Dr Ian Roxan, NAB 7.25.

For LLM, MSc Law and Accounting. For other Master's level students with permission of the course convenor. This is the full unit of LL4Z3 and LL4Z4. It is not possible to take this course in conjunction with either LL4Z3 or LL4Z4.
 
This course is capped at 30 students. Students must apply through Graduate Course Choice on LSEforYou.

No prior knowledge of taxation is required.

In the sixty years of the existence of value added taxes, they have spread to all corners of the globe to become one of the most importance sources of government revenue.

In the first term the nature of value added taxes will be examined, whether called VAT, GST or another name. VATs will be compared with other methods of taxing consumption, including other sales taxes and progressive expenditure taxes. The course will also look at the distinction between taxing consumption and income and the redistributive effects of taxing consumption.

The course then considers the main features and problems raised by VATs and GSTs, including defining the taxpayers and the amount subject to tax, international transactions and VATs in federal jurisdictions, and the treatment of financial transactions. Examples will be drawn from the European Union VAT and from taxes in other countries.
The focus of the second term will be on the European Union VAT as it operates in the United Kingdom. A significant part of the term will be devoted to EU legislation and jurisprudence.

The term will begin with an introduction to key concepts of VAT, including supplies of goods and services, taxable persons and transactions, the rate structure, and consideration for supplies. The course will then examine in more detail a range of the most important aspects of VAT, including topics such as the deductibility of input tax and the treatment of exemptions, the taxation of international transactions and transactions between member states, VAT and financial services.

Two-hour weekly seminars in MT and LT.

Students are asked to submit two 2,000 word essays.

For the first term: Schenk and Oldman, Value Added Tax: A Comparative Approach; Ogley, Principles of Value Added Tax: A European Perspective; Ebrill, The Modern VAT; Alan A. Tait, Value Added Tax: International Practice and Problems; Mirrlees et al., Tax by Design; McClure, The Value Added Tax: Key to Deficit Reduction?; James and Nobes, The Economics of Taxation; Tanzi and Zee, Tax Policy for Developing Countries.

For the second term: Terra and Wattel, European Tax Law; Ogley, Principles of Value Added Tax: A European Perspective; or Farmer & Lyal, EC Tax Law; Roxan, 'VAT Supplies of Services: A Definition in Search of a Meaning'; Millar, 'Illusory Supplies and Unacknowledged Discounts: VAT and Valuation in Consumer Transactions'.
Students will be expected to acquire either the Tolley's Orange Tax Handbook, or The Green Book (CCH) for the current year.

Students will be provided with detailed outlines and reading lists for the course via Moodle.

Ogley, Principles of Value Added Tax: A European Perspective (Interfisc Publishing, 1998); or Alan A. Tait, Value Added Tax: International Practice and Problems (IMF, 1988). Terra and Wattel, European Tax Law (Kluwer); or Farmer & Lyal, EC Tax Law (Oxford).

Three-hour formal written examination. Candidates will be permitted to take into the examination room unannotated copies of the Tolley's Orange Tax Handbook or CCH The Green Book.