TexasTechUniversity – Area of Accounting

ACCT 5315: Estate and Gift Taxation / Advanced Research Topics

Spring Semester –2010 / Dr. John J. Masselli, CPA

Daily: 10-noon / 12:45p.m – 2:45p.m.

The following course syllabus provides a general plan for the course; deviations will more than likely be necessary.

Required Texts

  1. 2008 U.S. Master Estate and Gift Guide, CCH, Chicago, IL –(ISBN 978-0-8080-1771-4)
  2. Federal Estate and Gift Tax: IRC and Regulations – March 2008 Ed. (ISBN 978-0-8080-1853-7)
  3. Any ACCT 3307 Textbook (no older than 2009 edition) (required)

Educational Objectives

In this course we will a survey analysis of estate and gift taxation. In addition, we will review, various key topics relating to individual, corporate and conduit taxation. This course is designed to achieve the following objective:

  1. Recognize legal terms used in connection with wills, trusts, and estates, as well as partial interests in property, such as life estates, remainders, and reversions.
  2. Understand the elements in the estate tax formula—gross estate, allowable deductions, adjusted taxable gifts, and available credits.
  3. Discuss the special tax aspects of jointly held property, life insurance, annuities, and gifts within three years of death.
  4. Understand the valuation of assets at both the date of death and the alternate valuation date.
  5. Describe the nature of the gift tax, the gift tax formula, and transactions subject to the gift tax.
  6. Explain the generation skipping tax transfer tax, how and when it applies, and its relationship to gift and estate taxes.
  7. To enhance tax research aptitude using the Internal Revenue Code, Regulations, online tax search engines, case law, and other tax research resources
  8. Acquisition of skill sets necessary to properly prepare Federal Tax Forms: 1040, 1120, and 1065.
  9. To enhance cooperative learning and teamwork skills
  10. To develop professional work-paper preparation and cross referencing proficiency

Office, Hours and Communication Access

My office is #513in the Business Administration Building . My office hours will be: on Class Days from 2:30-3:30 and by appointment

Phone Numbers:TexasTechUniversity:742-2392

Home (not before 9:00 am or after 9:00 pm)798-8582

Mobile283-1207

Email:

Webpage:

Time Requirements For This Course

Below is my estimation of the weekly time requirements typically needed for students to achieve a B or better in this class (note the estimates factor in the compressed nature of the course):

In Class Time:6-9 Hours

Readings: Code, regulations, cases:15-25 Hours

Other Homework and Semester Projects (spread out through the semester)4-8 Hours

Weekly Estimate of Time for this Class: 25–42 hours per week (due to compressed nature)

Course Policies

Grade allocation

Group Work ( 2 Group Cases / Tax Return)25%

Quiz (Gift Taxation) – 20%

Exam #1 (Wealth Transfer Taxes) – 30%

Exam #2 (Corporate & Individual Income Tax Issues) –1/9/0925% ------

Total100%

Attendance and Participation

Students are expected to attend all class sections. As such, I reserve the right to pursue, via the Dean’s office, involuntary withdrawal proceedings against any student that misses the equivalent of one week of course material unexcused. Furthermore, since it is my contention that students can learn just as much from their colleagues as from their professors, student participation is mandatory in this class.

Absence due to Officially Approved Trips on behalf of TexasTechUniversity

The Texas Tech University Catalog states that the person officially responsible for a student missing class due to a TTU sponsored trip should notify the instructor of the departure and return schedule in advance of the trip. The student may not be penalized but is responsible for the material missed. (p.49)

Illness and Death Notification

The Center for Campus Life is responsible for notifying the campus community of student illnesses, immediate family deaths and/or student death. Generally, in cases of student illness or immediate family deaths, the notification to the appropriate campus community members occur when a student is absent from class for four (4) consecutive days with appropriate verification. It is always the student’s responsibility for missed class assignments and/or course work during their absence. The student is encouraged to contact the faculty member immediately regarding the absences and to provide verification afterwards. The notification from the Center for Campus Life does not excuse a student from class, assignments, and/or any other course requirements. The notification is provided as a courtesy.

Observance of Religious Holy Days

Absence due to religious observance - The Texas Tech University Catalog states that a student who is absent from classes for the observance of a religious holy day will be allowed to take an examination or complete an assignment scheduled for that day within a reasonable time after the absence (p.49). Notification must be made in writing and delivered in person no later than the 15th on which any University normal university class days are held. The student is responsible for all work and material covered during the absence.

Civility in the Classroom

Students are expected to assist in maintaining a classroom environment that is conducive to learning. In order to assure that all students have an opportunity to gain from time spent in class, unless otherwise approved by the instructor, students are prohibited from using cellular phones or beepers, making offensive remarks, eating (Note: drinking, unless in a computer laboratory, is allowed so long as you place empty containers in trash receptacles upon completion), reading newspapers, unauthorized internet or computer usage (e.g., using the wireless network to check email or browse the internet while using a laptop during class or using software programs not integral to the class discussion), sleeping, DIPPING tobacco, or engaging in any other form of distraction. Inappropriate behavior in the classroom shall result in, at a minimum, a request to leave class with more severe sanctions enacted if disruptive behavior persists.

Cheating

It is the aim of the faculty of TexasTechUniversity to foster a spirit of complete honesty and a high standard of integrity. The attempt of students to present as their own any work that they have not honestly performed is regarded as a serious offense and renders the offenders liable to serious consequences, possibly suspension. As such, please be advised that cheating in any form whether on exams, case studies, or tax return projects will, at a minimum, result in an automatic 0 for the assignment/test and likely subjected to more serious sanction referred to above. This included group assignments. For additional discussion of what constitutes cheating and plagiarism please refer to the TexasTechUniversity catalog (pg. 49 or thereabouts).

Grading

Students with Disabilities:

Any student who because of a disability may require special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make any necessary accommodations. Student should present appropriate verification from AccessTECH. No requirement exists that accommodations be made prior to completion of this approved university procedure.

Course Structure

Perhaps unlike other courses you may have taken in your graduate and/or undergraduate curricula, this course will be a combination of traditional lecture and problem solving (approximately 65% of the course) with the remainder being conducted using cooperative learning methods (i.e., group/case based) using static teams that are created in the first few days of class. Other than the three in class exams that will be completed individually and comprise 65% of your grade, the remainder of the grade is a function of the effectiveness of your team efforts. One of the primary benefits of a cooperative learning environment, in particular one in which the cases are comprehensive and require substantial work-paper preparation, is that it will provide practice for your internships as well as for your post-graduation professional careers. As such, this course is intentionally designed to more closely mimic a professional environment than more traditional type classroom environments. With that said, the course is broken up into two distinct parts:

Part 1: Estate and Gift Taxation: This portion of the course will introduce you to the Federal wealth transfer tax system. While many of you may never work extensively with estate and gift taxation, it is important that you be aware of the general mechanics associated with it and how the wealth transfer tax system interacts with other Federal tax systems. As such, this portion of the course will be a survey in nature with a “mile wide / inch deep” perspective. Also, this segment of the course will use more traditional pedagogical methods focused predominately on lecture and discussion.

At the end of the syllabus is an outline of the topics to be discussed this semester along with respective reading assignments. The following will be expected in preparation for each class:

  1. Read thoroughly the assigned material including in the text.
  1. As mentioned above, cases will be assigned throughout the session. Complete, written answers should be prepared, before the class in which the cases are due as they will be collected and graded.

Also, please bring your Estate and Gift Code and Regulations to class until that module is completed.

Part 2: Individual / Conduit / Corporate Taxation – Cooperative Learning:

In the second part of the course there will be two comprehensive cases assigned. In general, there will be between 5 to 7 days for the team to prepare the answer to the case. On the day the case is due, each team will be required to present to the class a portion of their case for discussion. Since all teams will have prepared the case, the other teams will address how they may or may not have handled certain aspects of that particular piece of the assignment. The work-paper file will be handed in, and I will return them graded within approximately one week. A schedule of the case assignments and discussion days is presented at the end of this syllabus.

Work-papers:

Many of you taking this course will do so immediately before going on internships with professional accounting firms or in other professional type environments. If this is the case, understanding the importance of documenting your work and creating a set of work papers designed to provide substantiation for various items in your project is of paramount importance. While there is no uniform method for creating a set of work-papers, there are some necessary components that must exist for work-papers to achieve their informative goal. Below, I have described some of these necessary elements.

  1. Organization: It is imperative that the work-papers have a logical flow. If you are working on a case such as those in our course, you will likely want the work-papers to flow in a manner consistent with the assignments (i.e., if there are 5 parts, a-e, have them labeled and organized in the order requested. Also, if the work-papers are voluminous, a table of contents at the beginning with references is very much appreciated by the person reviewing the work-papers.
  1. Documentation to include: There tend to be two problems that exist related to documentation included in work-papers: 1) not enough documentation or 2) too much documentation. Initially, novice’s have a tendency to include too much information just to CYA. Here are some good reference points to help you decide what to include or not to include: First, know your reviewer. If you know that (s)he has a substantial knowledge about the issue at hand, don’t worry about copying such things as code or regulations to include in the work-papers. Also, know what your reviewer has reasonable access to from a resource perspective. In the case of citing IRC and Regulations, it is very reasonable to assume that almost any reviewer has very ready access to these items, and can, with a proper citation, easily access them to confirm your position. On the other hand, if you have relied on a revenue ruling, or other document that is not as easily accessible, make a copy and include it in the work-papers. The key here is that you do not want to have your reviewer have to go and do all the research all over to verify your answers. Since you already did that, printing or copying the source saves time. Also, it is a very good practice to save your sources in a file (whether electronic or hard copy) should a challenge ever arise to a position you took. Finally, if you are taking a position on a complex or confusing part of the tax law, it is not unusual to copy that excerpt and include it in the work-papers for quick reference in your discussion.
  1. Cross-referencing: All information provided as support in work-papers should have a reference and a cross-reference. For example, if you are doing a tax return and you have a source document that you choose to keep in the work-paper file (e.g., a wage statement (Form W-2), I would expect to see a tick mark (reference mark) on the front page of the 1040 on line 7 (wages) that tells me that support for that number can be found on the referenced form W-2. In addition, on the form W-2, I would expect to see the cross-reference indicating where on the tax return, that number can be found. This helps the review “tick and tie” the information.
  2. Use of word processing and/or spreadsheet programs. All written documents such as file memos, research memos, or detailed explanations of a particular tax law must be typed. Notations on source documents, or cross-referencing can be, of course, hand written. If you do a forecast, I expect these to be done on a program that has mathematical capabilities. It is good practice as it does the mathematics and avoids the errors that sometimes occur when typing in the numbers incorrectly.

Presentations:

On the day a case is due, each group will present a portion of their answers. These presentations are to be formal (although no formal dress is required). I will indicate on the case, which part of the case the respective group is responsible for presenting to the class so the presentation can be prepared ahead of time. I will vary the presentations throughout the session so no one group feels like they had the more difficult topic etc. I expect the presentations to use such programs as Power Point and Excel (etc.). All members of the group are expected to participate in the presentation. The presentations will be graded and are worth 20% of that particular case’s grade.

Group Assignments and Grading

On Tuesday, December 15, 2009 I will make permanent group assignments. Each group will complete and present the cases together with each person required to participate in the presentation. Since the group is designed to function as a unified body, everyone in the group will receive the same grade for each project or exam. While I realize many team members may complete a portion of the assignment apart from the group and have it added to the work-paper file, it is important that all members be familiar with the entire assignment. However, I realize that sometimes a free-rider problem surfaces when cooperative learning is used. As such, for each assignment, I will afford each group member the opportunity to grade the other members of the group including his or herself. This will give me an opportunity to adjust the grades of non-performing group members. Since there are five cases, you will do this five times so that non-performing members have time to adjust their participation level to prevent a major downgrading for the entire course at the end of the session. While I hope any group conflicts can be resolved within the group, if a major problem arises, please come talk to me so I might help mitigate the problem.

Exams and Assignments:

There will be 3 in class quizzes/exams weighted as shown above. NO MAKE UP EXAMS WILL BE GIVEN. UNEXCUSED ABSENSES FROM EXAMS WILL BE ASSIGNED A GRADE OF ZERO WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

AC 5315 – Federal Estate and Gift Taxation / Advanced Topics

DATESTOPICASSIGNMENT Due Today

12/14/09Course, Policies and Expectations

Introduction to Wills, Trusts and Other Probate Procedures

Introduction to Wealth Transfer TaxesRead Chapters 1 & 2 (text)

12/15/09Gift Taxation / Generation SkippingRead Chapters 31 – 39 (text)

Estate Taxation –Gross EstateRead Chapters 3-12 (text)

12/16/09Individual Taxation / Property Transactions – Refresher Lecture

Work-paper Preparation

12/17/09Gift Cases Due

Gross Estate – ConcludedRead Chapters 13-17

Estate Taxation – Deductions/Tax Calc.Read Chapters 18-30

12/18/09Conclude Estate Taxation

Lecture: Entity Taxation

12/19/09Quiz 1 – Gift Taxation – last 2 hours of class

Lecture: Entity Taxation

12/21/09Go over Quiz 1

Group Case 1 – Individual Income Taxation Due Today

Estate Case Day

Gift Tax Returns Due

1/4/10Gift and Estate Exam

1/5/10In Class Group Case – Entity Taxation

Group Case Work Day

1/6/10Comprehensive Group Case 2 Due / With Presentations

Go over exam

1/8/10Exam #2 (Income Tax and other Special Topics)

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