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An introduction to income tax. The course also includes consideration of taxpayers' rights and obligations, tax planning and tax avoidance, the role of lawyers in tax investigations and dispute resolution, comparative tax law and practice.
Lawyers, as well as Accountants, have an important role to play in the field of taxation, particularly in advising clients in respect of their liability to tax, in acting for them in dealings with the Inland Revenue Department and appearing for them before the Taxation Review Authority and the Courts. This course discusses some of the key areas in the field of taxation that are relevant to lawyers in practice.The course will include:• Introduction - Overview of the tax system. • Tax jurisdiction - the concept of residence and derivation of income. • The concept of income and capital – including the taxation of business profits, employment income and personal property sales. • The tax treatment of items of expenditure including the treatment of interest costs, the prohibition for deducting capital expenditure and the treatment of repairs and maintenance. • Review of taxpayers' rights and obligations. The Inland Revenue's Taxpayers Charter will be considered.• The role of lawyers in tax investigations and dispute resolution. Legal professional privilege and tax advice non-disclosure right will be reviewed. • Tax planning, tax avoidance, the abusive tax position and tax evasion. Recent cases will be reviewed.• Tax policy development.
The objects of this course are to provide students with an overview of selected parts of the tax system in New Zealand, focussing on the income tax, as well as the operational aspects and the role of lawyers. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive coverage of all major tax issues.
This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:
Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award
Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.
LAWS394 (1999), LAWS395 (2000-2001)
LAWS202-LAWS206
Tutorials will be conducted during the course.
Andrew Maples and Adrian Sawyer
The assessment will be an evening test and a final examination, both open book.
Readings will be made available on LEARN.Students should have access to:• The Income Tax Act 2007; Tax Administration Act 1994; Goods and Services Tax Act 1985.• Thomson Reuters, Taxation Legislation Handbook 2019 or CCH 2019 NZ Tax Legislation for Students; (your legislation needs to have the Income Tax Act 2007). The full legislation is also available on the New Zealand Legislation website and via the Westlaw NZ/Thomson Reuters Tax Service on the UC Library website (Accessible on-line via the Library catalogue > Title begins with > Tax Service).• Foundations of New Zealand Taxation Law, Wolters Kluwer, 2020.Please see https://books.wolterskluwer.co.nz/items/1238ZS to order the textbook as part of the New Zealand Student Tax Pack 2.All other materials will be posted on Learn for students to download and/or print.
Domestic fee $822.00
International fee $4,000.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Faculty of Law .