TABL3028 International Tax: Design and Structure - 2020

• achieve a composite mark of at least 50 out of 100;
• achieve a grade of not less than 40% for your exam; and
• make a satisfactory attempt at all assessment tasks.

An example of a research plan and reading list is available on Moodle.  The purpose of this assessment task is to ensure you remain on topic in the research paper and that you canvas the issues raised by the topic.

All assessment tasks must be submitted electronically via Moodle on or before the due date for submission.

The final exam is a take home exam and you may utilise all electronic resources available to you to complete the exam.  Note that the exam and assignments must be your own work.

It is to be hoped that some of the better research papers will be publishable without too much more work. It may well be that another outcome will be the stimulation of further work in the area by the specialist cells of the Tax Office and the professional bodies, using your work as the basis for such developments. If you have any queries on the above, you should the LIC. 

Evaluation Criteria for Research Paper

An important note on word limits. Assignments are exercises in filtering material and communicating it succinctly. Quantity is not to be confused with quality. Your lecturer will uniformly apply this principle in their assessment of assignments. Most word processing packages can indicate word lengths, or otherwise some manual check must be done in the drafting process. Indicate the actual number of words of your assignment in the space indicated on your assignment cover sheet.

The following criteria will be used to grade your assignments:

• knowledge of the subject area and an ability to locate your chosen area of research within an appropriate context — in certain circumstances international comparisons may be appropriate.
• independent research
• clarity and strength of analysis — this will include evidence of your understanding of the issues involved in the topic, and your ability to use that understanding in an applied manner
• analysis which is supported by authority
• ability to cut through the undergrowth and penetrate to key issues
• effective organisation and communication of material (including economy of presentation — i.e. a minimum of waffle) clarity and strength of analysis — this will include evidence of your understanding of the issues involved in the topic, and your ability to use that understanding in an applied manner
• clarity of communication — this includes sentences in clear and, where possible, plain English; it also includes correct grammar, spelling and punctuation
• critical approach to material presented and evidence of original and independent thought
• quality of judgment and balance in filtering the complex material you are dealing with
• quality of research and bibliography.
• correct referencing and bibliographic style in accordance with the prescribed citation and style guide.

You are required to read beyond the course materials and references to do the assignment. Research papers must not be merely descriptive. They must present a point of view.

Take Home Exams

The final assessment for this course will be a take-home exam which will be made available on Moodle during the University exam period.. The final examination timetable is published prior to the examination period via the Atax Bulletin and on the School’s website.

You should check this timetable to find the dates of your take-home exams. This is not a negotiable schedule.

Exams will be released at 9am at regular intervals throughout the exam period. Submissions are due at 7am on the third day after the release date. For example an exam released at 9am on Friday 14 August 2020 will be due at 7am on Monday 17 August 2020.

ALL TIMES ARE BASED ON SYDNEY TIME.

Submissions will be made online through a Turnitin submission link on Moodle. Students will be permitted to use a range of resources and materials to prepare responses. Students will be required to state that they have not consulted any other person in relation to the content of the exam or responses to questions during the date of the exam’s release on Moodle and the closing time for submissions of responses via Turnitin.

Students will only have one opportunity to submit (i.e. no resubmission of drafts) and no late submissions will be accepted.

For information on studying and preparing for a take home exam.

The following guidelines are offered as a general indication of what is expected in terms of the presentation of both assignments and research papers in flexible distance (Atax) courses.

Each assessment task may also have particular requirements not covered here. Where information here is in conflict with information provided by the course lecturer, you should follow the advice of your lecturer.

Assignment cover sheets

You must ensure that you include a cover page with each of your assignments that has the following information:

You should also include your name, ID and course code in the footer of your assignment document along with page numbers. A sample cover sheet can be found on Moodle in the Assessments section.

Abstract

An abstract is used to summarise the subject of a research paper. Abstracts are only required for research papers and should contain 100 to 200 words. Do not write an abstract for a problem-type assignment.

Margins

You should allow the following standard margins in your assignments to allow space for the lecturer's comments: Left and right margins — 3.5 cm; Top and bottom margins — 2.5 cm.

Headings/Table of contents

Headings should be typed in bold. Only capitalise the first letter of the heading. Do not capitalise the entire heading. If you have written a long essay with many parts, a table of contents should be used. Otherwise, do not include one.

Style of presentation

Your assignment should be typed using an 11 or 12 point font. Single line spacing should normally be used, unless your lecturer tells you otherwise. Leave a line after each paragraph. Do not indent the first line of the paragraph. You should number each page of the assignment.

Footnotes and citation system

You should use footnotes as your referencing tool. Use end notes only if your computer cannot produce footnotes. Use the rules set out in a recognised citation and style guide such as the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. Footnotes are not normally included in the word limit, unless you include substantial commentary or discussion in the footnotes.

Bibliography

Details of works cited in the text are provided in a bibliography which is placed at the end of the document on a new page under the heading 'Bibliography'.  The bibliography is not included in the word limit.

All publications (books, articles, theses etc.) are included in the bibliography. Legal cases and legislation are not included in the bibliography. If a list of cases is considered necessary due to the large number used, it should be in alphabetical order under a separate heading 'Legal cases'. A similar separate list, headed 'Legislation', is used if needed for legislation.

Your bibliography must be presented in the following format:

1. Items in the bibliography are listed alphabetically by author or source.
2. The citation style of the item should be in accordance with a recognised and appropriate citation and style guide, except that specific page references are not included.

Assignment submissions and deadlines

This course uses UNSW Moodle for the electronic delivery and submission of assignments.
Please check your submission link – you may only be entitled to submit an assignment once in which case additional and subsequent submissions will not be accepted.

Step-by-step guides have been produced to assist students through the assignment submission process.

Due date and time

Each assignment should be submitted via Moodle by midnight AEST (or AEDT, Australian Eastern Daylight Time, where applicable) on the specified due date unless otherwise stipulated. You are advised to submit your assignment early if possible, and to allow at least 15 minutes for the Moodle submission process. Most assignments will be parsed through Turnitin which will check the originality of your work. If you are given the opportunity to resubmit your assignment up until the due date you should be aware that even though you can submit more than once each day, Turnitin will only produce one originality report every 24 hours so there may be a delay on receiving your updated originality report after the first submission.

The version of your assignment that is submitted at the due date will be the version that is accepted for marking. For information on submitting assignments via Turnitin and interpreting similarity reports, please visit: https://student.unsw.edu.au/turnitin.

Name and save your assignment documents

For identification purposes, you are required to name all of your assignment files that you are submitting using the following naming convention:

Surname_GivenName_Course Code format.
For example: 'Lawson_Henry_TABL1001As1.doc'

You must also retain both an electronic and hard copy of every assignment. No mark can be given or concession awarded should an assignment be lost and no evidence of completion is able to be provided by the student.

Problems with Moodle assignment submission

If you encounter technical difficulties while attempting to access Moodle, and are unable to submit your assignment, please contact the IT Service Desk by email to ITServiceCentre@unsw.edu.au or by telephone on +61 (2) 9385 1333. Your lecturer will not be able to assist with assignment submission issues, and cannot accept assignments emailed direct to him/her.

Assignment return

Assignments may be marked electronically or on paper. Feedback for electronically-marked assignments will be made available electronically, usually through Moodle. Feedback for assignments marked by paper will be returned in hard copy format to the mailing address you have recorded on myUNSW.  It is therefore important that you keep your address details up-to-date on myUNSW. Lecturers will make every effort to return assignments (which are submitted on time) within two weeks with appropriate comments and feedback.

​Late Submission and Penalties

An assignment is not considered to be late if it has been submitted via Moodle on or before the due time and date. Posted, faxed or e-mailed assignments will NOT be marked and should not be sent.

If you submit an assignment after the due date, please be aware that the following penalties will be applied.

• Where assignments are up to one week (i.e. 1–5 working days) late: 10% of the maximum marks available for the assessment item will be deducted.
• Where assignments are more than one week late and up to two weeks (i.e. 6–10 working days) late: 20% of the maximum marks available for the assessment item will be deducted.
• Where assignments are more than two weeks (i.e. 11 or more working days) late: the assignment can be perused, but no marks will be awarded. Assignments will be recorded only as having been submitted.

Please note that the penalties are applied to the maximum marks available for the assignment, not the actual mark awarded. For example, a student is due to submit an assignment by 17 June 2019.  The assignment is in fact submitted on 1 July 2019 (10 working days late).

The penalty for lateness will be 20% of the maximum marks for the assessment. If the student's mark before the imposition of the penalty was a credit mark of 65%, after taking the penalty into account this mark will fall to 45%—a failure.

If illness or other verified circumstances beyond your control have a significant effect on your ability to submit an assignment by the due date, the normal penalty may be remitted. Doctor's reasons must be sufficiently detailed and specifically address the effect of the medical condition on your ability to complete assignments. Requests for penalty remission can only be made by submitting a special consideration application through Online Services in myUNSW.

General points

Requests for penalty remissions are managed by the School's Administration's Team. Lecturers are not permitted to grant penalty remissions and you should not approach lecturers for this purpose.

• You should not anticipate that a Penalty Remission will be granted, and should endeavour to submit all assignments as soon as possible.
• If you require academic assistance contact your lecturer or the School's Administration Team (tbl@unsw.edu.au) during the period that you are preparing assignments.
• You have only 10 weeks in the Semester, during which time all assignments must be completed. You also need to prepare for the final examination in all courses. Therefore, your time management is very important.

The following is very important:

If your assignment is up to one week (i.e. 1–5 working days) late, your penalty remission request must clearly show that you are seeking a one week penalty remission and you must clearly state your reasons and provide all relevant documentation. If your reasons are judged insufficient you will receive no remission of penalty.

If your assignment is more than one week late but less than two weeks (i.e. 6–10 working days) late, your penalty remission request should indicate whether you are seeking a 10% or a 20% remission. You must clearly show why the penalty remission you are seeking is valid and provide all relevant documentation. If you have requested remission of a 20% penalty and your reasons are judged insufficient, you may receive either a 10% remission or no remission depending on the judged validity of your request. If you requested 10% and your reasons are judged insufficient you will receive no remission of penalty.