Accounting and MIS 3400: Tax Accounting I
Course Syllabus – Spring 2014
Section 0010 - Monday and Wednesday 11:10 AM
Section 0020 - Monday and Wednesday 12:45 PM
Section 0030 - Monday and Wednesday 4:10 PM
Section 0040 - Monday and Wednesday 5:45 PM
- 12:30 PM
- 2:05 PM
- 5:30 PM
- 7:05 PM
- Converse Hall 0139
- Converse Hall 0139
- Schoenbaum Hall 300
- Schoenbaum Hall 300
Instructor, first half of semester:
Office:
Phone:
E-mail:
Office Hours:
Twitter:
Jeff Hoopes
448 Fisher Hall
614-688-8679 (office)
hoopes@fisher.osu.edu (preferred method of contact)
2:30 PM to 3:30PM Wednesday
@taxnotions
Instructor, second half of semester:
Office:
Phone:
E-mail:
Office Hours:
Twitter:
Stephanie Lewis
342 Fisher Hall
614-292-3903 (office)
lewis.1819@fisher.osu.edu (preferred method of contact)
2:30PM to 3:30PM Wednesday
@osucpa
Course Materials:
Required textbook - Hoffman, Smith, 2015 ed. South-Western Federal Taxation 2015: Individual
Income Taxes, 38th Edition
There are at least two purchase options:
1. You can order the textbook bundled with CengageNow or you can purchase only Cengage Now
acesss, which includes access to a digital copy of the textbook (at a slightly lower price). You can
find these purchase options by entering the ISBN 978-1-3052-5032-1 at the following URL,
http://www.cengagebrain.com.
2. You can purchase the textbook at the university bookstore.
Note that you MUST purchase a current copy of the textbook and have a valid access code to
CengageNow. CengageNow access cannot be purchased separate from the digital textbook.
Course Description:
This course covers the fundamentals of federal income tax. Emphasis is on individuals and
businesses organized as proprietorships, but the rules generally applicable to all taxpayers are
covered. Prerequisite: AMIS 3200 (521) (Intermediate Financial Accounting) or equivalent.
A Team Taught Course:
This course will be taught by Jeff Hoopes and Stephanie Lewis. In many respects, their teaching
style will be the similar. However, differences will exist. While some differences will exist, we are
closely coordinating the material we teach, have the same group rules for the class, and will both be
mutually responsible for assigning a final grade.
Course Objectives:
This course is designed to acquaint the student with the workings and concepts of the federal tax
law, especially as it pertains to individuals and business entities and to introduce the student to the
workings of the U.S. tax system. Emphasis will be on learning the concepts underlying the tax law,
using the current tax formula and its elements, applying tax law to decision models and
incorporating tax planning principles into decision-making opportunities. Given that ignorance of the
tax system comes with considerable financial cost, this course should be of interest to anyone that
prefers having more wealth rather than less.
Students are assumed to be interested in becoming business advisors, with an emphasis on financial
and accounting subject matters. No previous tax education is assumed. The course will not turn the
student into a tax expert, nor is it designed to completely prepare one for the CPA exam. The
concepts and work habits acquired will form a solid foundation for further study and practice.
Course Methods:
AMIS 3400 is conducted primarily in lecture/discussion format. Our job is to help you understand
key concepts and issues. We will explain and illustrate important concepts in a lecture-like format,
and we will attempt to engage you in dialogue through answering and asking questions and working
through problems in class. Your job is to be prepared for every class by reading (in advance) the
relevant chapter and completing the assigned problems. Class sessions will be most productive if
you come to class with a basic understanding of the concepts being covered. In-class quizzes will
help sharpen your incentives to come to class prepared, both having reviewed material previously
covered, and having read through the text in advance. Lecture time is intended to help you focus on
the details and technicalities needed to understand and retain the information. You are encouraged
to ask questions and be actively involved in class discussions. Due to the need to clear out the room
for the next class, there will be no time to ask questions after the lecture has ended.
You are responsible for everything said in class (in addition to the required reading and
assignments). If you miss class, be sure to get the notes from a classmate. No accommodations will
be made for late arrivals or absences. Regular class attendance will improve your chances of
meeting the course objectives, doing well on exams, and being a useful and productive member of
society.
Taxes are complicated:
Taxes are complicated. Our class will hopefully not be. However, because of the technical and
challenging nature of the course, it is important that students stay up to date on assignments, reading,
and understanding. It will simply not work to come to class, breeze through homework assignments,
and expect to cram the night before the exam. You simply cannot do it. Don’t try.
2
Course Communication:
Course information and assignments will be communicated via Carmen and university e-mail, so it
is important that you regularly check your accounts. You can assume that we will take at least 12
hours to respond to an email, so, emails sent minutes before an answer is needed (i.e. five minutes
before a homework assignment is due) may not yield a useful response.
Professionalism/Participation:
Attendance and being actively engaged in class is expected in the business world and it is expected
in this course. This objective of this course is not merely to instill tax knowledge, but, help prepare
you to communicate and engage in the real business world. Given this objective, you are expected
to respond to and ask questions. We will routinely ask questions of the class. Responding with the
“right” answer is not the objective, but rather engaging and learning together. Overcoming
inhibitions relative to speaking in a group will help you in this class, and in life, and will help
improve your grade.
We reserve the right to cold-call students in class. Be prepared, on task, and listen.
Behaving as a professional is expected in this course. Cell phones must be silent during lectures.
The laptop policy of the class will be determined by the way in which we see laptops being used in
class. Initially, you may use them to take notes, etc. If they are creating a distraction, they will be
banned.1 Students creating a distraction for others will be asked to leave the classroom.
You can expect that we will, at random, take attendance throughout the quarter. If you are late or
absent on an attendance day, you will lose those points. If you are unable to attend a particular
class, you should notify the instructor currently conducting lectures in advance via e-mail to
minimize the chance you will lose points due to this policy. Depending on the reason for the
absence, advance notice will not always result in an excused absence.
Lack of professionalism and lack of preparedness will be considered on a student-by-student basis.
Failure to attend class and interruptions of class by arriving late and/or leaving early, talking, or
other disruptive/unprofessional behavior will result in a reduction of the total possible points in
determining your final grade. All point reductions are at our sole discretion and are final.
In Class Quizzes:
We will occasionally have in-class, unscheduled quizzes. There will be 10 throughout the semester.
Some may be as simple as writing your name down. Some may require substantial calculations
based on material we have covered in class and will mirror the rigor of questions you can expect on
the test. The top 8 quizzes will count toward your final grade. There will no retakes of quizzes, and
if you are absent or late the class the day of a quiz, you will receive no credit for that quiz.
1
If you plan on succeeding in the business world, you will frequently attend meetings with a laptop; therefore, you must
learn to stay on task, despite having a laptop in front of you.
3
Taxes in the News:
Taxes are constantly in the news. Type “tax” into Google News, and you will get well over
100,000,000 hits. Politicians propose changes to taxes, reports come out suggesting how the current
tax system is affecting things, companies are accused of being too aggressive, celebrities are accused
of tax misgivings, etc. Students are encouraged to follow current events related to taxes.2 To this
end, students will have a write-up due related to current event related to taxes. It should be at least
two pages, and probably no more than three pages. Do anything you want with it. Possibilities:










Write an essay outlining how the event relates to something we have learned in class
If a taxpayer is being accused of misgivings, pretend you are the taxpayer, and
respond to the accusation
Pretend you are a politician, and outline your support/critique of a current tax
legislative proposal
Play the role of a taxpayer who would be harmed/helped by a current legislative
proposal, and explain your stance on the tax
Assume the position of a professor, and outline a research project that would answer
some interesting question related to taxes
Be a public relations consultant, and explain to a corporation their best response to a
negative tax-related article in the press (or the best response of the IRS to their
ongoing struggles to gain the public trust)
Summarize the technical aspects of a tax-related phenomena that was not technically
well explained in the popular press
Summarize how a left leaning tax advocacy group gets all their tax facts wrong in a
recent press release
Summarize how a right leaning tax advocacy group gets all their tax facts wrong in a
recent press release
Something else
Your goal should not be to try to figure out what we want to see done for this assignment and do it.
Rather, it should be to do something amazing, and make us want to see it. Technical correctness,
creativity and proper English and grammar will all be considered in assigning grades. This
assignment is due March 14th at midnight.
Tax Tweets:
In order to help keep up to date on tax related current events, students should follow 5 tax related
tweeters, and tweet five times about a tax related current event, story, or phenomena. The
deliverable for the assignment is the content of your tax tweets, pasted into a document, which will
be due April 15th at midnight (no filing for an extension will be possible—don’t bother with the
Form 4868), as well as a list of the 5 tax related tweeters you followed.3
2
A great source of tax-related news is the blog http://taxprof.typepad.com/
There are many tax related twitter accounts. For example: @abataxsection, @accountingtoday, @austan_goolsbee,
@brookingsecon, @catoinstitute, @grovernorquist, @heritage, @irstaxpros, @kimdixontax, @natptax, @socaltaxprof,
@taxanalysts, @taxanalysts, @taxmama, @echasan, @janetnovack, @jbarro, @lenburman, @taxgirl, @taxjustice. If
students do not care to tweet, a blog post or Facebook status would also be fine to fulfill the requirement of the class. If
students are not engage in any social media, students can compose letters about taxes to friends or family members.
3
4
Homework:
Most graded homework assignments will be administered online using CengageNow. These
assignments are technical in nature and are like textbook problems. The homework assignments
must be completed on your own without assistance of any individual. You may use your textbook
and class notes. The individual homework assignments are to be completed online using
CengageNow by midnight on the due dates listed on the assignment schedule (generally Saturdays).
Instructions for signing up for a CengageNow account are provided on the final page of this syllabus.
All online assignments completed with 60% accuracy will receive full credit; assignments completed
with less than 60% accuracy will receive no credit. You will get four attempts to complete each
homework assignment. If you are unable to submit your homework ON TIME and electronically, no
credit will be given for the assignment. No hard-copy submissions will be accepted and make-up
assignments will not be given under any circumstance. Realize that understanding only 60% of the
material will not bode well for your exam score.
Your lowest homework grade will be dropped. If you miss a homework deadline for any reason,
you will receive zero points for that assignment, and you may drop that grade, and no others. You
can obtain your results from your assignments after the deadline through your CengageNow account.
We reserve the right to assign homework for in-class discussion. These assignments will generally
not be collected. However, we reserve the right to collect assigned problems during the semester.
Failure to vigorously attempt the homework problems will not only affect your exam performance,
but it may also cause you to lose points from the participation portion of your final grade.
Determination of what constitutes an adequate attempt of assigned problems is left to our sole
discretion.
There is absolutely no reason everyone in the class should not get 100% of the points on homework.
Yet, in past semesters, not having completed all the homework versus having completed all the
homework has made a substantial difference in students’ grades. Just do the homework.
Exams:
Two exams will be given on the dates indicated on the assignment schedule, and will be
administered the evening of the date listed on the calendar (specific times and locations will be
provided in advance of the exam). The exams will test the application of knowledge acquired from
class lectures, reading assignments, homework assignments and class discussions. You may bring
your printed textbook and class notes to the test (no electronic devices allowed). However, the test
will be designed so that you will simply not have enough time to look up the answers to every
question. You will not have time to look up the answers to all the questions on the exam, and
students who try routinely perform poorly on the exam.
If you miss an exam for a university-excused absence (e.g., severe sickness, death in immediate
family) and provide sufficient documentation to support your situation, presumably beforehand, you
will receive an excused absence. Absences for any reason not listed above must be approved by
the instructor conducting lectures in advance, in writing, in order to be treated as an excused
absence. Vacations do not constitute a valid reason for missing an exam, and you must take the
final exam on the date/time noted on the syllabus. Those very few (if any) students receiving an
excused absence will be given a make-up exam. The make-up exam will be scheduled within one
week of the original exam date. Make-up exams are often different than the exams given during the
normally scheduled time and may be more difficult than the original exam. If you receive an
5
excused absence from the final examination, you will receive an incomplete grade until you
complete a make-up exam. Unexcused absences from exams will result in a grade of zero. The key
is to communicate. If you something comes up, let us know.
Course Grade:
THERE WILL BE NO UNSOLICITED EXTRA CREDIT WORK. We reserve the right to give
out extra credit for anything. If you ask for extra credit, you will not receive it.
Your final grade in this course will be determined by the total points you earn. The maximum points
you can earn from each are as follows:
Professionalism/Participation
Quizzes
Homework
Taxes in the News
Tax Tweets
Test 1
Test 2
Total
20 points
20 points
40 points
15 points
5 points
50 points
50 points
200 points
These points will be used to rank-order you relative to your peers. However, final grades will be
determined based upon a student’s relative performance to his or her peer group and without regard
to the percentage of total points earned. Following the first exam, students will be told their ranking
in the class, and an approximate grade they would be assigned if the course ended that day.
You will note that half of the grade is comprised of the two tests. As such, to reiterate, it will
simply not work to try to cram for the test.
Any student who is routinely absent from class or fails to complete the final exam for unexcused
reasons may receive a final grade of “E,” regardless of the student’s performance on other graded
material.
Grade Disputes:
It is your responsibility to ensure grades reflect your score on any particular assignment. Any
concerns or questions about grading on an exam must be resolved within one week after the graded
exam is returned in class. These disputes must be submitted IN WRITING to the instructor. This
time frame applies whether or not you were present in class to receive your graded exam. Individual
grading issues will be handled outside of normal class time. Regrading of an exam may result in a
positive or negative adjustment to the previous score.
Notification of Scores and Final Grades:
The results of any graded materials, including final grades, will not be given by the instructor to
individual students via phone, e-mail or prior to the initial returning of the assignment in class. Final
grades will be available online from the Registrar within one week following the end of the
semester.
Academic Misconduct:
Academic misconduct will not be tolerated. According to University Rule 3335-31-02, all suspected
cases of academic misconduct will be reported to the Committee on Academic Misconduct. This
6
includes receiving assistance on ANY graded assignment from any outside source or individual
other than your instructor.
Restricted and Permitted Course Materials:
Use of inappropriate study materials, including previously prepared solutions and copies of (or files
containing) homework and/or test questions used during previous terms compromises the concept of
equal opportunity for all students and therefore is prohibited. Be careful, as the tax law changes on a
year to year basis, and, thanks to our beloved Congress, what was a correct answer last year may
well not be correct this year. You may use materials that generally are available to all students
provided that they maintain the spirit of the learning objectives.
Materials distributed to students via Carmen or in class may be used only by students enrolled in
AMIS 3400 this semester. You may not distribute any of these materials to any others at any time,
or you will be subject to disciplinary action.
Office Hours:
Professor Hoopes will have his office hours at 2:30 PM to 3:30PM on Wednesday. Professor Lewis
will have her office hours 2:30 PM to 3:30PM on Wednesday. It is your responsibility to keep up
with the course material and to ask questions in a timely manner. Please keep in mind that our time
is not a substitute for completing the required readings. In consideration of other students’ needs,
you should limit your visits during office hours to 10 minutes. Office hours are not personal tutoring
sessions, but rather, opportunities for specific questions to be answered in a more private setting. Use
of office hours may count for or against a student’s Professionalism/Participation grade.
Tutor Hours:
There will be weekly help sessions conducted by the TA, where students can ask questions about
what is covered in class, get help on homework, and generally learn about taxes. The time for this
session will be determined after class starts, based on student availability.
Disability Services:
The Office of Disability Services verifies students with specific disabilities and develops strategies
to meet the needs of those students. Students requiring accommodations based on identified
disabilities should contact the instructor at the beginning of the quarter to discuss his or her
individual needs. All students with a specific disability are encouraged to contact the Office of
Disability Services to explore the potential accommodations available to them.
Disenrollment:
University Rule 3335-8-33 provides that a student may be disenrolled after the third instructional
day of the quarter, the first Friday of the quarter, or the student’s second class session of the course,
whichever occurs first, if the student fails to attend the scheduled course without giving prior
notification to the instructor.
Teaching Plan and Assignment Schedule:
The following schedule is subject to change; changes will be announced in class and posted on
Carmen, and will be made well in advance of the actual class being changed. Items listed in the
assignment column of this schedule are action items necessary to prepare for class on the
corresponding day.
7
Class # Day Date
1 Mon
12-Jan
2 Wed
Mon
3 Wed
4 Mon
5 Wed
6 Mon
7 Wed
8 Mon
9 Wed
14-Jan
19-Jan
21-Jan
26-Jan
28-Jan
2-Feb
4-Feb
9-Feb
11-Feb
Chapter/Topic
Reading
Assignment
Course Introduction / Introduction to Taxation
Chapter 1
Lecturer
Hoopes
Ch 1, Ch 2 Sec
2-1, & Ch 3
Hoopes
goo.gl/1Slhbo
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 4, 5
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Hoopes
Hoopes
Hoopes
Hoopes
Hoopes
Hoopes
Hoopes
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Hoopes
Hoopes
Hoopes
Hoopes
Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
goo.gl/Jrg9z3
goo.gl/Jrg9z3
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Lewis
Lewis
Lewis
Mon
Wed
Mon
Wed
Mon
16-Feb
18-Feb
23-Feb
25-Feb
2-Mar
Part of Ch2, Ch 3, Tax Formula and Tax Determination
Martin Luther King Day - No Class
Ch 3, Tax Formula and Tax Determination
Ch 3, Tax Formula and Tax Determination
Ch 4, Gross Income and Inclusions
Ch 4, Gross Income and Inclusions, Ch 5
Ch 5, Gross Income: Exclusions (continued)
Ch 5, Gross Income: Exclusions (continued)
Ch 6, Deductions and Losses: In General
Ch 7, Deductions and Losses: Certain Business Expenses and
Losses
Ch 8: Depreciation, Cost Recovery, Amortization and Depletion
Ch 8: Depreciation, Cost Recovery, Amortization and Depletion
Ch 8: Depreciation, Cost Recovery, Amortization and Depletion
Test 1 - No Class
15 Wed
16 Mon
17 Wed
Mon
Wed
18 Mon
19 Wed
20 Mon
21 Wed
22 Mon
23 Wed
24 Mon
25 Wed
26 Mon
27 Wed
28 Mon
4-Mar
9-Mar
11-Mar
16-Mar
18-Mar
23-Mar
25-Mar
30-Mar
1-Apr
6-Apr
8-Apr
13-Apr
15-Apr
20-Apr
22-Apr
27-Apr
Ch 9: Deductions: Employee and Self-Employed Related Expenses
Ch 9: Deductions: Employee and Self-Employed Related Expenses
Ch 10, Deductions and Losses: Certain Itemized Deductions
Spring Break - No Class
Spring Break - No Class
Ch 10, Deductions and Losses: Certain Itemized Deductions
Ch 11, Investor Losses
Ch 11, Investor Losses
Ch 13, Tax Credit and Payment Procedures
Ch 13, Tax Credit and Payment Procedures
Ch 14, Property Transactions: Determination of Gain or Loss
Ch 15, Property Transactions: Nontaxable Exchanges
Ch 15, Property Transactions: Nontaxable Exchanges
Ch 16, Property Transactions, Capital Gains and Losses
Ch 17, Property Transactions: Section 1231…
Test 2 - No Class
10
11
12
13
14
Homework #
Homework due
(at midnight)
None
Homework #1
1/24/14
Homework #2
2/2/14
Homework #3
2/7/14
Homework #4
None
Homework #4
2/21/14
Homework #5
2/28/14
None
Homework #6
3/14/14
None
Lewis
Lewis
Lewis
Lewis
Lewis
Lewis
Lewis
Lewis
Lewis
Lewis
Homework #7
3/28/14
Homework #8
4/4/14
Homework #9
4/11/14
Homework #10
4/18/14
None