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The general principles of taxation. Topics include: principles of residence and source, the taxation of income from employment, personal property sales, deductions, depreciation, leases and trading stock and the dispute resolution process. The course will provide a working knowledge of income tax, GST, and FBT.
The objective of ACCT254 is to give students an introduction to the general principles of taxation. Topics include the principles of residence and source, income from employment, personal property sales, deductions, depreciation, leases and trading stock. The course will provide a working knowledge of income tax, GST, FBT and the dispute resolution process.Because of both the limited time available and the increasing complexity of taxes, especially income tax, it is not possible to cover all aspects of tax law in the course. Therefore, reference should be made to the course outline for the topics that will probably be covered. This course focuses on tax legislation as it is the legislation that largely gives rise to the rights and obligations in the area of taxation. The course builds on the foundations laid in the ACCT103 ‘Accounting and Taxation’ and the ‘Introduction to Taxation’ lecture topics in that course.After the course, students should have an appreciation of the basic applications of the taxation laws and an understanding of issues concerning tax investigations. Students should be able to determine the net income of a taxpayer and have an appreciation of the importance of taxation in business decisions.Completion of the course should also provide students with a framework to evaluate taxation issues, a foundation for further study in the advanced taxation courses, and provide a general level of awareness of taxation matters for future employment. The course also seeks to further develop student oral and written communication skills.
The objectives of the course are:1. Demonstrate a general understanding of the Inland Revenue and an introduction to the tax investigations process;2. Demonstrate an understanding of the principles of residence and source;3. Determine the appropriate tax treatment of various income receipts and deductions; 4. Demonstrate an understanding of both the Fringe Benefit Tax and Goods and Services Tax regimes;5. Demonstrate an understanding of the tax treatment of partnerships and trusts;6. Demonstrate an understanding of depreciation, leases and trading stock from a tax perspective;7. Demonstrate an understanding of the dispute resolution process.
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.
Employable, innovative and enterprising
Students will develop key skills and attributes sought by employers that can be used in a range of applications.
ACCT103
ACCT152 or ACCT156 or LAWS101
Students must attend one activity from each section.
Alistair Hodson
Adrian Sawyer and Andrew Maples
Required texts are: Thomson Reuters New Zealand Taxation 2026: Principles, Cases and Questions. Thomson Reuters New Zealand Taxation 2026 Legislation Handbook. Additional Resources are: CCH New Zealand Master Tax Guide Inland Revenue websites: www.ird.govt.nz; http://taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz/ (Policy Advice Division) Legislation: www.legislation.govt.nz Thomson Reuters New Zealand Taxation 2025 Casebook
Domestic fee $1,003.00
International fee $4,538.00
* 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 Department of Accounting and Information Systems on the departments and faculties page .