Syllabus for ACC-421
FEDERAL INCOME TAXATION
Federal Income Taxation is a one-semester course designed to help you learn the basics of federal income taxation of individuals. The course covers the basic tax calculations, filing status, gross income inclusions and exclusions, gain and loss recognition, business and personal deductions, tax credits, and filing requirements. It also looks briefly at the taxation of partnerships, as well as that of corporations and special S corporations.
After completing this course, students should be able to:
CO 1 Apply all steps in preparing individual taxable income and tax.
CO 2 Indicate which items are included in income and which items are excluded.
CO 3 Recognize deductible business expenses and nonbusiness deductions.
CO 4 Calculate depreciation, bad debts, and losses.
CO 5 Apply the rules for capital and ordinary gain and loss recognition.
CO 6 Demonstrate conversance with available individual tax credits.
CO 7 Articulate the fundamentals of the taxation of corporations and partnerships.
You will need the following materials to complete your coursework. Some course materials may be free, open source, or available from other providers. You can access free or open-source materials by clicking the links provided below or in the module details documents. To purchase course materials, please visit the University's textbook supplier.
Federal Income Taxation is a three-credit, online course consisting of six modules. Modules include an overview, topics, learning objectives, study materials, and activities. Module titles are listed below.
For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in six online discussion forums in addition to an ungraded introductions forum; complete six written assignments; complete six quizzes; take a proctored online midterm examination; and complete a final project. See below for details.
Consult the Course Calendar for due dates.
One or more of your course activities may utilize a tool designed to promote original work and evaluate your submissions for plagiarism. More information about this tool is available in SafeAssign.
In addition to an ungraded Introductions Forum in Module 1, Federal Income Taxation requires you to participate in six graded class discussions (worth 12% of your course grade). Like the written assignments, online discussions draw on end-of-chapter discussion questions and problems from the textbook.
Communication with the mentor and among fellow students is a critical component of online learning. Participation in online discussions involves two distinct activities: an initial response to the assigned problems and subsequent comments on classmates' responses.
You will be evaluated both on the quality of your responses (i. e., the correctness of your answer and your understanding of the tax code) and on your participation (i. e., the number of times you participate meaningfully in the assigned forums). Responses and comments should be properly proofread and edited, professional, and respectful.
Meaningful participation in online discussions is relevant to the content, adds value, and advances the discussion. Comments such as "I agree" and "ditto" are not considered value-adding participation. Therefore, when you agree or disagree with a classmate, the reading, or your mentor, state and support your agreement or disagreement.
You are required to complete six written assignments (worth 26% of your course grade). The written assignments help to solidify and summarize the tax laws for you and consist of discussion questions and problems from the end of each assigned chapter in the textbook. Be sure to show all computations.
You are required to complete six quizzes (worth 12% of your course grade). The quizzes help to solidify your knowledge of the tax laws and consist of multiple-choice questions related to the information in the assigned chapters in the textbook.
Each quiz will consist of 10 multiple-choice questions. All quizzes are untimed, and you may use any materials that you like while taking the quizzes. You may take the quizzes multiple times for additional practice; the result of your most recent attempt will appear in your gradebook.
Note: For a list of key concepts that may appear on your exam, refer to the study guide available in the Examinations section of the course website.
Federal Income Taxation requires you to take a 3 hour proctored midterm examination (worth 30% of your course grade). You must take the exam online using the University's Online Proctor Service. Please refer to the Examinations and Proctors section of the Online Student Handbook (see General Information area of the course website) for further information about scheduling and taking online exams and for all exam policies and procedures. You are strongly advised to schedule your exam within the first week of the semester.
Note: The exam is open book, open notes; scientific, graphing or financial calculator allowed (no phones or tablets); one sheet of scratch paper at a time, can request additional sheets
You are on your honor not to cheat during the exam. Cheating means:
If there is evidence that you have cheated or plagiarized in your exam, the exam will be declared invalid, and you will fail the course.
In lieu of a final examination, you are required to complete a final project (worth 20% of your course grade). The final project consists of a tax return along with two end-of-chapter problems assigned from the text.
Instructions for completing and submitting the final project will be made available to you in the second to last week of the course in the Final Project section of the course website. Please consult the Course Calendar for the project's due date.
Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:
All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:
A | = | 93–100 | C+ | = | 78–79 | |
A– | = | 90–92 | C | = | 73–77 | |
B+ | = | 88–89 | C– | = | 70–72 | |
B | = | 83–87 | D | = | 60–69 | |
B– | = | 80–82 | F | = | Below 60 |
To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or better (for an area of study course) or D or better (for a course not in your area of study), based on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., exams, assignments, discussion postings).
To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:
Consider the following study tips for success:
ACADEMIC POLICIES
To ensure success in all your academic endeavors and coursework at Thomas Edison State University, familiarize yourself with all administrative and academic policies including those related to academic integrity, course late submissions, course extensions, and grading policies.
For more, see:
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