BSc Accounting with Industrial/Professional Experience

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Principles of Taxation

Course unit fact file
Unit code BMAN24111
Credit rating 10
Unit level Level 2
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

This course has been designed to develop core technical, commercial, and ethical skills, and knowledge in a structured and rigorous manner. The aim of the course is to enable students to understand the general objectives of tax and to prepare various calculations in straightforward scenarios. Many business decisions will have tax consequences and will be discussed at board level. Tax is now very important and looks set to be in the media spotlight and affecting commercial decisions for the foreseeable future. 

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title Unit code Requirement type Description
Financial Reporting BMAN10501 Pre-Requisite Compulsory
Financial Reporting and Accountability BMAN21020A Co-Requisite Compulsory
BMAN24111 has pre-requisites of BMAN10501 and co-requisites is BMAN21020. Core course for BSc Accounting and only available to BSc Accounting.

Pre-requisite course units have to be passed by 40% or above at the first attempt.

Aims

To enable students to understand and explain the general objectives of taxation, the considerations needed for tax design, the UK tax framework, as well as its international, ethical, and environmental context.
To enable students to prepare UK tax computations for individuals and companies, including Income Tax, National Insurance Contributions, Capital Gains Tax, Corporation Tax, and VAT.
To satisfy the requirements for accreditation for the ICAEW's Principles of Taxation paper (subject to students achieving 50% or higher). 
 

Learning outcomes

A tax adviser needs to have not only knowledge of how calculations are performed but also be able to discuss why and how individuals and businesses are affected. There will be opportunities to practise the calculations, whilst gaining transferable skills such as communication, research, and evaluation. 

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to: 
-    Understand the development of the UK tax system, and the political and economic framework in which the UK tax system operates, including how this impacts the choice of taxation policy; 
-    Perform straightforward tax computations and give basic tax planning advice; 
-    Understand and discuss the basic principles of UK Income tax, Corporation Tax Value Added Tax and Capital Gains Tax
-    Comment on the principles of case law which have driven major features of tax legislation;
-    Comment on the ethics of taxation. 

Syllabus

This course is designed to give students a good understanding of the objectives and 
characteristics of taxation. It discusses the development of UK taxation system and 
considers the social and economic factors which affect taxation policy 
It also outlines the rules and principles involved in the UK taxation system enabling 
students to prepare personal tax computations, corporation tax computations and basic CGT computations. It also aims to give students an understanding the ethics underpinning taxation and the basic administration thereof. The course will provide opportunity to consider the current debate surrounding the morality of taxation and corporate and social responsibility matters. 

Teaching and learning methods

This course is designed to give students a good understanding of the objectives and 
characteristics of taxation. It discusses the development of UK taxation system and 
considers the social and economic factors which affect taxation policy 
It also outlines the rules and principles involved in the UK taxation system enabling 
students to prepare personal tax computations, corporation tax computations and basic CGT computations. It also aims to give students an understanding the ethics underpinning taxation and the basic administration thereof. The course will provide opportunity to consider the current debate surrounding the morality of taxation and corporate and social responsibility matters. 

Teaching and learning methods 

This course unit will include:
•    Synchronous lectures and workshops.
•    Asynchronous (pre-recorded video) lectures where appropriate.
•    Quick quizzes 
•    Peer support board/Discussion board
•    Directed independent study.

The lectures and workshops are not intended to cover all the material required for the assessment and students will need to complement the lecture material with their own self-study using a variety of resources, mainly an academic textbook, websites, videos, and quizzes. 

Real world, topical examples will be referred to and discussed throughout the course. Students will be expected to keep informed of tax stories and make links with the syllabus.

Lecture 
There are 2 hours of lectures per week, over a 11-week period. A reading week will take place in semester 1.

Lectures will cover the course material. Lectures are used to introduce context, concepts, fundamental rules, computations, and debate, and it expected that students attend all lectures.. Student participation will be expected in lectures, including responding to polls, asking, and answering questions, contributing to discussions, and doing independent work. References to what to expect in the exam, including exam technique, will be included in lectures.

Workshop
There is a one-hour workshop per week, over a 11-week period. A reading week will take place in semester 1.

Workshops are designed to build on the knowledge introduced in the lectures, developing the skills to apply tax knowledge to exam-standard questions. Students will be expected to prepare for workshops, by completing questions set by the lecturer prior to attending. The workshop will be a mix of checking understanding of pre-set work, and attempting previously unseen questions, as well as being a space to ask questions. Again, like the lectures, exam approach and technique will a vital part of the workshops.

Students should note that the final examination will include some discussion topics, and these can be drawn from discussions in the lectures and workshops.

As this course is a 10-credit course the student should expect to allocate 100 hours of study time. Timetabled activities, including the weekly 2-hour lecture and 1-hour workshop, will total 33 hours (11 x 3 hours). The remaining 67 hours will be split between course familiarisation, self-study including quick quizzes and further question practice, revision activities, and exam preparation. Further details on weekly study expectations will be included on Blackboard.

Assessment methods

Unseen examination (100%) 

 

 

 

 

Feedback methods

Feedback during the course will be given in several ways to allows students to judge their progression. The methods will include but are not limited to the following:

•    Face to face feedback during lectures and workshops as students undertake short illustrative questions.
•    During workshop sessions, informal verbal feedback on the work which has been prepared by students.
•    The opportunity for students to ask the lecturer questions directly during lectures and workshops.
•    Using, and engagement in the peer support board/discussion board.
•    Using on-going online quizzes to obtain independent feedback on their strength of knowledge and understanding of the different taxes.
•    Students can come and see the lecturer in office hours and receive verbal feedback on the work which they have attempted.

Feedback on Exams

The Course Coordinator will post generic feedback on the course’s Blackboard page.  Generic feedback is normally a comment on overall class performance and should generally address how each question was answered – what students did well, what could be improved, where there were weaknesses.  The general principle is that students should receive feedback on exams to tie in with the publication of marks.  Feedback is normally available within 15 working days of the publication date.

Students should not expect to find detailed written comments on an exam script as you would for coursework.  Any comments on the exam script are predominantly part of the marking process and are not extensive in the way that individual feedback is given for coursework.  

Recommended reading

Core Text: 

These will be updated each year to the new edition to ensure they feature the appropriate rules for the relevant Finance Act.

Supplementary Text: 
Any specific supplementary readings will be indicated on Blackboard 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 22
Seminars 11
Independent study hours
Independent study 67

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Alison Zimmer Unit coordinator

Additional notes

Information

Length of course: 11 teaching weeks. 
Pre-requisite course units must be passed by 40% or above at the first attempt. Pre-requisites: BMAN10501 
Co-requisites: BMAN21020 
Dependent courses: BMAN24740 (for BSc Business Accounting students only) 
Programme Restrictions: Compulsory for and available only to students on the BSc Accounting programme and BSc Business Accounting programme.

For Academic Year 2023/24

Updated: March 2023

Approved by: March UG Committee

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