Accounting 470/570
Principles of Taxation for Business and Investment Planning
Tuesday and Thursday
8:00 – 9:50 AM 360 Condon
Winter 2003
Professor Helen Gernon, Ph.D., CPA, Charles H. Lundquist Professor of Accounting, Chair of the Accounting Department, and Director of the Master of Accounting (MAcc)
Office: 364 Gilbert Hall 346-5127 e-mail
Office hours will vary and I will announce them each week. Feel free to make an appointment or just stop by anytime.
You are welcome to email me with your questions/comments. I will respond within 24 hours, as long as I am in town and it is not the weekend.
Our Objectives: (1) to acquaint you with the economic and social policy implications of the various tax systems used by governments to raise revenue; (2) to learn how effective business planning depends on an accurate assessment of relevant tax factors; and (3) to introduce you to the framework (which has been remarkably stable over time) of the Federal income tax law.
In addition, we continue the development of the leadership skills you need to be successful-discussing information, working as a team player, paying attention to current events, and writing are a few that come to mind.
Education means developing the mind, not stuffing the memory. We will have achieved our objectives if you leave this class and say, "I thought about tax issues, and I will continue to think."
Required Materials: 2003 edition of Principles of Taxation for Business and Investment Planning by Sally M. Jones, published by Irwin McGraw Hill.
470/570 packets available in the Bookstore. The packet is required.
Please bring your textbook and packet to class each day.
Exams and quizzes (60% of your final grade): There will be two midterms and three quizzes.
Attendance, Take-Home Quizzes, Homework, Attitude, Participation, and Current Events (10% of your final grade): Homework includes your "About Me", assigned homework on the syllabus, and assignments that I hand out during the term.
Homework should be typed and have a professional appearance. I do not accept homework electronically. The more thorough and complete your homework is, the higher your grade will be. You may work from/with the solutions that can be found on the course share at lcb1.uoregon.edu/courseshare. If you copy the solutions, you will receive no credit.
Attitude is a subjective assessment by me and includes such things as appearing interested, being prepared and arriving on time for class. Participation may encompass many activities and includes, but is not limited to, the following: attendance, drawing attention to current events, participating in class discussion, discussing issues with me in my office, and e-mailing me with questions and issues.
If I call on you and you are unable to answer the question, feel free to call on one of your classmates for help.
Please do not enter our classroom late. Class begins at 8 AM, so please arrive a bit early so you are seated and ready to go by 8 o’clock. You are welcome to bring coffee, however, I ask you not to eat during class, as it can be quite distracting to me and to your classmates.
Please turn off your cell phone while in class.
Attendance: It is very important to me that you attend class. I put a great deal of effort into preparing class materials that add value to what you can learn from the text. Being absent more than twice from class will result in a loss of points in your final grade. Please let me know in advance if you will not be attending class. And perfect attendance will get you two points added to your final grade.
This is your life (30% of your final grade): Where do you want to be in 10 years? In addition to compiling a set of tax returns for your life, you will explore tax-planning opportunities that suit you. You have 1250 words to tell your story. You will find a more extensive explanation of the project in the class packet.
My Grading Philosophy: The A's go to people who do more than just what an assignment calls for and do it well. These are the people who go the extra mile, who take the initiative to do a little more, who dare to set themselves apart from the crowd, and who truly master the material.
Going the extra mile may take a number of forms:
Critical thinking*
Imaginative thinking
Creative thinking
Integrative thinking
Daring to be different
Completeness
Thoroughness
Extra effort
*The educated person is one who critically thinks using strategies, principles, concepts, and insights for analyzing and organizing subject matter content. It is especially rewarding to me when you show me how to think about something in a new way, when you present a new model or a new idea. I like to be surprised and I like to have fun.
Final Grade:
First examination (25%) Thursday, January 30
Second examination (25%) Tuesday, February 25
Quizzes (10%) March 4, 6 and 13
Homework, take-home quizzes, attitude, participation, current events (10%)
This is your life (30%) Saturday, March 15 at 1 PM
Remember that being absent more than twice will reduce your final grade by one point for each absence beyond two.
About You: I would like a page of information about you. I do not want a resume. Include something that makes you special or different from other people, perhaps something you are proud of. I would like a recent and flattering photograph of you attached to the upper right hand corner of your page. This page must be word processed with at least size 12 font and be prepared in a professional manner, as must everything you turn in during the term. Let's make this due Tuesday, January 14.
About Me: Helen Gernon, Ph.D., CPA: I live on 20 acres out near the town of Lorane with my husband and a variety of animals. Dennis and I have two daughters (my stepdaughters) who are off making their way in the world. My granddaughter, Sagan Aurora Oliphant, just turned 2.
I was born in New York City, moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida when I was 11, and then went off to college. My Ph.D. is in Business Administration from Penn State University. I moved to Oregon in 1978.
I have taught lots of different accounting subjects at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, including introductory financial and managerial accounting; intermediate; international; individual taxation; corporation, partnership, estate and trust taxation; tax implications of managerial decision making; and leadership. I have taught at Florida Atlantic University, Penn State, Oregon, and the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
Here at Oregon, I have been a professor, a journal editor, the Director of the MBA and Ph.D. Programs, the Associate Dean of the College of Business, the Chair of the Accounting Department (I am currently Chair of the Department and the Director of the MAcc Program), and the Director of the University's International College. While trying to figure out what to do with my professional career, I worked as an auditor for Ernst & Ernst in Atlanta, Georgia, as a school bus driver, a secretary, and a waitress.
I have been a jogger since 1973 and have completed two marathons. I ran the Hood to Coast Relay in 1995 and asked myself more than once, why? I enjoy entertaining friends and I am a good, not great, vegetarian cook. I am the first woman to ever hold the rank of Professor in this College of Business. I am a feminist in that I believe in equality of people, all people.
Until March 21, you are my highest priority!!!
Tentative Schedule
1. Tuesday, January 7 Hello and introductions.
What's this course all about???? Chapter 1 Types of taxes and the jurisdictions that use them and Chapter 2 Tax policy issues: standards for a good tax.
Homework: Study the syllabus very carefully and read Chapters 1 and 2 thoroughly.
Meet the University Night
BAP/OSCPA Dinner
Wednesday, January 8 at 6 PM
Hilton Hotel
2. Thursday, January 9 Continue with Chapters 1 and 2. Review the syllabus.
3. Tuesday, January 14 Read Chapter 3 Taxes as transaction costs
About You is due today.
4. Thursday, January 16 Read Chapter 4 Basic maxims of income tax planning
Homework for Chapter 3 will be collected today.
Tonight
Beta Alpha Psi/Career Fair
EMU 6:30 PM
5. Tuesday, January 21 Read Chapter 5 Taxable income from business operations.
Homework for Chapter 4 is due.
6. Thursday, January 23 Read Chapter 6 Property acquisitions and cost recovery deductions (Pages 127-145 only)
Homework for Chapter 5 is due.
7. Tuesday, January 28 Read Chapter 7 Property disposition (pages 166-184)
Homework for Chapter 6 is due.
8. Thursday, January 30 First Exam 7:30 AM
9. Tuesday, February 4 No class as I am in New Orleans attending the Accounting Programs Leadership Group Annual Meeting.
Homework- sleep in today
10. Thursday, February 6 Review exam
Chapter 8 Nontaxable exchanges (pages 196-206 and wash sales on page 208)
Mid-term Student Evaluation of me. Today, in class, I am going to ask you to give me some written feedback on what you would like me to start doing, stop doing and keep doing. I will summarize this feedback and present it to you on Tuesday, February 11 with my assessment of what I would like you to start, stop and keep doing. This is our class and if we can make it better, let's do it.
11. Tuesday, February 11 Finish Chapter 8 and Begin Chapters 9-11
Homework for Chapter 8 is due today.
12. Thursday, February 13 Read Chapter 9 Sole proprietorships, partnerships, and S corporations; Chapter 10 The corporate taxpayer; Chapter 11 The choice of business entity; and Chapter 8 pages 206-208
I am going to integrate the material from Chapters 9, 10 and 11 rather than discuss the material chapter by chapter.
Friday, February 14
Happy Valentine’s Day
13. Tuesday, February 18 Continue Chapters 9, 10, 11
14. Thursday, February 20 Continue 9, 10, 11
Homework from Chapters 9, 10 and 11 is due.
15. Tuesday, February 25 Second Exam
16. Thursday, February 27 Read Chapter 13 The individual tax formula
17. Tuesday, March 4 Read Chapter 16 Tax consequences of personal activities
Quiz on Chapter 13 at 8 AM
18. Thursday, March 6 Read Chapter 14 Compensation and retirement
Quiz on Chapter 16 at 8 AM
19. Tuesday, March 11 Read Chapter 15 Investment and personal financial planning (pages 410-433)
20. Thursday, March 13 Chapter 15 continued (pages 433-439 must be integrated into projects)
Quiz on Chapter 15 at 8 AM
Final Projects are due on Saturday, March 15 at 1:00 PM.
Deliver to 364 Gilbert Hall.
Homework Assignments
Be able to define all key terms from each chapter, unless excluded from our reading.
CHAPTER Q AND P APPLICATION
1 7, 14, 15 1, 6, 4, 7
2 3, 5, 6, 10, 13 2, 3 and research problems 1, 2, 3
3 3, 10, 11 3, 5, 8, 11
4 1, 7, 11 3, 5, 10, 13
5 3, 12 3, 4, 6, 10, 13, 15, 18
and Tax Planning Case #2
6 4, 5, 13, 14 6, 9, 11, 15
7 1, 3, 6, 11, 12 1, 4, 7, 9, 11, 13
8 5, 7, 10, 14 1, 4, 8, 10, 13
and Comprehensive Problem # 1
9 1, 2, 3, 4, 13 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 13, 15
10 9, 10, 12 7, 13 and from Ch 8, 16 and 19
11 8, 14, 16 8, 10
Homework will not be collected after Chapter 11
13 2, 7, 9, 13 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17
14 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 18
15 4, 8 5, 6, 12, 15, 19, 21
16 10 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16
6