4561 Outline Page 1 of 11
School of Administrative Studies
Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies
Taxation of Personal Income in Canada
ADMS 4561
course outline for all sections
SUMMER 2017
last updated April 4, 2017
1 Contact Information – Course Director
Section / Day / Time / Location / Course Director / EmailAddress
Section A / Tuesday / 7 -10 pm / HNE 035 / Margaret Riggin /
Section B / Wednesday / 4-7 pm / HNE 035 / Margaret Riggin /
Section C / Thursday / 4-7 pm / HNE 035 / Joseph Frankovic /
Important Announcements – Summer 2017
The Summer 2017 term starts the first week of May. This is a blended course with 3 online lectures (1, 6 and 10) and on campus meets for the other lectures and weekly online quizzes.
1. Lecture 1 is online. You may ask questions on the Lecture 1 forum or bring them to the Lecture 2 class which is on campus. Students are welcome to attend any section they want to – not just the one they are registered in. The deadline for the Lecture 1 and 2 online quizzes is the same: Monday May 15 at 7 pm.
2. The midterm is on Friday June 9 (from 6 to 9 pm) and covers Lectures 1 to 5.
3. The Final Exam is on Friday July 14 (from 6 to 9 pm) and covers Lectures 6 to 9.
4. There is a capstone case assignment focused on online Lecture 10 which is due on Monday July 31, 4 pm.
Note: The last day to drop the course without receiving a grade is July 7. If you withdraw after this deadline and before the end of classes (deadline July 31), the course remains on your transcript without a grade and is notated as “W”.
2 Course Description
Together with AK/ADMS 4562 3.0, introduces students to the principles and practice of Canadian taxation and related tax planning, to provide a basic understanding of the Canadian Income Tax Act and its GST implications in relation to individuals.
PREREQUISITES
1) For students in an Honours program, 78 credits including ADMS 3520;
2) or for other students, a grade of C+ or better in the above-listed course.
Students who have taken a course that is similar to ADMS 3520 and would like to know whether it meets the prerequisite requirement should contact the tax course coordinator, Joanne Magee (). Students who have taken ADMS 4561 in a prior term also meet the prerequisite. Students not meeting the prerequisite requirement may be dropped from the course. You must resolve your prerequisite situation (by contacting Joanne Magee) before May 29, 2017 (i.e., the last day to enrol with permission).
2.1 Important Information:
Read this course outline thoroughly: it has a lot of key information. All students can access lecture notes and other important course information by clicking on the moodle link at https://moodle.yorku.ca/
A schedule setting out the dates of the lectures, quizzes and midterms follows under heading 9. The problem sets for each lecture will be discussed in the lectures.
2.2 To be successful in this course, we advise the following approach:
1) Prepare for class: spend 6 hours per week preparing for class. i.e., read the lecture notes and do the problem set problems and examples in the notes and the recommended FIT Exercises & MCQ.[1] Always attempt all questions yourself before you look at the solution. Doing questions is the best way to learn. And you can only earn class participation marks and be successful in online quizzes if you prepare.
2) Attend all of each class or listen to the online recording and pay attention all class. Turn off and put away your electronic devices and focus; and
3) Study for the exams by re-reading the lecture notes and re-doing all the recommended questions, especially the parts where you have made errors. (Redoing questions will help you remember the rules and planning techniques that we cover). There are some past midterms (and a few finals) on the course website. After you have review the Lecture notes and questions, then look for exam questions on those same topics, if any (as there may not be any).
4) Use FIT as a reference to clarify your understanding of the law. You are only responsible for what is in the Lecture Notes and Problem Sets. There is much more in FIT than what we cover in this course.
If you have questions, please ask them in class or post them on the Moodle forum. But before you do that, please try to look the answer up for yourself. Because tax law is constantly changing and is very complex, one of the many skills needed for a career in taxation (or any accounting discipline) is the ability to do research. So for questions related to the content of the course, please try looking for answers to your questions in the lecture notes, the textbook, etc. first. By the same token, for administrative questions please try looking for answers in this course outline first. The course materials provide you with answers to most of the frequently asked questions.
There is an Administrative Forum at the top of the Moodle website and a separate forum accompanying each Lecture where the Lecture Recording is. Information from the Atkinson Professional Accounting Association is available at www.yuapaa.com or by emailing
3 Learning Outcomes and Professional Behaviour
Students can attend any section that they wish. Notes and problem material have been provided to help you with your learning.
As future professionals you are expected to act like professionals. In terms of expected behaviour in class you should:
· Prepare in advance for each lecture. The more prepared you are, in advance, the more you will get out of a lecture;
· Arrive on time for each on-campus class (and for exams) since entering late can disrupt others;
· Actively listen and ask and answer questions during class;
· Cell phone use is prohibited during class. Print your course materials or view them on your laptop/tablet;
· Avoid disruptive behaviour like talking to fellow class-mates, checking emails, sending messages, etc. since this behaviour can disturb your fellow classmates and your course director. If you need to have a conversation, send a message or make a phone call (and cannot wait until break or after class) then quietly leave the classroom to do so and return to class when finished (since this is less disruptive);
· For all quizzes and exams, read and follow the directions and fully comply with York’s Academic Honesty Policy. See “10 Important York Policies” (below) for more information on Academic Honesty;
· Attend the entire class; If you need to leave early, be polite and tell the instructor ahead of time and try to leave at the break to minimize disruption and you should review the audio tape of the class or try to attend the second half of another section’s class to avoid missing important information.
· Not start an email with “Hey”
You learned the basics of many of the rules we cover in this course in ADMS 3520; this course will help you refresh that knowledge, learn the finer details and apply the rules to more complex problem material involving transactions and planning situations. Building on ADMS 3520, this course has been designed to help you:
1. Explain and critique the policy objectives and legislative intent of the technical rules in the Income Tax Act (the Act) as they apply to individuals and the corporations they own.
2. Explain what is involved in tax research (reading and interpreting the technical rules in the Act, taking into consideration judicial decisions and CRA pronouncements) and to be able to do basic tax research.
3. Apply Canadian income tax law and related planning concepts in problem and case settings involving individuals and the corporations they own.
4. Demonstrate improvement in their written and verbal communication skills and their use of excel spreadsheet software in solving tax problems.
To achieve these learning outcomes, students are recommended to devote at least six hours a week to the course outside of the lecture time.
4 Course Website
All students can access ADMS 4561 course materials, past exams, online quizzes and other important course information by clicking on the moodle link at https://moodle.yorku.ca/ The 2016 ADMS 3520 Lecture Summaries (notes) can also be found at the top of the ADMS 4561 website.
Links to the Income Tax Act, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) publications and other readings can also be found on the course website.
5 Emails
You will receive emails about the course through the email address you have registered with York.
6 Required Text
The required textbook is
- Federal Income Taxation in Canada (FIT), CCH, by Beam, Laiken and Barnett (2016/2017 edition) - i.e. the most recent edition). This textbook has very good examples and lots of problem material. Because this book is updated once a year in late August, the most recent edition of the book should be purchased. The Study Guide should also be purchased since it contains the recommended exercises, multiple choice and solutions. The CD included with this book contains Cantax software and a research library which may be used in this course.
Note: the textbook is also available in the Bronfman Business Library (in the Schulich Building) for short term viewing. You may wish to bookmark the CRA website at http://www.cra.gc.ca
7 Supplementary Texts
Supplementary texts are not required for the course but may be useful for references:
- Canadian Income Taxation, Buckwald and Kitunen, McGraw-Hill
- Canadian Tax Principles, Prentice-Hall, by Byrd, Chen. This book is concise and has good explanations and examples and is used in ADMS 3520.
- Preparing Your Income Tax Returns, CCH. Many tax professionals use this book.
- CFE/UFE Tax, 4th edition, Thomson Carswell, by Jason Fleming
8 Course Design
Topics and readings for the lectures are set out on the following pages. The course content will be explained using examples in a problem-solving approach. Lecture notes are provided so that you don't have to take notes during the lecture. See heading 9 for the Lecture Schedule.
There are some topics in the FIT textbook that we do not cover. You are responsible for the material found in the lecture notes and posted problem sets, not the textbook. Each week, FIT exercises and multiple choice questions are recommended and a problem set is assigned. It is extremely important that you bring your FIT to class because will be referring to exhibits, examples and problems in FIT.
- Components of grade
% of grade / Due date / Status[i.e. Term work, mid-term or final examination, final examination substitute]
On-line Quizzes / 10% / 1% each due after the Lecture. / Term work for Lectures 1 to 10.
1% per class.
Participation / 7% / 1% for each of 7
In-class lectures / Term work on in-class Lectures. 1% per session =7.
7 marks max: see details in 8.11 on next page.
Midterm
(3 hours) / 35% / Friday, June 9
6 to 9 pm
Room TBA / Exam on Lectures 1 through 5.*
Final
(3 hours) / 40% / Friday, July 14
6 to 9 pm
Room TBA / Exam on Lectures 1 to 9, with relatively less coverage on material tested on the midterm.
Case Study
Assignment
(posted after
the final exam) / 8% / Monday July 31,
4 pm. / Assignment focusing on Lecture 10
If you have written the final exam, the assignment may be done individually or in groups of up to 5. Group members can be from any section. If you have missed the final exam, you must do the assignment individually, not as part of a group.
* Past exams are posted on the course website and other past exam questions have been incorporated in the lecture notes. Please note that (1) new topics have been added to the course and others have been dropped; (2) topics are not always taught in the same order and, accordingly, topics tested on each exam vary and (3) solutions have not been updated for changes in the law. To study for an exam, review the Lecture notes and recommended questions. Then look for exam questions on those same topics, if any (as there may not be any). Since Fall 2016, there has no longer been an Income Tax Act Reference Question as on prior exams. Some past midterms have not always covered the Lectures 1 to 5. For example, the Winter 2017 midterm only covered Lectures 1 to 3.
8.1 On-line Quizzes (10%)
There is one mark max available for each of the Lectures 1 to 10. The on-line quizzes have been designed to help you keep up with the material and understand and apply it. For each of the ten lectures there is a 4 question online multiple choice quiz. You will see your score when the quiz closes and each question is worth 25%. Your on-line quiz mark is the sum of your weekly quiz marks. So if you get 5 quizzes @ 50% and 5 @ 75%, your quiz score is 2.5 plus 3.75 = 6.25 out of 10.
The deadlines for each online quiz are posted in the week by week schedule below under heading 9. Generally speaking, each online quiz will open the Thursday of the lecture week at 7 pm (after the last class for the week… ie. the Thursday 4 to 7 class) and close the following Monday at 7 pm (the night before the first class for the week…ie. the Tuesday 7 to 10 class). We have generally set the quiz close time as the night before the next Tuesday class so you have time to prepare for next week’s class. You will note that
· the Lecture 1 quiz has an extended deadline