Information for Professor Nellen's 08/09 Classes

Table of Contents

Administrative Matters

• Information about the SJSU MST Program

• SJSU MST Mission & Learning Objectives

• SJSU Academic Integrity Policy and Information - all students should read this 

• Directions to Off-Campus MST classrooms in San Jose (180 Rose Orchard Way)

• Buy your text online at Spartan Shops (or purchase it in person at the Spartan Bookstore on the main campus) Note: To find the book at the Spartan Shops website, go to Textbooks, and then select the appropriate MBA term (not fall, spring or summer). If you go to the bookstore in person, look for the off-campus MBA program to find the MST textbooks.  The textbooks are likely also available at Roberts Bookstore on 10th Street.  If you want an e-book, check the publisher's website, be sure you have the right title, edition, ISBN (not all texts are available this way though).

• Purchase a code and/or tax regulation book from RIA at a discount

• Information on becoming a CPA in CA or using MST courses as CE

How to Access RIA

• Access RIA Checkpoint from a computer at Rose Orchard or in the King Library - click here.

• Obtain an RIA Checkpoint user id at Rose Orchard or in the King Library - click here.

Tips for Academic Success

• Remember - graduate level study is supposed to be challenging!

• Time Management Tips (from Professor Nellen)

• Tips for Good Grades (provided by an SJSU student)

• Comply with SJSU's Academic Integrity Policy

Business 12D - MUSE course - Save the Earth! [Fall 2006]

• Click here

Business 223F, Tax Accounting Methods and Periods  [Spring 2008]

• Syllabus

• Research Questions  

• Reading Materials (this site contains the materials you will need to print to create your Course Reader)

• Web sources for primary authority

• Academic Integrity

Business 225K, Advanced Individual Taxes [Fall 2008]

• Syllabus

• Reading materials (additional materials will be handed out in class)

• Section 469 Practice Set - due 10/11/08

• Section 163 Practice Set - due 10/25/08

• AMT Practice Set - due 11/8/08

• NOL Practice Set - due 11/15/08

• Web sources for primary authority

• Academic Integrity

Business 223A, Tax Research & Decision-making (MST)  [Fall 2008] 

• Syllabus Fall 2008          

• Additional Reading Material   

• Academic Integrity

• Research Memo Reminders (ppt)

• Writing Skills for the Tax Professional (from Georgia State University)

• Easy grammar tips from Grammar Girl

• Tips for writing articles (should be helpful in writing newsletter articles for homework) (from the AICPA)

• RIA Checkpoint

  • Access RIA Checkpoint from a computer at Rose Orchard or in the King Library - click here.

  • RIA Quick Reference Guide  (you should print this and use it as a reference tool when you use RIA)

  • Terminology used in RIA Citator + words of advice from Professor Nellen on using citators

• CCH Access

  • Quick Start Guide

• BNA Tax Management Portfolions - Federal and Multistate (need to enter your library card number and pin)

• Tax and Accounting Sites Directory  (lots of great links provided by Professor Dennis Schmidt)

• Law Dictionary from FindLaw

• Tax Links:

Congressional bills	http://thomas.loc.gov
House Ways & Means	http://www.house.gov/ways_means/
Senate Finance Committee	http://www.senate.gov/~finance/
Joint Committee on Taxation	http://www.house.gov/jct/
Congressional Budget Office tax reports	http://www.cbo.gov/byclasscat.cfm?cat=33
Treasury Department	http://www.ustreas.gov/
Treasury Tax Policy Reports	http://www.treas.gov/taxpolicy/documents.html
Retrieve regulations	http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/article/0,,id=98137,00.html#26cfr
IRS	http://www.irs.gov/
IRS Glossary of Tax Terms	http://www.irs.gov/app/understandingTaxes/jsp/tools_glossary.jsp
IRS Electronic Reading Room (links to most IRS documents)	http://www.irs.gov/foia/article/0,,id=110353,00.html
Internal Revenue Bulletins	http://www.irs.gov/businesses/lists/0,,id=98230,00.html
Rev. Rul, Rev Proc. Notices, Ann from IRS in advance of IRB (pdf)	http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/
AODs from IRS website	http://www.irs.gov/foia/lists/0,,id=97630,00.html
Chief Counsel Notices	http://www.irs.gov/foia/lists/0,,id=97652,00.html
LMSB Industry Directives	http://www.irs.gov/businesses/corporations/article/0,,id=96915,00.html
IRS Letter Rulings	http://www.irs.gov/news/efoia/determine.html
IRS Information Letters	http://www.irs.gov/foia/lists/0,,id=97728,00.html
IRS Coordinated Issue Papers	http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=108655,00.html
IRS Legal Advice Issued by Field Attorneys	http://www.irs.gov/foia/article/0,,id=103755,00.html
IRS Audit Technique Guides (formerly MSSPs)	http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=108149,00.html
IRS Advance Notices of revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, etc.	Advance Notices
Excerpts from Internal Revenue Manual (IRM)	http://www.irs.gov/irm/index.html
Circular 230	http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/pcir230.pdf
Government documents including federal register, GAO reports, and federal budget	http://www.gpoaccess.gov/multidb.html
U.S. Tax Court (recent opinions + other info)	http://ustaxcourt.gov/
Franchise Tax Board	http://www.ftb.ca.gov/
Calif. State Board of Equalization	http://www.boe.ca.gov/
California legislative proposals and legislation	http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html
California Revenue & Taxation Code	http://leginfo.public.ca.gov/calaw.html
State Tax Agency Links	http://www.aicpa.org/yellow/yptsgus.htm
State Info Relevant to Accountants	http://www.aicpa.org/states/info/index.htm
Tax Analysts	http://www.tax.org/
AICPA's Statements on Standards for Tax Services and Interpretation (SSTS)	http://www.aicpa.org/download/tax/SSTSfinal.pdf

 

Business 223E, Business & Tax Aspects of High Tech Companies  [Summer 2005]

• Syllabus  -  Part 1     Part 2

• Reading materials for this class (beyond the hardcover textbook)

• Supplement to textbook - Intellectual Property Taxation - click here

• Web links (contains links that should be useful for your group project and for reference for the class)

• Information for Group Project Question - Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility and platform

• Information for Group Project Question:

  • Workbook on the Ten Principles of Good Tax Policy

  • Word template

• Web sources for primary authority

• Academic Integrity

Business 220G, Tax Factors of Business Decisions (MSA)  [Fall 2007] 

• Syllabus

• Academic Integrity

• Taxation Basics

• Principles of Good Tax Policy

• AICPA's Statements on Standards for Tax Services (SSTS) 

• Sports Income Rulings (for 10/2 you will be assigned just one of these sections to read and briefly summarize)

• Corporate AMT: 

  • Form 4626 (print and bring to class for 10/9/07)

  • Instructions (skim)

• Form 1120 Schedule M-3 (print and bring to class for 10/9/07)

• Worker classification (for 10/19)

• Corporate tax rules chart (for homework due 10/19)

• To access RIA Checkpoint - click here

• Writing Tips 

• Easy grammar tips from Grammar Girl

• Sample research memo on educational expenses

• 10 concepts to help you understand the federal income tax system (optional)

• Web sources for primary authority

• Tips for Academic Success

Business 297D, Taxation of E-Commerce (MST)  [Fall 2000]

• Information on Taxation of E-Commerce course for Fall 2000

• Syllabus    (you'll probably want to print this one)

  • Post a summary of your views on the OECD PE proposal and the EU VAT proposal (from Exercises #6 and #7) to the "Student's Room" at Professor Gramaccia's web site (in Italy) and check back for responses.

• On-Line Reading List for Each Week of Class  (bookmark this - you'll need it a lot!)

• Web sources for primary authority

• Links to government information from the States, including to the tax agencies

  • Cornell Law School site

  • ABA Tax Section site

• Links to lots of e-commerce taxation information that may be of use in your class projects

  • Professor Nellen's E-Commerce Tax Information Web Site

  • Company web site (which is probably www.companyname.com) - here you should be able to find helpful info about products or services, press releases, and the annual report and other useful information (look for the Investor Relations link at the company's web site)

  • SEC - search the Edgar database using your company's name; S-1 and 10-K reports will be rich with helpful information

  • Free Edgar

  • Red Herring magazine

  • E-Commerce Times

  • Internetnews.com

  • The Standard

  • Business 2.0

Reports Professor Nellen Sometimes Make Reference to in Class

• CRS Report on brief overview to history of federal taxation

• GAO Report on Alternative Filing Systems (10/96)

• GAO Report on Tax Treatment of Single and Married Individuals (9/96)

• GAO Report on IRS' Return Selection Process (2/99)

• GAO Report on Estimated Sales and Use Tax Loss from E-Commerce (6/00)

• CBO Report on the Marriage Penalty (6/97)

• AICPA, Tax Policy Concept Statement: Guiding Principles of Good Tax Policy: A Framework for Evaluating Tax
  Proposals, March 2001

How to obtain an RIA Checkpoint user id and passcode usable for the duration of your class + How to Access BNA Portfolios

    Click on the following URL and enter the requested information.  You must do this from an SJSU computer - either at Rose Orchard or in the King Library. Once you've provided the requested information, the user id and passcode will be e-mailed to you.  Thereafter, you can access RIA Checkpoint from any computer with Internet access (the URL for that is http://www.checkpoint.riag.com).  Here is the URL you need to get started to set up your account:

    http://www.riahome.com/cploginids

OR - if you'll be using a computer at SJSU, such as in the King Library or computer lab, you can access RIA by clicking here.

BNA Tax Management Portfolions - Federal and Multistate (need to enter your library card number and pin)

If you want to buy Code or Regulation Books

How to obtain an RIA Internal Revenue Code book and or a set of federal income tax regulations, contact RIA sales rep Don Fisher and let him know you are an MST student at SJSU and inquire as to the student price and ordering procedure.

Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism

University Policy: Your own commitment to learning, as evidenced by your enrollment at San José State University, and the University’s Academic Integrity Policy requires you to be honest in all your academic course work.  Here are some key points from that policy, but you are highly encouraged to read the entire policy as well.  The SJSU Academic Integrity Policy can be found at  http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/S07-2.htm.

• Faculty are required to report all infractions to the Office of Student Conduct & Ethical Development - there are no exceptions. This means that if your paper includes text that is not your own, it is not in quotes and/or there is no reference, you have committed an act of plagiarism and your professor will be required to report that infraction of the university's academic integrity policy to the Office of Judicial Affairs.
• The policy defines plagiarism as follows:  "At SJSU plagiarism is the act of representing the work of another as one's own without giving appropriate credit, regardless of how that work was obtained, and/or submitting it to fulfill academic requirements. Plagiarism at SJSU includes but is not limited to:
  • The act of incorporating the ideas, words, sentences, paragraphs, or parts of, and/or the specific substance of another's work, without giving appropriate credit, and/or representing the product as one's own work;
  • Representing another’s artistic/scholarly works such as musical compositions, computer programs, photographs, paintings, drawing, sculptures, or similar works as one's own."
• The policy also defines cheating. It includes "Copying, in part or in whole, from another’s test or other evaluation instrument including homework assignments, worksheets, lab reports, essays, summaries, quizzes, etc."  An example would be using a classmate's paper (from your current course or a prior course) to obtain  your answer rather than doing the work yourself. Another example would be working with a classmate to complete an assignment on which you were to present your individual effort.  Cheating would also be using a student paper from a prior semester to get answers to a current assignment that was similar or identical.

Additional Information from Professor Nellen

• Read this paper prepared by Professor Nellen to help with your MST work.

Instructions for Accessing the Plagiarism Tutorial Provided by the SJSU Library: 

1. Go to the tutorial pages at http://tutorials.sjlibrary.org/

2. Select the plagiarism tutorial 

3. Click on First Time Students option and enter the requested information

4. Begin the tutorial.

When in doubt - ask your professor.

Updated November 20, 2008

To reach Professor Annette Nellen

Return to Professor Nellen's Web Page