Curriculum

17 credits

*Note: Students may take either Ethics in Business OR Regulation of Tax Practice. All remaining courses in this section are required.

13 credits

Note: For all elective courses, Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603) is a prerequisite. Based upon candidate's prior work experience, however, this prerequisite may be waived on a case-by-case basis.

Note: Not all of the above courses are offered each term.

Advanced Corporate Taxation

22:010:618 - (3 cr)

Involves extensive research into complex corporate taxation issues and in particular tax-free reorganizations. The specific topics of interest change with each trimester with the attempt to have students address the most current issues.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

Consolidated Returns

22:010:667 - (3 cr)

Provides an in-depth coverage of the federal consolidated group regulations. Emphasis placed upon consolidated issues arising from acquisitions and dispositions of members, including the ramifications of section 338 and section 338(h)(10) elections. Additional topics covered include affiliated group status, intercompany transactions, limitations pertaining to the use of net operating loss carryovers and other tax attributes, stock basis calculations, the loss disallowance rules relating to dispositions, unique elections available to consolidated groups and consolidated group tax planning opportunities.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

Corporate Income Taxation

22:010:605 - (3 cr)

Provides a broad overview of how the Internal Revenue Code taxes corporations and compares it to other forms of doing business (i.e., proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies, and S corporations). The course will cover the tax aspects of a corporation's life-cycle, including a corporation's organization, financing, capital structure, distributions, redemptions, and ultimate liquidation.

Prerequisite: Income Taxation (22:835:603)

Ethics in Business

22:373:619 - (3 cr)

Covers such topics as free markets and regulation, moral responsibility of senior managers, corporate strategy and stockholder relations, the environment, product safety, employee rights, corporate culture and group think, racial and sexual discrimination, affirmative action, the responsibilities of American companies abroad, and leveraged buyouts. Text, articles, case studies, and fictional works will be employed.

Federal Estate and Gift Taxation

22:010:626 - (3 cr)

Covers factors affecting gratuitous transfers of property during lifetime and at death, together with reporting requirements for gifts, property subject to estate taxation, and income tax reporting requirements for trusts and estates. Also explores the planning opportunities available to minimize taxation.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

Federal Income Taxation

22:010:603 - (3 cr)

Enables students to recognize and understand the impact of taxation as a major factor for both individual and business planning. Covers sources of federal tax law, the concept of income realization and recognition, timing of income recognition, timing and possibility of income tax deductions, tax accounting methods, and reporting periods.

Federal Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates

22:010:619 - (3 cr)

Reviews how the Internal Revenue Code taxes income earned by trusts and estates and how this system of taxation has features in common with the taxation of conduit entities such as a partnership and the taxation of entities such as a C-corporation. Course will also examine the tax attributes of grantor and charitable trusts.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

International Tax I

22:010:629 - (3 cr)

This is a survey course that will examine the tax repercussions that stem from overseas persons and entities doing business in the United States, with a particular focus on passive investments and business income.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

International Tax II

22:010:631 - (3 cr)

This is a survey course that will examine the tax repercussions that stem from U.S. persons and entities doing business overseas, with a particular focus on the foreign tax credit.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603), International Tax I (22:010:629)

Law & Legal Reasoning

22:373:592 - (2 cr)

Introduces the legal environment in which management functions. Studies the law of corporations as a system for affecting relationships among the corporation, its shareholders, employees, managers, and society. Exposes student to managerial aspects of antitrust and securities law as well as to current questions regarding business's role in society.

Partnership Taxation

22:010:615 - (3 cr)

Special attention is given to all aspects of partnership taxation. Subjects include partnership formation and liquidation, special allocations, basis adjustments for operating items, and deductions, losses, and credits to partners. Research into difficult partnership issues is also stressed.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

Pension and Profit-Sharing Plans

22:010:641 - (3 cr)

This course surveys all the possible ways the Internal Revenue Code permits taxpayers to plan for their retirement in ways that are most tax efficacious. The course will also examine ways employers compensate their employees in ways that may defer tax, employing the use, for example, of qualified and nonqualified stock options plans.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

Regulation of Tax Practice

22:010:671 - (3 cr)

This course will investigate the ethical obligation of tax practitioners in various roles, including return preparer, audit representative, litigator, planner, negotiator, ruling seeker, tax policy commentator and government lawyer.  Furthermore, the course will examine various sources of laws that regulate tax practice; these sources include state and federal regulations.  At the end of class, we will analyze the consequences associated with a tax practitioner's failure to fulfill his/her ethical obligations.               

Unlike other courses, the course's central focus will not be on the Internal Revenue Code and the Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder.  Instead, Circular 230, Statement on Standards for Tax Services, and the ABA Rules of Professional Conduct, will take center stage and serve as the focal points of class analysis.

Special Topics: GAAP Accounting for Income Taxes

22:010:675 - (1 cr)

This course examines the fundamentals of accounting for income taxes for financial statement purposes. Students will study the basic principles in ACS 740, as well as many Internal Revenue Code provisions that cause differences between accounting income (or book income) and income for tax purposes. Students will analyze and reconcile these differences, in order to properly account for them on a company's financial statements.

State & Local Tax

22:010:620 - (3 cr)

This course provides an overview of state and local taxation, emphasizing the Constitutional constraints imposed by the Commerce, Due Process, and Privileges and Immunities Clauses. In addtion, the course will cover significant state and local tax issues under the corporate and personal income taxes, sales and use and gross receipts taxes, and electronic commerce. As this is a developing area of law, a number of the issues covered in the course are on the cutting edge of the subject.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

State & Local Tax - Constitutional Issues

22:010:673 - (3 cr)

In our federal system of government there are two levels of taxation, by both the federal government and the state governments. In order to prevent chaos, the Constitution regulates not only federal but state taxation as well. This course focuses on the federal limitations (and in some cases expansion) of a state's right to tax and its method of taxation.  The course relies on case law from the text, and there is a mid-term paper and a final exam.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

Tax-Exempt Entities

22:010:625 - (3 cr)

This course will cover the taxation of tax-exempt entities, including the taxation of unrelated business income. It will detail how entities qualify for tax-exempt status and what they need to do to maintain their status as such.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

Tax Accounting

22:010:657 - (3 cr)

The focus of this course is on the rules affecting timing of income and deductions for tax purposes. Cash and accrual accounting methods are examined on an overall basis and with respect to individual items of income and deductions. Rules for changing accounting methods and changing accounting periods are also examined as well as issues pertaining to original issue discount.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

Tax Practice and Procedures

22:010:616 - (3 cr)

Focus of course is on tax principles (law, regulation and other authority) including use of tax research sources; administrative and statutory procedures and limitations, including court appeals; taxpayer and practitioner penalties and responsibilities; and professional ethics for the tax practitioner.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)

Taxation of Financial Instruments

22:010:649 - (3 cr)

Discusses the major economic features and federal income tax treatment of basic financial products, such as equity, debt, options, forwards, and futures. Analyzes the taxation of different equity and debt derivatives, such as swaps, caps, collars, and hedging transactions, as well as the economic effect of their use on the financial markets. Demonstrates how the taxation of financial instruments may change depending on the taxpayer's role as an investor, dealer, broker, or trader.

Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation (22:010:603)