TABL 5551 - TAXATION LAW
SCHOOL OF TAXATION & BUSINESS LAW
TABL 5551 - TAXATION LAW
SUMMER TERM
ASSIGNMENT
DUE DATE AND TIME Friday, 11 January 2019 by 4.00 pm.
LATE LODGMENT Not Accepted (Zero marks “awarded”)
PLACE OF LODGMENT Electronic lodgment at link on course Moodle site under
Short Assignment link
VALUE OF ASSIGNMENT 25%
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS AND CONDITIONS
READ THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY
1. You are required to submit an answer to the attached assignment question by the due date and time for lodgment.
2. Your answer must not exceed 1,000 words. The word limit will be strictly enforced. Words above the word limit will not be marked (i.e. wasted words).
3. Words, case names/case citations and legislative references in footnotes are not counted in the word count. However, you must not place substantive parts or central parts of your answer or argument in footnotes. (Note, you should use footnotes, and not endnotes, because footnotes appear on the same page as the related text thereby making it easier for the reader to follow your analysis).
4. If your answer requires you to show substantial calculations (e.g. half a page), you must place these in an appendix or appendices to your answer and refer to these in the text of your answer. Appendices are not counted in the word count. Small calculations (e.g. two or three lines) should be incorporated into the text of your answer (or in footnotes at the relevant part of your answer).
5. Your answer must be typed. You must use one and a half (1.5) spacing and a font size of 12. You must leave a three-centimetre (3 cm) margin from both sides of the A4 page. Your pages must be numbered sequentially, but not the assignment coverpage.
6. Your assignment must be in portrait (i.e. vertical side of paper is longer than horizontal side).
7. You must pay attention to the presentation of your answer (e.g. use headings to break up your answer, use appropriate gaps between paragraphs, use case citations correctly, use legislative references correctly).
8. You must carefully proof-read your answer before submission. Things like incorrect spelling, incomplete sentences and incorrect use of grammar should be kept to an absolute minimum.
9. You must keep a copy (or two) of the answer that you have submitted.
10. You must complete and attach a copy of the Official Assignment Cover Sheet at the front of your answer. The Official Assignment Cover Sheet will be posted on Moodle under the relevant Assignment link.
11. If you agree with the terms of the declaration, you must sign the declaration regarding plagiarism on the Official Assignment Cover Sheet. An assignment is not validly lodged if the plagiarism declaration is unsigned, which will mean the assignment is lodged late. You can sign the declaration by simply writing your name in CAPITAL LETTERS at the designated spot.
12. You must not place your name or student number on pages that contain your answer. Such information must only appear on the Official Assignment Cover Sheet. This facilitates anonymity in marking. Again, ensure that the Official Assignment Cover Sheet is properly placed at the front of your assignment answer.
13. In preparing an answer, you will inevitably discuss issues raised by the assignment with other students. There is nothing in the UNSW rules prohibiting such discussions. Indeed, you are encouraged to discuss issues arising from the assignment with other students. However, in the end, you must be able to state that the work that you have submitted is your work. Importantly, you should ensure that you have not committed (either deliberately, or without intent) an act of plagiarism (e.g. presenting another’s work or ideas as your own, failing to acknowledge the source of a quotation, submitting the same or similar version of work to that of another student). Due to the potential for damage to reputation, plagiarism is taken very seriously by the university, and therefore, the lecturer-in-charge of this course. In this regard, you should re-read the notes on plagiarism in the Course Outline. If you still do not know what plagiarism is, you must see the lecturer-in-charge.
14. This assignment is a research assignment. You are expected to undertake independent research into tax materials that may be relevant to the issues raised by the assignment. This means that you may have to go beyond the prescribed materials for the course in respect to some issues (i.e. you cannot, and should not, just rely on your textbook, casebook and core tax legislation). This is also likely to mean that the assignment will deal with issues in topic areas that have not yet been lectured on. Indeed, topics involved in the assignment are very unlikely to be lectured on in any detail, as this would tend to undermine the research-based nature of the assignment.
15. Given that this assignment is a problem type question requiring you to undertake research, no staff member working on this course (e.g. lecturer, tutor(s)), or any staff member in the School of Taxation & Business Law), will assist you in writing and researching your answer. Accordingly, please do not ask a staff member questions related to the assignment.
16. The lecturer’s suggested answer or approach (and feedback) to the assignment question will be posted on Moodle under the relevant Assignment link as soon as possible. The lecturer’s suggested answer will largely serve as the marking guide for the assignment. Importantly, the lecturer’s suggested answer will allow you to compare your answer with the suggested approach taken by the lecturer. (It should be noted that the lecturer’s suggested answer is not necessarily the only approach or the best approach to issues in the assignment). Reading the lecturer’s suggested answer is an important part of the feedback provided to you in this course.
17. It is expected that marked assignments/marked answers will be returned to you as soon as possible.
Your mark for the assignment will not be posted on Moodle. Your mark will not be sent to you by email. Your mark will not be communicated to you by phone. The reason for these rules is that your marked assignment, along with the lecturer’s suggested answer to, and feedback on, the assignment, are an important source of feedback on the assignment. Accordingly, to obtain your mark, you must pick up your assignment in person and/or read it on your marked assignment on Moodle. Further details will be provided to you on where, when, etc, to pick up your assignment.
18. You are strongly advised to read the relevant parts of the document, Approach to Solving Problems in Taxation Law and Student Companion, well in advance of commencing your research for the assignment. It would also be a very good idea to re-read the relevant parts around seven- days before submitting your assignment answer.
19. Before submitting your answer, ask yourself this question and answer it honestly: If you were a client of a good (reputable) accounting firm, would you be pleased to pay a substantial amount of money for your assignment answer and the advice contained in your assignment answer? If the answer is no, you need to do more work on the assignment before submitting it.
20. Read you assignment answer out loud to yourself. This is an excellent way, another way, of checking that what you have written is logical, coherent, addresses relevant issues and overall, makes sense.
21. If you are dissatisfied with your grade, the first thing you must do is to check your analysis and answer against the lecturer’s suggested answer. Experience indicates that this process will generally resolve most concerns regarding allocated grades. However, if you are still dissatisfied with your grade, you are welcome to discuss the issue with the lecturer-in-charge.
Dr Rodney Brown
Lecturer-in-charge
5 December 2018
ASSIGNMENT QUESTION
Richard has worked as a tax adviser for the Premium Wealth Accountants Pty Ltd (PWA) for the past twelve years since graduating from UNSW with a Masters in Taxation. He is a highly respected manager and earns an annual salary of $225,000. In the past few years he has received several lucrative offers to join rival firms but has declined them because he likes working at PWA. In light of Richard’s value to the firm, the managing committee of PWA decided to invite him to become a director of the firm and join the leadership team. Although Richard was very pleased to receive the offer, he decided not to accept it. His wife Julie recently gave birth to twin girls, so he decided not to accept the offer due to his increased family commitments.
While disappointed with Richard’s decision, PWA is determined to secure Richard’s services for the long-term. Accordingly, PWA offers Richard a lump sum payment of $175,000 (this is in addition to his normal salary) in return for Richard agreeing to stay as an employee of PWA for seven-years. If Richard leaves PWA before his seven-year period finishes, he is required to pay back a proportionate amount of the payment (e.g. if Richard leaves after three years, he would have to return $100,000 to PWA). Richard accepts this offer, and accordingly receives the $175,000 payment on 1 July 2016. The seven-year period runs from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2023. It is now December 2018 and Richard is still working at PWA.
Richard attended a conference on tax avoidance in September 2018 at the Oxford Centre for Business Taxation in Oxford (United Kingdom). The conference was for four-days. The papers delivered at the conference were all extremely relevant to Richard’s work. Richard arrived on the night before the conference commenced. However, Richard decided to take a well-deserved one-week holiday in London (United Kingdom) after the conference finished. The decision to take the holiday after the conference was made at the same time Richard decided to go to the conference.
Richard flew business class to London and then took the train from London to Oxford. Richard’s return business class air-fare to and from London was $12,600. An economy air-fare on the same flight(s) that Richard took would have been $3,000, and a premium economy air-fare would have cost
$6,500. Richard’s return economy class train fare was $250. In total, Richard was away for 12-days. PWA did not reimburse any of Richard’s air-fare or train ticket.
Richard and four of his PWA workmates (syndicate) have been entering Lotto for five-years now. The syndicate enters every week. Indeed, the syndicate has a system in place so that every week a person is allocated to collecting the money and purchasing the ticket. It is the responsibility of that person to also check the Lotto results. The syndicate also has a treasurer who keeps a record of the cost of tickets purchased and winnings. On the last Friday night of every second month, the syndicate meets to discuss whether the numbers should be changed. These meetings can go on for three to four hours. The debate is usually around the numbers that have most frequently arisen in the immediate past. They have won small prizes (e.g. fourth division prize of $40) over the years. However, to everyone’s surprise, the syndicate won the second division prize on 4 August 2017. The second division prize was
$200,000. Therefore, each member of the syndicate received $40,000 in cash.
*All amounts are in Australian dollars ($AU).
Required
1. Advise Richard on the assessability, etc, of the $175,000 receipt from PWA. Your advice must be supported by reference to relevant income tax legislation, tax cases and/or authorities. (10 Marks)
2. Advise Richard on the deductibility, etc, of his return air-fare between London and his home city of Sydney along with the deductibility of his return train fare between London and Oxford. Your advice must be supported by reference to relevant income tax legislation, tax cases and/or authorities. (10 Marks)
3. Advise Richard on the assessability of the $40,000 lotto win. Your advice must be supported by reference to relevant income tax legislation, tax cases and/or authorities. (5 Marks)
Note: there is no need to discuss any goods and services tax (GST) issues
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