Pace University
Lubin School of Business
New York City Campus, Pace Plaza, New York

Syllabus

Ethics in Tax Practice
Tax 666 CRN 49454 Fall 2002 Thursday evenings

Instructor:

Dean L. Surkin, Esq., Adjunct Professor

Rosen Seymour Shapss Martin & Co., LLP

757 Third Avenue, 6^th Floor, New York, NY 10017-2049

Phone: (212) 303-1887;  Fax: (914) 206-3711;  Internet: dsurkin@pace.edu;  dsurkin@optonline.net;  dsurkin@rssmcpa.com

Internet: www.surkinlaw.com

Office hours:

By appointment, during regular business hours

Required and Recommended Materials:

Required Textbook:  Wolfman, Holden & Schenk, Ethical Problems in Federal Tax Practice, Publisher: Little Brown & Company

Course Description

This course considers the role of ethics in tax practice and its application to specific tax problems. It also explores the guidelines on tax practice as pronounced by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the American Bar Association and the United States Treasury Department. It covers the ethical problems of tax practitioners in connection with tax planning, tax return preparation and representation before the Internal Revenue Service.

The prerequisite for this course is the successful completion of Tax 503 (Fundamental Concepts of Taxation) and Tax 504 (Sales and Exchanges of Property). This course is open to students who have completed the prior course designated Tax 666, Criminal and Civil Penalties. Substantial professional experience may be accepted in lieu of the prerequisite subject to departmental and instructor written approval. Warning: pursuant to departmental policy, students without the prerequisites or a written waiver may be removed from class.

Course Objectives

To teach substantive tax law, how to analyze a tax situation, how to recognize tax issues, how to learn the applicable tax law for a situation the student has never before encountered, and ultimately to learn the political and social shaping of the tax law. Students will address ethical issues in tax law as they relate to each topic.

Procedure for students with disabilities who wish to obtain accommodations or auxiliary aids for this course

Pace University has a procedure that must be followed to insure that any disabled student who is entitled to accommodations and auxiliary aids may obtain them.

If you have a disability for which you wish to obtain an accommodation or auxiliary aid for this course or any other course or program at the University, you must contact the University’s Counseling/Personal Development Office. For New York, call extension 1526. For Pleasantville and White Plains, call extension 3710. Trained professional counselors will:

• Evaluate your medical documentation;

• Conduct or refer you for appropriate tests

• Make recommendation for your plan of accommodation; and

• Contact your professors and pertinent administrators (with your permission) to arrange fore the recommended accommodations.

Your professors are not authorized to provide accommodations or aids prior to your arranging for accommodations or aids through the Counseling/Personal Development Center. Neither are your professors authorized to contact the Counseling/Personal Development Center on your behalf. You must contact the Counseling/Personal Development Center directly in order for the University to be placed on notice of your request for accommodation. In order to insure that the Counseling/Personal Development Center has sufficient time to process your request, you should contact the Center at the earliest possible time, in advance of your need for the accommodation, preferably before the semester begins.

Following this procedure will ensure timely and efficient handling of your request for accommodation or auxiliary aids.

Course requirements and grading

Exams: There will be a final exam, given in class on the day of the last class meeting. The exam is open book, and all students will be on the honor system, The exam will likely comprise essay/computational problems.

Components of the final grade: The exam will be 70% of the final grade, and class participation will be 30% of the grade. See below for a discussion of class participation.

Penalties for late work: This doesn’t apply to this course.

Attendance policy: Class attendance is vital to understand the course work. If you must miss a class, have a classmate tape the lecture, or loan you notes (make sure you have a friend who takes good notes).

Class participation: The burden of learning is yours. If you have ever tried to teach something, you will understand this little gem of philosophy. I use a variation of the Socratic method, combined with some lecturing. The Socratic method means that I ask you questions, and you answer them. Based upon your answers, I ask different questions. Ideally, my questions will guide you to an understanding of the topic. For this to work, you must do all assigned reading before the class session, and work out all the assigned problems, if any. Do not hand in the homework, but use your answers as a guide to the class dialogues. I will call on you each, in turn. You will learn best if you are prepared. Your answer does not have to be right. I recognize effort. I do not expect you to know the correct answers, and in fact, we will have the best dialogues if your answer is a well thought wrong answer. You have to pay close attention to my dialogues with other students, and not doze off when I have not called on you: you will also learn well if you can follow another student’s mistakes and determine what he or she did wrong, and why. You will get a good grade for class participation if you try. You will get a bad grade if you are unprepared.

Course Schedule

Because the Socratic method takes varying amounts of time depending upon class size or student enthusiasm, I cannot tell you exactly when we will cover each of the units below. My goal is to do about one chapter per session.

Assignments:

Overview

Chapter 1

Lawyers, accountants and the IRS

Tax returns

Chapter 2

Accuracy and the Taxpayer

Accuracy and the Lawyer/Accountant

Penalties

Amended Returns

Audit and litigation

Chapter 3

Loyalty to client

Conflict of interest

Client confidences

Disclosure

Responsibility to others

Tax planning and advice

Chapter 4

Tax advisor

Tax shelters

Formulating tax policy

Chapter 5

Legislative process

Public interest

Representing government and corporation

Chapter 6

Working for the government: identity of the client

Working for the corporation: corporate misconduct

The profession

Chapter 7

Unauthorized practice of law

Multidisciplinary practices

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