ACC41070 Ethics and Client Communication Case Study Workshops

Academic Year 2022/2023

This module seeks to provide students with the ability to examine real-life scenarios, to research any potential tax liabilities and reliefs that might arise and to communicate the results of this research in a logical manner to a non-tax technical audience (eg a client).

Students will also learn to identify and resolve ethical dilemmas which can arise when giving tax advice and to understand the difference between tax planning, tax avoidance and tax evasion.

Students will also learn about the basic procedures of Revenue audits and other compliance interventions, the role of the tax advisor in such interventions, the making of disclosures and the consequences of non-disclosure, including publication in the list of tax defaulters, the imposition of penalties and prosecution.

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Curricular information is subject to change

What will I learn?

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

• Identify potential ethical issues that arise when giving tax advice;
• Outline the types of Revenue compliance intervention and the tax advisor’s role in dealing with them;
• Use tax legislation and other research tools to identify any liability to tax that arises before or during a tax audit in a real-life scenario;
• Identify whether it is necessary or advisable to make a disclosure to Revenue and the consequences of non-disclosure, including publication in the list of tax defaulters, the imposition of penalties and prosecution;
• In a non-Revenue audit context, modify a proposal in order to make it more tax efficient, identify any further information that needs to be gathered in order to be able to give cogent tax advice, and draw up a step-plan to implement the advice given;
• Communicate the results of the research in a non-technical manner;
• Answer non-technical questions regarding the issues raised.

Indicative Module Content:

Case Study 1: Introduction; ethics, tax planning, tax avoidance and tax evasion (using pre-reading material).

Case Study 2: Non-technical communication; client letters: purpose and content, case study examples (using using pre-reading and material covered ACC41090 Research and Technical Communication Case Study Workshops).

Case Study 3: Revenue audit and compliance interventions; disclosures; non-disclosure and consequences; penalties, publication and prosecution (based on pre-reading material).

Case Study 4: Corporation tax case study based on pre-reading and material covered in weeks 1 to 4 of ACC41080 Corporate and Personal Taxation.

Case Study 5: Case study project assessment: approaching the assessment; Corporation tax case study based on pre-reading and material covered in weeks 1 to 5 of ACC41080 Capital and Indirect Taxation.

Case Study 6: Corporation tax case study based on pre-reading and material covered in weeks 1 to 6 of ACC41080 Corporate and Personal Taxation