INTRODUCTION TO TAXATION - 2020/1

Module Overview

This module introduces students to the subject of taxation and provides the core knowledge of the underlying principles and major technical areas of taxation as they affect the activities businesses, both incorporated and unincorporated.

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

ASHDOWN Rebekah (SBS)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

MAN2090 (Financial Accounting 2) is a pre-requisite for this module

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Capital Allowances: Classification of expenditure on capital assets in accordance with the statutory distinction between capital & revenue expenditure.


• Computing assessable business income: Adjustment of trading profits and losses for tax purposes.


• Preparing chargeable gains computations for businesses: including share pools, bonus and rights issues.


• Preparing capital gains computations for sole traders and partnerships.


• Corporation tax computations: trading profits and losses, capital allowances, investment income, loss reliefs and charges. Calculating corporation tax due including marginal relief and completing the HMRC forms.


• Income tax computations for sole traders and partnerships: trading profits and losses, capital allowances, investment income, loss reliefs and charges. Calculating income tax due and completing the HMRC forms

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Not applicable

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of both the theoretical concepts and their practical application.

The summative assessment for this module consists of:

A 50 minutes class-test (30%) during week 7/8 of teaching

A two hour closed-book final exam (70%) during the examination period

Formative assessment and feedback

• The class test will be marked by the module convenor, marks are usually returned to the students within two semester weeks following the class test. In the semester week following the class test the module convenor posts the class test, results and model answers on SurreyLearn with general feedback on how the cohort has performed.


• The weekly drop-in session is used to provide individual feedback to students. Explaining how they could have moved from the mark attained to 100%. This feedback will help the student prepare for final examination.


• Both the class test and final exam have detailed marking schemes that take into account process and ensure consistent marking where there is more than one module tutor.

• Students will be expected to participate in tutorials and are actively encouraged to share their views and experiences.  Attendance is compulsory and experience has shown students with low attendance also attain very low marks.


• Tutorial attendance is compulsory, and vital information on the assessments is usually given during these sessions. 


• Not all elements of the curriculum will be covered in detail in the tutorials. Students will be made aware of the areas they are expect to are expected to research for themselves.


• In order to gain high marks in the test and exam, students will have to complete all the recommend tutorial and homework questions each week. A list of specific questions will be provided.


• Students are encouraged to ask questions, and when they do not understand something or want clarification, they should speak to the module tutor at the weekly drop-in session. 


• The feedback process is designed so that students who engage in it will get the most out of it – in previous years, students who fully engage with the feedback process, achieve much higher marks. 

Module aims

• introduce students to the functions of the tax system and the separate taxes that an accountant would need to be able to apply
• develop an understanding of Corporation tax, income tax, national insurance and chargeable gains arising on disposals of investments for both individuals and companies
• enable students to produce a complete corporation tax return and Income tax and capital gains tax calculations for the latest available Finance Act

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to give students the opportunity to gain knowledge and understanding of the relevant theory and business practices and problems pertinent to the topics covered in the module.

The  learning and teaching methods include:

• The use of weekly two-hour tutorials as well as a weekly drop-in session, to illustrate the theory and allow the student to practice the practical application of such theory with a range of weekly tutorial questions.


• Lecture material will be supported by directed reading and weekly homework exercises will be set to test students’ understanding on an on-going basis.


• SurreyLearn will be used as an information portal and will contain lecture notes, practical exercises and model answers.


• Individual feedback will be given in the drop-in sessions on the class test and general feedback will be posted on SurreyLearn. 

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MAN2105

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2020/1 academic year.