tax

 

1st Multiple choice exam in class

 

6

7 March 2018

Module 6: Individuals

 

 

7

14 March 2018

Module 7: Partnerships

 

Module 8: Trusts

 

8

To be advised

 

Module 9: Companies and dividends

9

21 March 2018

Module 10: Consolidations

 

Module 11: Transfer pricing

 

10

28 March 2018

Module 12: Fringe benefits tax

 

Module 13: Goods and services tax

 

11

4 April 2018

2nd  Multiple choice exam in class

 

12

11 April 2018

Revision class

 

 

 

14 April 2018 to

29 April 2018

 

CPAexam

13

2 May 2018

Written assignment due

 

Delivery of group presentations

 

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Undergraduate students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct​

Results

Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

PG - Discipline Knowledge and Skills

Our postgraduates will be able to demonstrate a significantly enhanced depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content knowledge in their chosen fields.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the income tax laws relating to individuals, partnerships, trusts and companies.
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the Australian taxation law relating to income tax, GST and FBT.
  • An ability to work individually and in a team to apply the relevant tax laws to a problem or fact situation.
  • An ability to provide strategic advice regarding the tax issues in common business situations.
  • An ability to critically analyse a tax scenario and explain the tax consequences of that scenario.

Assessment tasks

  • Class Test 1
  • Class Test 2
  • Group task and presentation
  • Final Exam

PG - Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

Our postgraduates will be capable of utilising and reflecting on prior knowledge and experience, of applying higher level critical thinking skills, and of integrating and synthesising learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments. A characteristic of this form of thinking is the generation of new, professionally oriented knowledge through personal or group-based critique of practice and theory.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the income tax laws relating to individuals, partnerships, trusts and companies.
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the Australian taxation law relating to income tax, GST and FBT.
  • An ability to work individually and in a team to apply the relevant tax laws to a problem or fact situation.
  • An ability to provide strategic advice regarding the tax issues in common business situations.
  • An ability to critically analyse a tax scenario and explain the tax consequences of that scenario.

Assessment tasks

  • Class Test 1
  • Class Test 2
  • Group task and presentation
  • Final Exam

PG - Research and Problem Solving Capability

Our postgraduates will be capable of systematic enquiry; able to use research skills to create new knowledge that can be applied to real world issues, or contribute to a field of study or practice to enhance society. They will be capable of creative questioning, problem finding and problem solving.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the income tax laws relating to individuals, partnerships, trusts and companies.
  • An advanced and integrated understanding of the Australian taxation law relating to income tax, GST and FBT.
  • An ability to work individually and in a team to apply the relevant tax laws to a problem or fact situation.
  • An ability to provide strategic advice regarding the tax issues in common business situations.
  • An ability to critically analyse a tax scenario and explain the tax consequences of that scenario.

Assessment tasks

  • Class Test 1
  • Class Test 2
  • Group task and presentation
  • Final Exam

Changes from Previous Offering

Group assignment.