Outline

Overview

Australian International Taxation is a detailed study of the fundamental principles of Australia's international taxation regime as it applies to cross-border business and investment transactions. The unit focuses on corporate residence, source, non-resident withholding tax, relief from international double taxation, CFCs, transferor trusts and transfer pricing. This advanced unit will examine both the issues of international tax rule design and policy, and the relevant provisions in the legislation, cases and rulings. The unit focuses on the international tax rules in Australia's domestic law. Although the role of double tax treaties is introduced, double tax treaties are covered in the companion unit Tax Treaties. Students should gain an understanding of the policies underlying Australia's rules for taxing international transactions, as well as a detailed knowledge of the foundation principles of law applicable to the taxation of inbound and outbound transactions.

Unit details and rules

Unit code	LAWS6209
Academic unit	Law
Credit points	6
Prohibitions ?	None
Prerequisites ?	None
Corequisites ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	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 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. For students who do not have such knowledge or work experience they first should undertake LAWS6825 Introduction to Australian Business Tax before enrolling in this unit. The completion of other foundation units such as LAWS6840 Taxation of Business and Investment Income A and LAWS6841 Taxation of Business and Investment Income B will provide students; without such knowledge or work
Available to study abroad and exchange students	No

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Michael Dirkis, michael.dirkis@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Short release assignment Online task	0%	Week 05 Due date: 31 Mar 2021 at 11:10 Closing date: 31 Mar 2021	1200 words / 70 mins
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Capstone essay (optional, with permission) Capstone essay (optional, with permission)	0%	Week 13 Due date: 04 Jun 2021 at 16:30 Closing date: 11 Jun 2021	7000-10000 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Final assignment (unless capstone approved) Final assignment (unless capstone approved)	0%	Week 13 Due date: 04 Jun 2021 at 16:30 Closing date: 04 Jun 2021	3000 words / 150 mins
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

The short-release assignment will be released via Canvas on 31 March 2021 at 10:00am AEDT and due on 31 March 2021 at 11.10am AEDT. It will be an open book assignment in the form of a problem style question. You will have one hour and 10 minutes to prepare your response to the question. There is a strict word limit of 1200 words for this assignment. Any words in excess of 1200 will not be read or marked. Students must submit the assignment by the due date and time. It is up to you to ensure that you finish writing allowing sufficient time to upload your paper. If you encounter technical difficulties during submission, please email law.taxprogram@sydney.edu.au for assistance. If you are unable to submit the assessment on time, please submit a special consideration application https://www.sydney.edu.au/students/special-consideration.html. If your application is successful, an alternate assessment may be granted.

The final assignment will be released via Canvas on 4 June 2021 at 2:00pm AEST and due on 4 June 2021 at 4:30pm AEST. It will be open book assignment in the form of a number of problem style questions. You will have two hours and 30 minutes to prepare your responses to the questions. There is a strict word limit of 3000 words for this assignment. Any words in excess of 3000 will not be read or marked. All materials and topics from the unit are examinable. Students must submit the assignment by the due date and time. It is up to you to ensure that you finish writing allowing sufficient time to upload your paper prior to the end of the buffer period. If you encounter technical difficulties during submission, please email law.taxprogram@sydney.edu.au for assistance. If you are unable to submit the assessment on time, please submit a special consideration application https://www.sydney.edu.au/students/special-consideration.html. If your application is successful, an alternate assessment may be granted.

Optional Capstone Essay (70%)

LLM students who are undertaking this unit towards the end of their degree, and need a capstone experience to complete their degree, may must apply to the unit coordinator to undertake the assessment option of a Capstone Essay.

The Capstone Essay will replace the final assignment and be worth 70% of you marks for the unit. Your essay should comply with Academic Integrity requirements, and be submitted in compliance with Assignment Submission requirements, noted elsewhere in this Unit of Study Outline.

The Capstone Essay must be between 7,000 and 10,000 words (refer to the word count rules under ‘Penalties’ below) and is due at 5:00pm AEST on 4 June 2021.

Students wishing to take up this option are required to complete the form available at https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/4533/pages/postgraduate-coursework-llm-capstone, and when they apply online, to upload the relevant Unit Coordinator’s approval email.

Your essay topic should respond to the material covered in the present unit. However, at the same time, in order to serve as a capstone for your LLM, it should build upon the learning that has taken place during your LLM studies more generally.

Key dates for Capstone Essay:

Topic Proposal: 100-200 words; due 5 March 2021 (via email to Professor Michael Dirkis). Professor Dirkis will provide you with feedback on your proposal by email.
Outline/progress check-in: 500 words; due 7 May 2021 (via email to Professor Michael Dirkis). Professor Dirkis may provide you with additional feedback, comments and/or guidance at this stage by email.
Final paper: due on 4 June 2021, at 5:00pm AEST (via Canvas)

Due to the scaffolded nature of this written assessment, anonymous marking may not be practical.

The School resolutions in relation to the LLM capstone requirement are available from the School Handbook.

IMPORTANT NOTE: A student must make a satisfactory attempt at all assessment tasks set out for this Unit of Study in order to obtain a Pass mark and grade (or above); otherwise an Absent Fail grade will be recorded as the student’s result for this Unit of Study.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

These guidelines are designed to provide students with an understanding of the standards applied when grading assessments. Students should note that the type of assessment will affect the relevance of each factor. For example, the amount and type of research required will vary between a research essay, which will require independent research beyond the prescribed materials, and a problem question which may only require appropriate analysis of the prescribed materials. Conversely application of law to the facts is crucial in problem questions, where often less so in research essays.
These standards may be applied in conjunction with specific marking criteria.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	Work receiving a high distinction grade will generally exhibit the following characteristics: • Completely answers the question. • Contains striking originality of approach or analysis. • Demonstrates exhaustive or innovative research (where independent research required). • Exceptionally well written, structured and expressed. • Is otherwise exceptional in some way.
Distinction	75 - 84	Work receiving a distinction grade will generally exhibit the following characteristics: • Completely answers the question. • Achieves a critical and evaluative approach to the issues. • Content and structure is well organised in support of the argument. • Demonstrates extensive research and analysis to support a well-documented argument. • Generally well expressed and free from errors. • Has a clear structure and is well articulated.
Credit	65 - 74	Work receiving a credit grade will generally exhibit the following characteristics: • Covers main issues fairly well in answering the question. • Contains no significant errors • Demonstrates an attempted critical approach to the issues. • Demonstrates reasonably sound research and analysis in addressing the key issues. • Has a clear structure and reasonably clear expression.
Pass	50 - 64	Work receiving a pass grade will generally exhibit the following characteristics: • Identifies the key issues but does not follow through with a reasoned argument. • Contains some significant errors. • Displays satisfactory engagement with the key issues. • Offers descriptive summary of material relevant to the question. • Superficial use of material and may display a tendency to paraphrase. • Demonstrates little evidence of in-depth research or analysis. • Adequate expression. • Overall, demonstrates the minimum level of competence in the assessment and satisfies the requirements to proceed to higher-level studies in the degree or subject area.
Fail	0 - 49	Work may fail for any or all of the following reasons: • Does not answer the question. • Contains significant or numerous errors. • Few or no identifiable arguments. • Content that is inappropriate or irrelevant. • Lack of research or analysis. • Difficult or impossible to understand through poor grammar, expression or structure. • Overall, does not demonstrate the minimum level of competence in the assessment.

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

For short-release assignment and final assignment: Late submissions will not be accepted due to the set up of assignment dropbox in Canvas. For capstone essay: The late submission, which has not been granted an extension, will attract a penalty of 10% of the total marks available for the piece of assessment per calendar day or part thereof.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week -01	(c) Source (d) BEPS and OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS	Lecture (2 hr)
Week -02	Topic 1. Jurisdiction to tax – residence and source (a) Overview of jurisdiction & introduction to tax treaties (b) Residence	Lecture (3 hr)
Week 01	Topic 2. Taxation of foreign source income of residents (a) Taxation of controlled foreign companies	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	(b) Foreign branch income exemption	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 03	(c) Taxation of foreign trusts	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 04	(d) Foreign capital gains and dividends exemption (e) Foreign income tax offset	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 06	Topic 3. Transfer pricing	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 07	Transfer pricing (cont)	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 08	Topic 4. Australian taxation of non-residents (a) Capital gains tax	Lecture (3 hr)
Week 09	(b) Conduit foreign income	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 10	(c) Dividend, interest and royalty withholding tax	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 11	(d) Taxation of managed investment vehicles	Lecture (2 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: All students are required to attend 70% of classes (or as otherwise specified by the Unit Coordinator) to satisfy the pass requirements for each unit of study. Attendance requirements may be satisfied by online attendance as specified by the Unit Coordinator. Failure to meet this requirement may result in a student being precluded from sitting the final assessment.

Word count penalty (short release assignment and final assignment): No words beyond the word limit will be read or marked. The total word count will include all body text including headings and quotations. Footnotes and endnotes should not be used for these assignments.

Word count penalty (capstone essay): No words beyond the word limit will be read or marked. The total word count for essay and other written assessments will include: bibliography; footnote numbers; footnote citation; cover page, body text; headings and sub-headings; quotations.

Referencing: The Sydney Law School expects you to use the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th edition, 2018) for your footnoting style, although you should confirm this with your lecturer, and a link to the library website where this is set out comprehensively is available at https://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/c.php?g=508212&p=3476376

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

(a) Legislation

Participants are required to have an up-to-date (2021) full multi-volume version of the income tax legislation as produced by one of the commercial publishers. You do not need the volume of legislation on superannuation.

As the Australia/Germany 2015 Tax Treaty will be reference in during recorded and zoom sessions access to a copy would be of assistance. This treaty best represents Australia’s current approach to tax treaty negotiation and is broadly consistent with the 2017 OECD Model Convention.

Any newer amendments to the legislation should also be obtained, such as by way of downloading them from ComLaw or AustLII.

Note: In this outline and the Class Problems, the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 is referred to as ITAA36 and the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 as ITAA97.

(b) Cases, rulings and additional statutory materials

Most Australian cases can now be accessed via Austlii: http://www.austlii.edu.au/

Tax rulings and other administrative materials are available from the ATO’s legal database: http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/index.htm

Statutory material (including the explanatory memorandum to a bill) can be found at Comlaw: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/

(c) Problems and Reading Guide on Canvas

The readings for each class problem are listed on Canvas. This provides a list of legislation, ATO rulings, cases and additional readings. The most important cases for a particular problem are identified with an asterisk (*). From time to time, additional readings, such as new court decisions, may be added to the reading list. Notice of such additions will be provided in class as well as via announcements posted on the Canvas site.

Recommended supplementary reaading

There are currently no specialised texts dealing with Australia’s international tax law. For those students less familiar with Australia’s international taxation, the following are suggested as preliminary reading:

Woellner, Barkoczy, Murphy, Evans & Pinto, Australian Taxation Law 2020, 31st Edition (2021: Oxford), ch 24

Deutsch, Friezer, Fullerton, Hanley & Snape, Australian Tax Handbook 2021, (Thompson Reuters), chs 34-38

Cooper, Dirkis, Stewart, and Vann, Income Taxation: Commentary and Materials (2020, 9th ed) Thomson Reuters, Sydney, chs 16-18

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

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

LO1. understand the policies underlying Australia's international tax rules
LO2. understand Australia's complex international tax rules
LO3. identify and apply Australia's complex statutory and general tax law rules to complex factual situations involving a variety of international commercial and private relationships
LO4. clearly and accurately communicate analysis of the tax consequences arising from a variety of commercial and private relationships

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

No changes have been made since this unit was last offered

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

LAWS6209: Australian International Taxation

Semester 1, 2021 [Normal evening] - Remote

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect