Teaching Plan

PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION LAWS

Semester VI

Batch 2018-23

Academic Year 2020-21

BY

Mr. Rajnish Jindal

(Course-In-Charge)

&

Ms. Kavita Jha

(Course Expert)

Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA

Symbiosis International (Deemed University)
(Session: January 2021 – May 2021)
1. INTRODUCTION

Taxation law is one of the important fields of legal study. It covers the rules, policies and laws
that oversee the tax process, which involves charges on estates, transactions, property, income,
licenses and more by the government. Taxation also includes duties on imports from foreign
countries and all compulsory levies imposed by the government upon individuals for benefit
of the state. In India the intricate body of tax law covers payment of taxes to Central
Government, state governments and some minor taxes are also levied by the local authorities
such as the Municipality either directly or indirectly. An important restriction on this power is
Article 265 of the Constitution which states that "No tax shall be levied or collected except by
the authority of law." Therefore each tax levied or collected has to be backed by an
accompanying law, passed either by the Parliament or the State Legislature.

The purpose of this course is to familiarize the students to basic modalities of tax
procedures which include Direct Tax Laws (Income Tax and Wealth Tax) and Indirect Tax Laws
(Value Added Tax). The most fundamental classification of taxes is based on who collects the
taxes from the tax payer. Direct Taxes, as the name suggests, are taxes that are directly paid
to the government by the taxpayer. It is a tax applied on individuals and organizations directly
by the government e.g. income tax, corporation tax, wealth tax etc. and Indirect Taxes are
applied on the manufacture or sale of goods and services. These are initially paid to the
government by an intermediary, who then adds the amount of the tax paid to the value of the
goods / services and passes on the total amount to the end user. The date of 1st April of the
year 2005 is marked as the date of the implementation of the V. A. T. or the Value Added Tax
by almost all the State Governments as a replacement of the earlier Sales Tax. However, The
Goods and Services Tax Act was passed in the Parliament on 29th March 2017 and it has
replaced many indirect taxes in India.

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES & OUTCOMES

A. Objective (Knowledge, Skills & Employability)

The objective of this course is to develop in the students the following set of skills: general
cognitive intellectual skills; general communicative/ employability skills; and subject specific
skills. It aims at developing following set of skills among the students:
▪ To provide students with a working knowledge of the fundamental tax principles and
rules that apply to commonly encountered transactions undertaken by companies and
individuals. (Knowledge & Skills)
▪ To instil an awareness in students that taxes can and often do constitute significant
costs to businesses and households and therefore can have a major impact in
economic and other decision-making, but that these costs are also potentially

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 controllable through legitimate tax minimisation strategies. (Knowledge & Skills)
▪ To enable students to appreciate the wider economic, social, administrative-
compliance and political contexts within which taxes are imposed. (Skills &
employability)
▪ To calculate income tax liability and GST liability. (Skills & employability)
▪ To discuss, analyse and draw conclusions in relation to the various tax issues
considered, in a clear and concise manner, using statutory provisions and case
authorities in support. (Skills & employability)

B. Outcomes (Knowledge, Skills & Employability)

The students will have following set of outcomes when they will complete this course
successfully:

▪ Students will gain understanding of the central elements of Indian taxation, in

particular income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax and GST.
(Knowledge & Skills)
▪ Students will gain skills in critical analysis enabling them to evaluate government policy
in taxation and the work of academic commentators on taxation; an ability to analyse,
evaluate and interpret relevant source material; skills in identifying the material issue
under discussion; an advanced approach to critically addressing complex legal
questions; an ability to apply knowledge of legal rules/concepts/principles to solve
legal problems. (Knowledge & Skills)
▪ Students will gain the skills in of taxation law to present arguments for and against the
various principles of taxation policies. (Knowledge & Skills)
▪ Students will gain overall understanding and knowledge of direct as well as indirect
taxes and basic modalities of tax procedures. (Skills & employability)
▪ Students will be encouraged to reflect on competing notions of fairness, including
distributive justice and neutrality; constitutional and philosophical underpinnings of
the obligation to pay tax; the notion of the competing interests of overlapping tax
collecting. (Skills & employability)

C. Subject Specific Activity

Students will be doing the following activities in this course: analysing various tax policies, and
analysing case studies etc. Lectures, tutorials, power point presentations, quizzes and articles
reading will incorporate insights gained from relevant research in various tax law areas, such
as: the economic implications of particular taxes and tax policies; the Court’s interpretation of
key tax concepts; corporate tax avoidance etc. to enable students to ponder over the topics
clearly.

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 3. LECTURES

A. Times and Attendance

Three lectures per week have been set aside for this course for each division. Verify it from the
Time Table assigned for each division. One should duly check related notification at ‘Outlook’
as well as ‘Posts’ @Microsoft Teams.

As per Symbiosis International (Deemed University) Regulations, please note, “Students are
expected to attend minimum 75% of all scheduled sessions and other forms of instruction as
defined by the programme of study.”

The student will not be eligible to appear for the examination if he / she fail to put in the
required attendance. The students can update themselves of their attendance daily online in
‘Attendance’ on iCloudEMS Portal at https://siu.icloudems.com/corecampus/index.php

B. Mode of Delivery
This Course will be delivered in Synchronous (80%) and Asynchronous (20%) mode.

Session Plan, Lecture outlines (principally in the form of PowerPoint slides), Hand-outs, reading
material including e-Books, and Articles as applicable in a given case, will be made available
in ‘OneNote’ @ Microsoft Team. To facilitate understanding of these lectures, student should
always read at least the relevant pages of suggested readings in advance of each lecture.

C. Notifications
Students are informed that notice/s, if required, with respect Academic- Administration, will
be sent, either by Course in Charge or Officer-In-Charge, Academic Coordination, using ‘Posts’
@Microsoft Teams. Students are required to keep themselves duly informed.

D. Lecture Outline

Synchronous Mode
Week/ Date Lecture No. Topics
Week -01
Lecture-1 Teaching Plan
January 9, 2021
Lecture-2 Syllabus Preview
Week -02
January 11, 2021 Topic 2: Direct Tax laws
Lecture-3
Residential status and its effect on tax incidence
Week-03: Lecture-4 Chargeable income and scope of total income
January 18, 2021 Lecture-5 Income deemed to accrue or arise in India (Sec. 9)
Week – 04: Lecture-6 Exempted incomes
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January 25, 2021 Lecture-7 Exempted incomes
Week -05: Lecture-8 Trusts
February 1, 2021 Lecture-9 Heads of Income
Week -06: Lecture-10 Income from salary
February 8, 2021 Lecture-11 Computation of Income from Salary
Week -07: Lecture-12 Lecture by Course Expert
February 15, 2021 Lecture-13 Practice of comprehensive problems of Salary
Week -08: Lecture-14 Practice of comprehensive problems of Salary
February 22, 2021 Lecture-15 Income from house property
Week-09: Lecture-16 Income from house property
March 1, 2021 Lecture-17 Lecture by Course Expert
Week-10: Lecture-18 Income from Business/Profession
March 8, 2021 Lecture-19 Income from Business/Profession
Week 11: Lecture-20 Income from Business/Profession
March 15, 2021 Lecture-21 Capital Gain
Week -12: Lecture-22 Capital Gain
March 22, 2021 Lecture-23 Lecture by Course Expert
Lecture-24 Income from other sources
Week -13:
Lecture-25 Income from other sources
March 29, 2021
Lecture-26 Clubbing of income
Lecture-27 Clubbing of income
Week-14:
Lecture-28 Lecture by Course Expert
April 5, 2021
Lecture-29 Set-off and carry forward of losses
Lecture-30 Set-off and carry forward of losses
Week-15: Lecture-31 Deductions, Rebate and Relief
April 12, 2021 Income tax authorities and power, Procedure for assessment,
Lecture-32
rectification and appeal
Topic 3: Goods and Services Tax
Lecture-33
Week-16: Introduction to GST and Basics and features of GST
April 19, 2021 Lecture-34 Structure of GST and GST Registration
Lecture-35 Basic overview on IGST, UTGST, and GST Compensation to States
Week -17: Lecture-36 Lecture by Course Expert
April 26, 2021 Lecture-37 Course Review
Week -18:
Lecture-38 Course Review
May 3, 2021

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 The following part of the course will be covered via asynchronous mode of teaching, learning,
& evaluation. This part of course will be covered through following three steps:

i. Asynchronous Teaching (15 Minute); followed by,

ii. Learning Resources (Video, further reading) (45 minute); followed by,
iii. Student Involvement Practices (15 minute)

The following steps are to be completed for availing the attendance for a asynchronous
lecture:
✓ Watching the video
✓ Referring to the study material
✓ Attempting the student involvement practice

Asynchronous Mode
Week/ Date Video Number Topics
Topic 1: Introduction to Tax Laws
Video 1
Week -03 History & Concept of Taxation in India
January 18, 2021 Video 2 Principles of Taxation
Video 3 Salient features of Indian Tax System
Video 4 Evolution of the tax system
Video 5 Classification of Taxes: Direct and Indirect Taxes
Week-04:
Constitutional Provisions relating to Taxation levied by
January 25, 2021 Video 6
Central and state authorities
Doubt Clearing Session (Live)
Topic 2: Direct Tax laws
Video 7 Defining basic concepts: Previous Year, assessment Year,
Week – 05:
Assesse, Person
February 01, 2021
Video 8 Case Laws related to definitions
Video 9 Basis of charge on income tax
Video 10 Agricultural Income
Week -06:
Video 11 Agricultural Income
February 8, 2021
Doubt Clearing Session (Live)

*The schedule will be followed, subject to change/s due to unforeseen/unavoidable

circumstances.

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4. READING AND MATERIALS

Readings:
1. Singhania, Vinod K and Singhania, Kapil, 2020, Direct Tax- Law and Practice, Taxman
Publications
2. Saha, Ullas Kumar, 2019, Principles of Taxation Laws, Central Law Publications
3. Mehrotra, H C, 2020, Direct Taxes: Law and Practice, Sahitya Bhavan Publications
4. Ahuja, Girish & Gupta, Ravi, 2020, Direct Tax- Law and Practice, Wolters Kluwer

Other Reading Material shall be notified and whenever possible shared with the learners by
the Course-in-Charge throughout the semester. Module specific Reading List shall be provided
with the Session Plan.
A good resource to use is online databases such as Emerald; Ebsco; JSTOR; Global Business
Review available on campus network. For supplementary reading, you could, for instance,
begin by consulting the relevant sections of the “alternative” texts placed on loan in the law
library. Thereafter you could engage in your own research, with particular reference to journals
on online databases including SCC Online, LexisNexis, Manupatra, WestLaw India, HeinOnline,
JSTOR, ProQuest, Kluwer Database (Kluwer Arbitration, Kluwer Patent, and Kluwer
Competition), Ebrary, Emerald & EBSCO, and offline database including AIR.

5. ASSESSMENT:

Principles of Taxation Law is a 4-credit course, so you will be examined in this course for 100
marks. In totality, you will be examined in this course by Internal (40%) and External
Assessment (60%) format.

Internal Continuous Evaluation:

Internal Continuous Evaluation will be conducted for 40 marks, which will include “Two Quizzes
– I & II”; “Tutorial” and a “Project”.
i. First Mode of Internal Continuous Evaluation – Quiz I & II (5+5 = 10 Marks)
ii. Second Mode of Internal Continuous Evaluation – Tutorial (Open Book Examination)
(20 marks)
iii. Third Mode of Internal Continuous Evaluation – Project (10 marks)

Term End Examination:

The Symbiosis International (Deemed University) will conduct Term End Examination for 60
marks at the end of the semester. It consists of Ten objective questions of 2 marks each (20
marks) and 4 subjective-type/cases and open problems/questions (10 Marks each) with an
alternative (40 marks).

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6. INTERNAL CONTINUOUS EVALUATION: MODE & SCHEDULE

Each student will have to attempt each of the above assessment modes on all the occasion.
The details pertaining to the internal assessment modes are as follows:

A. QUIZ: Two Quizzes shall be conducted via online mode from the part of the course
delivered via online mode.
Online Quiz I & II: Each Quiz shall have 5 multiple choice questions of 1 mark each.

There is no negative marking. The duration of the quiz shall be 15 minutes. The Quiz shall be
prepared in the form of the fill in the blanks, true/false, Statement/Code, Paragraph based,
Data Based, Logical Sequence, matching questions relating to the subject. The goal of the
tutorial is to prepare, motivate and help the learners recall/remember what they learned. It
aims at judging the knowledge and Understanding of a learner.

Schedule – Online Quiz I and Online Quiz II

Topics Date Time
Topic 1: Introduction to Tax Laws –
(Videos 1 – 6)
History & Concept of Taxation in India,
Principles of Taxation, Salient features of
Online February 26,
Indian Tax System, Evolution of the tax 03:00 - 03:15 pm
Quiz I 2021
system, Classification of Taxes: Direct and
Indirect Taxes, Constitutional Provisions
relating to Taxation levied by Central and
state authorities
Topic 2: Direct Tax laws –
(Videos 7 - 11)
Online Defining basic concepts: Previous Year, March 5,
03:00 - 03:15 pm
Quiz II assessment Year, Assesse, Person, Case Laws 2021
related to definitions, Basis of charge on
income tax, Agricultural Income

B. Tutorial Mode and Schedule

The tutorial will give you an opportunity for assessing your learning of course. It should be
obvious that the better you are prepared to take part in such test, the more you will learn from
it and excel in examination as well as understanding of course. Tutorial also provides you with
an opportunity to develop written skills of presentation and reasoned argument. Lack of
preparation and a fortiori non-attendance will mean that you will fail to make the most of the

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learning opportunities provided by these tutorials. In order to achieve the two stated skills
objectives i.e. Presentation and problem solving skills, one tutorial is scheduled in this
semester.

There will be one tutorial examination, compromising of “Written Test” of 20 marks (10 x 2
questions). It will be an Open Book Examination. Examinees are allowed to bring and use any
material including Books, Articles, Hand Written Notes, Hand Outs and alike printed material.
Tutorial Timetable

Date
Topic
Test Result
Topic No. 2 – Direct Tax Laws
Residential status and its effect on
tax incidence; Chargeable income
and scope of total income; Income
Tutorial
deemed to accrue or arise in India
(20 Marks)
March 19, 2021 April 1, 2021 (Sec. 9); Exempted incomes; Trusts
Heads of Income; Income from
salary; Computation of Income
from Salary; Income from house
property; Income from Business /
Profession

C. Project Mode and Schedule

Project is aimed at improving the writing, research, and communication and presentation skills
to make students learning academically more challenging and rigorous than standard lecture
and test format courses. It also aims at promoting scholarship in this significant field of law,
which has gained much momentum in practice but often lacks solid theoretical underpinnings
due to lack or inadequacy of statutory provisions. It further aims to enhance learning capability
by research amongst the learners, creative a forum for enhancing a greater dialogue between
the scholarly community, policymakers and practitioners.

The learner shall be writing an article of not more than 2500 words on a given particular topic
of Principles of Taxation Law which shall be duly allotted by the course-in-charge to each
learner. The evaluation pattern for the same will be based on written submission. Every learner
is required to submit research project as per the format as laid in teaching plan. The Course
In-charge will upload Long Term Paper topics as per schedule @ Teams created for
Internal Continuous Evaluation (ICE) division Wise.

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Project –Submission – Guidelines:
i) Learners are required to submit copy of the Project to the Course-in-charge on the
date of submission on MS Teams. Project will be evaluated out of 10 marks.
ii) Word Limit (Not more than 2500 words).
iii) Plagiarism report to be attached by the learners (Max. Limit without applying any
exception – 15-20%).
iv) Font: Times New Roman only, with main heading font size 14 and rest 12 with proper
indenting and margins.
v) Please ensure the timely submission. In case of late submission, penalty of (-2) marks
will be applied per day.
vi) The Article submission shall include the following headers:
a. Abstract
b. Introduction
c. Relevant Chapters
d. Conclusion
e. References
vii) Criterion for Assessment

Style of
Critical analysis / addition presentation/writing,
Understanding
Criterion in the stock of knowledge Quality of foot notes
of the topic
/ originality etc.

Marks 3 5 2

Project Submission Schedule

Result
Assignment Final Submission

January 11, 2021 February 16, 2021 February 27, 2021

7. ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS & CONTACT HOURS

The Course In-Charge for Principles of Taxation Law is Mr. Rajnish Jindal. If any doubts remain,
kindly contact Mr. Rajnish Jindal via his e-mail ID: rajnish@symlaw.edu.in during office hours,
i.e. 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

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