Maui Community College
Course Outline
1. Alpha and Number
ACC 137
Course Title
Business Income Taxation
Credits
3
Date Of Outline
February 27, 2004 (J. Moore)
2. Course Description
Studies federal and Hawai’i state income taxes
with a brief review of personal income tax
followed by in-depth study of self-employment,
partnership, and corporate tax returns as well as
withholding and estimated taxes.
3. Contact Hours/Type
3 hours/lecture
4. Prerequisites
ACC 134, or consent
Corequisites
Recommended Preparation
Approved by
Date
2
5. General Course Objective
To develop working skills with the goals and methods relating to business federal and state
income tax preparation including basic terminology, filing requirements, computations of
income, computation of tax liabilities and preparation of required tax forms.
For detailed information on how ACC 137 focuses on the Maui Community College general
education standards, see the attached curricular grids.
ACC 137 fulfills three credits as a Business elective the Accounting requirements for the
A.A.S. Accounting degree at Maui Community College, and the three credit requirement in
Applied Studies for the Liberal Arts A.A. degree.
6. Student Learning Outcomes
For assessment purposes, these are linked to #7, Recommended Course Content
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
a. calculate the amount of tax owed or refunded using the tax formula;
b. calculate tax liability using both the tax table and tax rate schedule;
c. apply standard deduction, including the additional amounts for the old age and blind, and
calculate the standard deduction for a dependent;
d. determine personal and dependent exemptions;
e. apply the definitions of the various filing statuses to determine the appropriate filing status
for a taxpayer;
f. identify the various taxable and business entities, and discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of each;
g. recognize income and expenses, prepaid income and prepaid expenses under different
accounting methods and between financial and tax accounting;
h. identify deductible business expenses;
i. recognize hobby income and losses;
j. calculate home office expenses;
k. calculate depreciation under various cost recovery systems and conventions;
l. calculate Section 179 Election to Expense, and limitation on depreciation for automobiles;
m. calculate amortization and depletion;
n. define capital assets, Section 1231 and 1245 properties;
o. calculate capital gains and losses, using the appropriate tax rate and netting process;
p. calculate Section 1231 recapture;
q. recognize gains from installment sales and long-term construction contracts;
r. calculate net operating losses;
s. calculate and report business tax credits;
t. calculate and report estimated income taxes;
u. explain employer reporting requirements;
v. report partnership income and separately stated items;
w. calculate partner’s basis;
x. explain S-corporations and allocation of tax items to shareholders;
y. calculate corporate tax rates;
z. discuss dividends received deductions, net operating losses, and corporate distributions;
aa. complete individual and corporate tax return and supporting forms and schedules.
3
7. Recommended Course Content and Approximate Time Spent on Each Topic
Linked to #6 Student Learning Outcomes
1-2 Weeks
Overview of tax structure (a, b, c, d, e, aa)
2-4 Weeks
Self-employment taxation (f, g, h, I, j, aa)
2-4 Weeks
Depreciation, cost recovery system, and depletion (k, l, m, aa)
2-4 Weeks
Capital gains and losses on sales of business property (n, o, p, q, aa)
1-2 Weeks
Installment sales, long term contracts (q, r, s, aa)
1-2 Weeks
Estimated taxes and employment taxes (t, u, aa)
1-2 Weeks
Partnership taxation (v, w, x, aa)
1-3 Weeks
Corporate income tax (y, z, aa)
0-3 Weeks
Other Special Topics
8. Text And Materials, Reference Materials, Auxiliary Materials, and Content
Appropriate text(s) and materials will be chosen at the time the course is to be offered from
those currently available in the field.
Text:
Sieg, H. & Johnson, L. 2004. Federal Income Taxation. CCH Incorporated, Chicago, IL.
Smith, J. et. al. 2005. An Introduction to Business Entities. Thomson South-Western
Pope, T. et. Al. 2004. Federal Taxation Individual. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Materials:
Text(s) may be supplemented with:
Articles and/or handouts prepared by the instructor
Magazine or newspaper articles
Forms and publications from the IRS and Hawai’i State Tax Office
IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax
IRS Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Businesses
Other:
Appropriate films, videos or internet sites
Guest speakers
9. Recommended Course Requirements and Evaluation
Specific course requirements are at the discretion of the instructor at the time the course is
being offered. Suggested requirements might include, but are not limited to:
40 – 80%
Examinations
0 – 30%
Quizzes and/or In-class exercises
0 – 30%
Homework assignments
0 – 40%
Projects or research
0 – 20%
Attendance and/or class participation
4
10. Methods of Instruction
Instructional methods vary considerable with instructors and specific instructional methods
will be at the discretion of the instructor teaching the course. Suggested techniques might
include, but are not limited to:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
lecture and class discussions;
problem solving and class exercises;
quizzes and other tests with feedback and discussions;
PowerPoint presentations;
guest speakers ;
videos, dvds, cd-roms ;
student presentations;
group activities;
homework assignments, such as:
- reading, or watching, and writing summaries and reactions to financial issues in the
media including newspapers, videos, magazines, journals, internet
- reading text and completing problems and activities form text
j. web-based assignments and activities;
k. reflective journals;
l. group and/or individual research projects with reports or poster presentations;
m. study logs and study groups;
n. service learning, community service, and/or civic engagement projects; and other
contemporary learning techniques (such as problem based learning).