General provisions

Determined on May 7, 2007 by Faculty of Law's Teaching Committee, Uppsala University, by virtue of Chapter 2 Section 5 a of the Higher Education Act and Chapter 6 Section 14 and 15 of the Higher Education Ordinance. The course plan enters into force on July 1, 2007.

In General

The course is 15 university points (15 ECTS credits) and an optional course at advanced level in the studies for the degree of Master of Laws, according to the degree requirements adopted 16 April 2007 by the Board of the Faculty of Law of Uppsala University. The course is held in Swedish.

Entry requirements

In general, Swedish students must have attained five passes out of the six courses given at level 1 of the LL.M programme. All the obligatory phases of the course in which the student has not attained a pass must have been fulfilled. Swedish students must have passed the exam for Term 5.

If special reasons exist the board of exemption may grant exemption from the acceptance requirements.

Learning outcomes

In order to achieve the abovementioned object, company taxation is illustrated from various perspectives during the course. The traditional legal dogmatic/legal investigative perspective is by natural reasons put in the centre, and the object is in this part that the course is to impart deeper knowledge and methodological practice within a number of the essential areas of company taxation. A substantive deepening is focused to issues on closed companies, transfers at below market price and taxation of private firms and unlimited partnerships. The value-added tax is integrated with the income tax, in such way that differences and similarities are put in focus. Furthermore, during the course a rather large space is given to issues of legal theory and legal policy with connection to taxation. Attention is also given to the role of company taxation from a wider societal perspective.

Relative to the basic course on taxation law at Term 5, higher demands are laid down regarding substantive knowledge, understanding of the taxation system from a theoretical and practical perspective and methodological issues. The course does not deal at any closer rate with questions regarding international business activities.

At the end of the course students shall have obtained ability to:

- identify legal problems in a complex context

- identify possible solutions to legal problems

- divide legal problems into smaller questions as a part of the problem solving process

- independently find source material

- analyse legal source material by means of the interpretation of legal sources

- by means of the legal sources and considerations of purposes find and formulate relevant arguments for and against different solutions to legal problems

- independently take standpoints on legal issues by judging the strength of different arguments and weighing them against each other

- in oral as well as in written form present legal material, with a particular emphasis on the presentation of and argumentation for solutions to legal problems

- in a qualified way apply the legal system in the area of company taxation

- read and understand precedents in the area of company taxation and identify the relevant questions in the precedents

- solve given legal problems in the total area of national company taxation

- identify problems in the area of company taxation from a given course of events

- find solutions for handling problems in the area of company taxation that harmonize with the companies' business activities, in such way that the taxation rules should constitute as small obstacle as possible on the ordinary business activities.

Content

The theme of the course is taxation of companies and business activities in Sweden. The course comprises of both income tax and value-added tax, since both taxes are essential for the total taxation of the company. The object of the course is to give the participants partly deeper knowledge of the rules and principles in taxation law that are of importance for the taxation of various kinds of companies, partly an understanding of the role of company taxation in a larger context.

Instruction

A number of initial seminars will serve as an introduction to company taxation and an overview of the taxation of the most important type of companies. Then there will be a substantive deepening. The seminars are throughout the course planned according to a problem based model. A written exam will be held at the end of the course. The writing of a shorter essay is part of the course as well.

Except the abovementioned some additional instruction can occur, e.g. practice of making presentations, guest lectures and study visits.

Active participation in the instruction is required for access to the written exam. The Study Plan contains attendance requirements and closer details on the lay out of the course.

Assessment

In order to pass the exam, all the obligatory phases of the course must be fulfiled. Examination takes principally place based on a written exam and the shorter essay. In borderline cases, weight is given to the other written and oral performances during the course. The grades given are Fail (U), and the passing grades Pass (B), Pass with credit (Ba) and Pass with distinction (AB).

Students who fail are given an opportunity to re-take the exam.

When extraordinary reasons warrant it, the examination may be carried out in some alternative way.

Detailed rules on what material is permissible at the written exam can be found in the Study Plan. Cheating is not allowed. Examples of cheating are using prohibited material at the written exam and plagiarizing when writing the essay. Cheating may lead to a disciplinary report, which in turn may lead to a decision of warning or suspension for a maximum period of six months.