Course Objectives: This is a survey course to introduce you to the federal income tax system. The objectives of the course are to:

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1 FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTING -003 Concepts of Federal Income Tax Instructor: Clinton Tarkoe Telephone: Class: Distance Learning 3 credits Course Description: Analysis of the principles of the Federal Income Tax. The relationship among statutes, case law, Congressional committee reports, and administrative pronouncements is emphasized. A case approach is used. Course Objectives: This is a survey course to introduce you to the federal income tax system. The objectives of the course are to: 1. Provide each student with a working knowledge of the fundamental principles of federal income taxation, particularly as applied to individuals, although the concepts covered are applicable to other types of taxpayers. 2. Develop an understanding of the basis of tax policy. 3. Increase your primary source analysis skills by providing an understanding of the Tax Code and how to interpret and apply the complex regulations, case law, and administrative guidance that makes up the our federal tax law. 4. Learning how to approach tax issues. We will be going over tax problems each week in order for you to learn how to approach tax issues and to give you the ability to recognize what you have learned. Because one of the objectives of the course is to learn to interpret and apply statutory and regulatory language, it is absolutely essential for you to read the relevant provisions of the Code and regulations. The relevant provisions are listed at the beginning of most sections of the text. Generally, it is to your benefit to read these provisions twice: once, before you read the cases and then again after. You are not expected to have these provisions memorized but are expected to have some familiarity with what they say. Seeing these sections for the first time during class will not give you enough time to absorb them. TEXT: (1) James J. Freeland, Daniel Lathrope, Stephen Lind, and Richard E. Stephens Schwartz, Fundamentals of Federal Income Taxation (Foundation Press 15 th Edition) ( Text )

2 (2) Lathrope, Selected Federal Taxation Statutes and Regulations, (Thompson West 2009 or later Edition) ISBN-13: AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH SECTION OF A CHAPTER THE TEXT LISTS THE CODE AND REGULATIONS SECTIONS TO BE READ. DO NOT EXPECT TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME IN THIS COURSE IF YOU DO NOT READ THEM. FAU Owl Card for library access. Please make sure that your owl card gives you current access to library resources at Course web-site: This course makes extensive use of ecollege course management system available online at Topics to be covered: The course will cover the following: Orientation Gross income: the scope of sec. 61 The exclusion of gifts and inheritances Employee benefits Gains from dealings in property Life insurance proceeds and annuities Discharge of indebtedness Damages and related receipts Separation and divorce Assignment of income Business deductions Restrictions on deductions Capital gains and losses Nonrecognition provisions Fundamental timing principles The interrelationship of timing and characterization Deductions not limited to business or profit-seeking activities Method of instruction: All course documents, quizzes and tests can be accessed over the internet at home or at other accessible sites. The primary methods of instructions are through the use of a weekly online lecture and online discussion boards. Online courses delivered over the Internet are convenient for many students. Experience suggests, however, that some students do not understand that in the absence of a traditional class, it is easy to fall behind. You ve got to keep up with the readings, the lectures, and the discussion points. It is impossible to play catch up in taxation. You are responsible for taking the online quizzes and tests during the times they are available. The quizzes are available for a two-day period and the two tests are set on a specific date. Weekly workload:

3 The class schedule is posted on ecollege. If a HW assignment is due for a particular week, then the assignment will be posted under HW Assignment for that week. The HW assignments are submitted by using the dropbox for that week. You should first read the assigned chapters and Code and regulation sections for the week, listen to the corresponding lecture. HW assignments for weeks in for which HW has been assigned will be due on Tuesdays of that week. On Monday nights from 6-7 pm a live lecture (assuming that there are no presentation problems) will be available. You are able to join these sessions by clicking on the Live button on the Tools toolbar on ecollege. The purpose of the lecture is to explain the primary authority (Code sections, cases, etc.) contained in the reading materials for the week s assignment. In the absence of the ability to do a live lecture, then a live blog will be used at the same time to explain this material. Under each week section the ecollege, the Discussion Points will be used to go over the any HW assignment for that week and to discuss other problems. Solutions to the problems will be obtained only through online discussions. Being able to interpret the tax law is one thing, but if you cannot then apply what you have interpreted, then you have not the third objective of this course. The purpose of the problems is to wrestle with statutory concepts in real-world situations we learn how to apply tax principles and concepts by doing problems. For the weeks in which there will be quizzes, the quizzes will be available to be taken on Thursdays and Fridays. Two tests will be given as indicated in the class schedule. The tests are not cumulative, and the tests are short answer. These online tests are timed (typically 90 minutes) and can be taken only 1 time on the specific day for the test. Grades. Your grade will be based upon the percentage of points earned according to the following components: Test 1 50 points Test 2 50 points Quizzes 50 points Participation 35 points (depending upon class size) Total 185 points Grades are assigned according to percentage of points earned. A 92 to 100% A- 90 to B+ 88 to B 82 to B- 80 to C+ 78 to 79.99

4 C 72 to C- 70 to D+ 68 to D 62 to D- 60 to F below 60% A. Tests You have two tests. Each will consist of short answers. The tests are comprehensive. If a test is missed without prior approved arrangements, then written approval from the Director's office is almost always required for a make-up exam or use of other grade averaging procedures. The tests will not be curved but will be added up and if need be, may then be curved. Make-up tests will be considered only if you have a legitimate reasons for missing the scheduled tests. Holiday travel, family reunions, other tests on the same date are not considered legitimate reasons. The class schedule lists the dates for the exams. B. Participation Online participation. Participation is an important part of your understanding taxation. Up to 2.5 points per week may be earned as extra credit for 14 weeks for online participation. Participation will be via the Discussion Points on the course website on ecollege. As previously mentioned, we will be doing the assigned problems and other text problems online. It will be through our online discussion that the solutions will be attained. No solutions will be posted. There may be instances in which the problem was satisfactory for purposes of its submission as part of the HW assignment, but the posting of your answer from the HW assignment may not be satisfactory for participation purposes. Your answer may be deficient in analysis or explanation. You will not receive any credit for posting ahead of time Your participation grade will depend upon the effectiveness of your participation that means you must actually say something that counts, demonstrate that you have read the material, and offer constructive comment and analysis. Your participation must be timely, and you are expected to try to solve the problems. You will not be penalized (but do not expect full credit) for an incorrect response so long as your response reflects some thought or familiarity with the material, but if your postings show a lack of reading the material or the prior posts, then that may harm your grade. Your response will have to reflect that you have read the material and are familiar with it. This means that your response must be substantive. Do not expect to receive credit for responses such as I agree or stream of consciousness responses and responding last after the discussion has been concluded, or if only your response to a question or problem is the last response after other students have set the foundation for your response. If you are just posting to problems after students have already attempted to solve them, then you will not receive full credit, especially, when there are unfinished problems that you

5 could have attempted to answer online. A posting that merely repeats what has already been said will receive no credit and may harm your grade if such postings occur repeatedly. You cannot begin postings for that week until Sunday and in order to give everyone a chance at bat you cannot begin more discussions on more than two questions. No restrictions are placed on your posting to comments by other students or myself. However, if by the Wednesday of each week, there are any unanswered discussions, then these are open to anyone without restriction. No postings may be made for credit after Thursday. You do not expect to receive full credit for postings on Thursday if they are your first participation online for that week s class. It is not helpful to the class because by that time we are focusing on the next week s material. Each participation week stands on its own. Once that week has passed no further points will be given for postings subsequent to the end of the week, even if you have an excused absence for that week. Your response, when relevant, should cite authority, especially from the text material. If your response is just a computation without demonstrating the basis upon which it is made, or if your response does not include reference to the course material or an explanation of what you are doing, then it will be considered to be babble or I think. Do not expect to receive credit for babble or I think. Avoid quotations. If you respond with quotations, then do not expect to receive credit. Also, your response should follow and be relevant to the point to which the discussion or problem has proceeded. You will be graded for your answers and your responses to other students. Simply posting your answer after the question or problem has been addressed and the discussion has moved on will result in no credit. It will be difficult to participate in a satisfactory manner unless you first read the text material for that week. When answering the questions, first identify the problem that you are addressing. If it is a specific section of the problem (i.e., a problem 1 may have sections (a) to (e)), then begin your post by noting what section you are first addressing and then your solution. If a student the wants to respond to that posting the student clicks on respond below the solution (not the respond at the top of the Discussion that respond should be used if a student wants to provide a solution to another section of the problem. as well as other questions. Following this format provides some order in which to follow the online discussions and makes it easier for all of us to arrive at solutions. Failure to follow this format may result in your posting be deleted. If you are answering a problem or point, then you may be questioned online about your answer. It will be necessary for you to check back to see if questions have been raised. However, it will only be necessary to so within 24 hours of posting your answer. The purpose of these questions is not to serve as a chat room, but as means of further learning the subject matter. The way you should approach the online discussion is to ask yourself if you wanted to know the answer to the problem, then what would you expect the solution to be. Do not be cryptic. Minimal or no credit will be received for responses after most of the solution has been developed. In some weeks there will be many discussion points. If you post to a discussion after several responses have been posted and while there are other unanswered or partially answered points available, then you will receive minimal credit.

6 Basically, points will be assigned as follows: 3 = exceeds expectations. This may, depending upon the difficulty of the problem, be accomplished by at least 1 posting in a week that is complete in its response to a problem (by problems I mean that if a problem contains sections (a) (e), then each section is considered to be a problem for this purpose) on the discussion point (appropriate citations and discussion reflects a high level of understanding or by posting a good hypothetical to the questions we are discussing and/or questions that raise our understanding of the topic (but does not mean questions like I don t understand what you mean, I don t understand the problem, etc., which does not help our understanding of the problem, case, etc.). If the problem is relatively simple vis-à-vis other problems or short, then do not expect to receive full credit just because you answered that one problem. 1-2 = a fair comment, attempt has been made to provide an answer or raises a pertinent issue with respect to a posted problem. 0 = below expectations, a brief comment, varying degrees of being unprepared, weak, or incomplete response. C. Homework assignments Homework problems may be assigned. You are expected to hand in the problems on Tuesday of the week for which the problems were assigned. These problems will not be graded. In the event that you fail to turn in the homework or turn in problems in which minimal effort or computations are attempted and such occurrences occur three times during the term, then you will lose 15 points. Each subsequent occurrence will result in an additional lose of 15 more points. The result is that not doing your homework will reduce your grade. Also, during the class, you may be called upon to tell the class how to solve the homework problems. You are not expected to submit the correct answers, but you are expected to submit an assignment demonstrating that you have read the relevant material (including any primary sources) and have made an attempt to apply what you have read to answering the problems by explaining the solution in terms of the text material. This means that prior to doing the homework assignment it will be necessary for you to have read the text material and make an effort to solve the problems. An assignment will be considered to be unsatisfactory if the assignment were to be graded on the basis of 100 points, the assignment were to receive 70 or less points. The homework assignments are beneficial to your understanding of the material and doing the problems before class will be very helpful of your learning the problems when we go over them in class. Of course, given the time constraints it may not be possible to go over every problem in class. Study groups may be used for completing homework assignments as long as every person in the group contributes and you complete your assignment individually. But copying homework assignments or having someone else complete homework assignments will be considered cheating. All assignments handed in for this course must be your own work.

7 Extensions In the interests of equal treatment to all students, it is my policy not to provide deadline extensions on tests for individual students. In the case that a course related circumstance leads to an extension, I will announce it to the class and send the class an at the fau.edu addresses assigned to you. Students are responsible for arranging to make up work missed dates missed because of legitimate class absence, such as illness, family emergencies, military obligations, court imposed legal obligations or participation in University approved activities. It is the student s responsibility to give notice prior to any anticipated absence and within a reasonable amount of time after an unanticipated absence. Religious Holidays. Students should notify instructor of religious holidays (that a student intends to observe) within the first week of class. Disabilities Students. If you are a special needs student you are responsible for notifying me of your status with the Office of Students with Disabilities, as well as providing me with other information relevant to your needs. You are advised to do this on the first day of class. The instructor will not be responsible for your failure to provide timely notice of needs that affect the timing or administration of any assignment or examination. You are responsible for providing advance reminders of special testing needs seven days prior to each examination. Syllabus controls. This syllabus controls all matters related to the class. In no event will student requests for exceptions be granted. Requests for separate or special treatment may be considered to be an "interference with the educational mission of the classroom in accordance with the Academic and Policies and Regulations section of the FAU University Catalog and will be dealt with in accordance with the procedures therein depending on the nature and seriousness of the offense. This syllabus may be revised during the semester to correct errors, provide clarification or to articulate university and/or college policies. In addition, the instructor reserves the right to make changes as he deems necessary for the administration of the course. Emergencies, including extreme weather conditions, security issues and other matters may also result in changes to the course format, this syllabus and scheduled classes, lectures, etc. There may be occasions on which I will need to announcements to the whole class. I will be using the fau.edu addresses assigned to you. In the interests of equal treatment to all students, it is my policy not to provide deadline extensions on assignments or quizzes for individual students. In the case that a course related circumstance leads to an extension, I will announce it to the class and send the class an at the fau.edu addresses assigned to you. Students are responsible for arranging to make up work missed because of legitimate class absence, such as illness, family emergencies, military obligations, court imposed legal obligations or participation in University approved activities. It is the student s responsibility to give notice prior to any anticipated absence and within a reasonable amount of time after an unanticipated absence (by that presentation day or the

8 next day). Otherwise, assignments will not be accepted and a grade of 0 will be given for the assignment or quiz. In general, assignments must be deposited in the appropriate dropbox by the due date. Incompletes. The "I" grade is reserved for those situations where the student is in good standing and where the student is unable to complete only a small portion of the course during the semester due to exceptional circumstances with the approval of the instructor. It indicates a grade deferral and will be changed to a grade other than I within a specified time frame not to exceed one calendar year from the end of the semester during which the course is taken. Uniform Course Policies In the event of a conflict between this document and a course syllabus, this document will prevail. Syllabus updates may be necessary during the semester. Students are expected to access the class syllabus on the professor s home page for updates. Students are required to have an account through the university. An FAU account will be automatically generated upon enrollment, and you are required to use only your FAU account for all university correspondence. This service will be able to accept attachments. Students must have access to Word and Excel for attachments. Students are responsible for class announcements made via . Each student is expected to subscribe to the appropriate School of Accounting Newsletter. Please Susan Dobson at dobson@fau.edu to subscribe to the appropriate newsletter. Students are responsible for any announcements posted to the applicable newsletter. Any student who does not meet course prerequisites will be administratively withdrawn from such course or courses at any time during the semester when such deficiency is determined to exist. Note than an Incomplete is not a substitute for a poor grade and is rarely granted. In accordance with the policy of the School of Accounting and the College of Business, an Incomplete will be given only under the following circumstances: The student is otherwise passing the course (at least a C). The student has an excused absence that prevented the on-time completion of the course requirements. Any student who decides to drop is responsible for completing the proper paper work required to withdraw from the course. Important dates: See class schedule and Florida Atlantic University Academic Calendar A fundamental principle of academic, business and community life is honesty. In the academic environment, the following are critical:

9 For all assignments and tests, students are expected to work independently. The tests are open book, open notes, but you may not collaborate with others. Appropriate online behavior is expected at all times, including respect for the instructor and peers. Academic irregularities: The FAU Graduate School of Business has adopted a strict academic honesty policy. A fundamental principle of academic, business and community life is honesty. Therefore, all students are expected to follow Regulation of Chapter 4 of the University Regulations. Adherence to the Honor Code is a professional competency and an expectation of all students. ANY act of dishonesty that violates the honor code and misrepresents your efforts or ability is grounds for immediate failure of the course. For full details of the FAU Honor Code, see University Regulation 4.