AUSTIN COMMUNITY
COLLEGE
ACCOUNTING
DEPARTMENT
COURSE SYLLABUS
ACNT 1393 -
Special Topics in Taxation – Federal Tax Research
CIP CODE AREA: 52.1601
COURSE LEVEL: Advanced
COURSE NUMBER: ACNT 1393
COURSE NAME:
Special Topics in Taxation - Tax Research
PREREQUISITE: ACNT 1331 - Individual Income Tax
METHOD OF PRESENTATION: Lecture, case studies, group activities, and/or student presentations
CATALOG DESCRIPTION: A course in development of effective and efficient, 'hands-on' tax research skills, using the Commerce Clearing Hours Tax Research Network. The course is a continuation of the fundamentals of Federal income tax law. Objectives include identifying tax issues and locating, understanding, analyzing, and evaluating authoritative and nonauthoritative tax sources and communicating the results in an efficient and understandable manner.
TEXTBOOKS: West’s Federal Tax Research Fifth Edition by William A. Raabe, Gerald E. Whittenburg, John C. Bost, and Debra L Sanders. Fifth edition.
West’s Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and Treasury Regulations: Annotated and Selected.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: See Specific Instructor's First Day Class Handout
OTHER: Basic computer skills utilizing word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software are recommended for this course.
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COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
This course is designed for the student who wishes to become proficient in the practice of federal tax research. It is designed for students who are familiar with the fundamentals of the federal income and transfer tax law at a level that typically is achieved on the completion of two comprehensive introductory courses in taxation.
Accordingly, this class is most appropriate for:
1. Upper level accounting students in a business school who desire additional information concerning the practice of taxation,
2. Those who are enrolled in a nontax business program and would like further practical training in the functions of taxation in today’s business environment, and
3. Practicing accountants and attorneys who need an introduction, updating, or refresher relative to tax practice and research as an element of their career paths.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Describe the elements of modern tax practice in the United States.
Distinguish between open and closed transactions.
Identify sources of legal and ethical standards that guide those who engage in tax practice.
Examine in detail the major collections of ethical standards that bear upon tax practitioners today.
Place tax issues in a broader context of ethics and morality.
Understand the limitations on tax research by CPA’s and other nonattorneys.
Recognize the importance of a systematic approach to tax research.
Delineate and elaborate on the steps of the tax research process.
Appreciate the importance of gathering pertinent facts and identifying research issues.
Discuss the sources of the federal tax law.
Identify how computer resources affect the conduct of tax research.
Outline the primary and secondary sources of the federal tax law.
Describe in detail the nature and structure of the statutory sources of the tax law, including the Constitution, tax treaties, and the Internal Revenue Code.
Delineate how statutory tax law is created and how tax research resources are generated in this process.
Determine how to locate the statutory sources of the tax law.
Discuss how the tax researcher can carefully interpret the Internal Revenue Code.
Identify the most important administrative sources of the federal tax law.
Distinguish among the structure, nature, and purpose of Regulations, Revenue Procedures, and IRS Rulings.
Describe how to locate, and how to interpret, the precedential value of administrative sources of the tax law.
Explain the elements of common citations for Regulations and other IRS pronouncements.
Detail the contents and publication of the Internal Revenue Bulletin and the Cumulative Bulletin.
Describe the structural relationship among the federal courts that hear taxation cases.
Detail the constitution of, and procedures concerning, each element of the federal court system hearing tax cases.
Use proper citation conventions for each of the courts that hear tax cases.
State where tax court cases are published for use by tax researchers.
Describe conditions under which the practitioner might choose each of the trial-level courts for a client’s litigation.
Work with the format and content of a court case brief.
Use the Internet to locate a court case.
Understand the function of the citatory in the tax research process.
Become adept at using indexing systems in each of the most popular tax citators.
Know the abbreviation and reference conventions used by the most popular tax citators.
Efficiently use the update materials in the most popular tax citators.
Know the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the most popular tax citators.
Become familiar with the basic and advanced citatory functions of online and Internet resources.
Chapter 7
Know the major features of annotated and topical tax services.
Use the key word, Code section, and court case methods to find relevant materials in the tax services.
Use the update materials in the tax services to learn the current status of the law that relates to a tax issue.
Know which tax services are most appropriate for different research objectives.
Understand the advantages and disadvantages of published and computerized tax services.
Know the major features of computerized tax services.
Use the key word, Code section, and court case methods to find relevant materials in the computerized tax services.
Know which tax services are most appropriate for different research objectives.
Survey tax periodicals and the role they play in the tax research process.
Use correct citation form for tax periodicals.
Identify the most important tax periodicals.
Examine various indexes to tax periodicals that can facilitate the task of locating pertinent journal articles.
Become familiar with Internet sources of tax information.
Analyze the costs and benefits to be considered in establishing a tax library.
Produce a standard format for the construction of a file memorandum to contain the results of one’s research efforts and professional judgment.
Develop other forms of communicating research results, including oral presentations and client letters.
Identify several fundamental tenets of tax planning for optimizing tax liabilities.
Gain perspective as to the role of tax planning in tax practice.
Define and apply several key terms with respect to tax rate schedules.
Illustrate effective tax planning and tax law evolution with a detailed review of zero-, low-, or high-interest loans.
Understand the organizational structure of the Internal Revenue Service and administrative procedures relative to the audit and appeals process.
Advise clients as to audit selection factors and probable litigation success.
Develop decision guidelines as to audit etiquette, working through the appeals system, and constructing taxpayer defenses.
Identify various penalties that may be applied to tax practitioners who fail to perform as directed by the Internal Revenue Service, and related computations of interest charges.
Identify various penalties that may be applied to taxpayers whose returns reflect improper amounts, and related computations of interest charges.
Understand the application of the statutes of limitations, and taxpayer-government agreements that may be made with respect thereto.
COURSE COMPETENCIES (SCANS)
Organize Information
Organizes, processes, and maintains written or computerized records or other forms of information in a systematic fashion. Competently performing the tasks of organizing information includes understanding and organizing information from computer, visual, oral, and physical sources in readily accusable formats, such as computerized databases, spreadsheets, etc.
Recognizes that a problem exists (i.e. there is a discrepancy between what is and what should or could be); identifies possible reason for the discrepancy, devises and implements a plan of action to resolve it; evaluates and monitors progress; revises plan as indicated b findings.
Understands the overall intent and
the proper procedures for setting up and operating machines, including
computers and their programming systems.
Demonstrating competence in how to apply technology to tasks includes
understanding and using various software products (e.g. CCH tax service on the
internet).