Fall 2024
Professor(s):
Bret Wells (FACULTY)
Credits: 4
Course Areas: Taxation
Time: 9:00a-10:30a MTW Location: 210
Course Outline: Federal Income taxation is a core course that is essential for students that want to practice business or commercial law. This course is designed (i) to introduce students to the basic doctrines of federal income tax law in the context of federal tax policy; (ii) to familiarize students with significant provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and United States Treasury regulations that govern personal income taxation, as well as judicial and administrative decisions interpreting the same; and (iii) to help students develop critical problem solving and issue identification skills in federal income tax law. Because tax issues can have a significant impact on a wide array of legal contracts and legal arrangement, it is important that practicing lawyers have the ability to identify tax issues in the course of their representation of clients.
Course Syllabus: Syllabus
Course Notes: (Face-to-Face) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. For this instruction mode, instructors and students are expected to normally be physically present in the classroom. If the course has a final examination, it will be in a classroom requiring your physical presence. Other assessment, such as a mid-term exam, may also be in a classroom. Whether this instructor will offer “remote presence” (starting a zoom meeting from the podium computer to enable student remote access on an occasional basis) for part or all of the semester is not known, but students should not rely on an expectation that remote presence will be available.
Prerequisites:
First Day Assignments:
Final Exam Schedule: 12/9/2024 9-1Pm 210
This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:
Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No
Experiential Course Type: No
Bar Course: No
DistanceEd ABA: No
Pass-Fail Student Election: Available
Course Materials
Book(s) Required
Course Materials: (a) DANIEL L. SIMMONS, MARTIN J. MCMAHON, BRADLEY T. BORDEN, AND BRET WELLS, FEDERAL INCOME TAXATION (Foundation Press 8th ed. 2020) (ISBN: 9781647081164) (b) Wolters Kluwer / CCH Publications, “Federal Income Tax — Code & Regulations, Selected Sections,” 2024-2025 Edition (ISBN: 9780808060260).
(a) Recommended: Chirelstein & Zelenak, “Federal Income Taxation—A Law Student’s Guide to the Leading Cases and Concepts,” 15th Edition, Foundation Press (2023) is recommended as particularly useful for supplemental reading. This volume is helpful because the discussion often provides analysis of the key tax cases covered in this course. You would be well served to read the sections in Chirelstein that correspond to the topics assigned in the Simmons casebook.
(b) The UH Law Library has on reserve other hornbooks and study guides that may also be consulted.
