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Unit of study_

LAWS6840: Tax of Business and Investment Income A

2025 unit information

This unit, along with LAWS6841 Taxation of Business and Investment Income B, is designed to provide an advanced study of the tax treatment of various important business transactions. It provides a detailed examination of the income tax and capital gains treatment of selected complex commercial transactions and their impact on the tax base. The goal of the unit is to develop an understanding of the policies, detailed rules and current practical problems involved in this area of taxation, through the analysis of a number of specific problems discussed in each seminar. Because of continual change to the taxation system, recent legislative amendments and judicial decisions will be examined in detail where applicable. The unit will cover the following topics: core income and expense rules and operational concepts underlying the income tax system; treatment of realised business income and the differentiation of capital gains; treatment of business expenses and the differentiation of expenses recoverable under depreciation, CGT or not at all; issues in the treatment of trading stock; issues in the tax treatment of the costs (and revenues) associated with business equipment and intangibles. This unit can be taken alone or in conjunction with LAWS6841 Taxation of Business and Investment Income B. Refer to the Sydney Law School timetable - https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/4533/pages/postgraduate-lecture-timetable

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Sydney Law School

Study level Postgraduate
Academic unit Law
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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None
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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None
Assumed knowledge:
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It is assumed that students undertaking this unit have an understanding of Australian income taxation law commensurate with that which would be obtained from completing undergraduate study in Australian taxation law or five years working with Australian tax law in a law or accounting practice in an industry role or in the Australian Taxation Office. Students who do not have such knowledge or work experience should undertake LAWS6825 Fundamentals of Australian Taxation before enrolling in other units. For students who have not studied Australian law it is recommended that they undertake LAWS6252 Legal Reasoning and the Common Law System before enrolling in LAWS6825 and this unit

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. Critically analyse the detailed rules and underlying policies applied to the taxation of business and investment income.
  • LO2. Diagnose tax issues in a variety of current complex commercial and private relationships.
  • LO3. Resolve complex factual situations involving a variety of commercial and private relationships by applying statutory and general tax law rules.
  • LO4. Communicate effectively the analysis of the tax consequences arising from a variety of commercial and private relationships.
  • LO5. Clearly and accurately communicate analysis of the tax consequences arising from a variety of commerical and private relationships

Unit availability

This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.

The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.

Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 1a 2024
Block mode Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 1a 2025
Block mode Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Outline unavailable
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 1 2020
Normal day Castlereagh St, Sydney
Intensive February - March 2020
Normal day Castlereagh St, Sydney
Semester 1a 2020
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 1 2021
Normal day Remote
Semester 1a 2021
Normal day Remote
Intensive February - March 2022
Block mode Remote
Semester 1a 2022
Block mode Remote
Session 1 Early Census 2023
Block mode Castlereagh St, Sydney
Semester 1a 2023
Block mode Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Find your current year census dates

Modes of attendance (MoA)

This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.