This Course Guide has been taken from the most recent presentation of the course. It would be useful for reference purposes but please note that there may be updates for the following presentation.
ACT B864
Tax Framework
Welcome to ACT B864 Tax Framework, a postgraduate-level, five-credit course developed especially for Hong Kong Metropolitan University. This course is one of the compulsory courses required to attain your Postgraduate Diploma in/Master of Professional Accounting and Master of Corporate Governance degrees; it is also an elective course for the Master of Business Administration. This course was developed with Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) learners in mind. You are strongly recommended to have already studied ACT B861 Accounting for Corporations before enrolling in this course.
ACT B864 Tax Framework will be a challenging course to learn, but should prove interesting and stimulating. This five-credit course will provide you with practical and comprehensive training in the law relating to taxation and its application to incomes and profits received. The course will teach not only legal principles, but also the application of those principles to the day-to-day situations typically encountered by professionals working in the fields of accountancy, finance and law in the HKSAR.
The course will show you, step by step, the process of computing property tax, salaries tax and profits tax. The study units, supplementary materials and exercises will help you to master these topics over the course of a semester.
Course aims
The course aims to provide learners with the knowledge and skills to effectively interpret tax statutes, analyse practical tax problems, and to apply the tax statutes and rules. It introduces learners to the current tax statutes, case laws, and major types of direct and indirect taxes in Hong Kong.
Course learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course, learners should be able to:
ACT B864 Tax Framework has been designed to be a self-contained course. In addition to this Course Guide, the course has the following important components: study units, set textbook, other readings (some via the Internet), an Assignment File and a Presentation Schedule. Please ensure that you have all of these materials before you start your study.
Study units
The study units provide instructions on how to proceed, detailed course materials, and examples to help you fully understand the concepts and principles presented in the text. The study units provide you with a series of real and hypothetical cases that relate to elements of taxation.
There are five study units in ACT B864 Tax Framework. Each study unit requires an average 30 hours of study time. Unit 1 which deals with taxation and tax law is an introduction to the subject. Units 2–5 together deal with the various types of taxation. Each unit provides background historical information, guidance notes for reading the documents and texts, exercises which require you to formulate and test opinions and practice with alternative answer models, and discussions.
The following is an overview of the course for your reference:
| Unit | Title | Weeks |
| 1 | Overview of taxation and tax administration | 2 |
| 2 | Hong Kong salaries tax | 3 |
| 3 | Hong Kong profits tax | 4 |
| 4 | Depreciation allowances and property tax | 3 |
| 5 | Personal assessment and stamp duty | 3 |
| Revision | 1 | |
| TOTAL | 16 |
Assignment File
Assignment details for this course are contained in your Assignment File. You are required to complete your assignments and submit them to your tutor in accordance with the timetable provided in the Presentation Schedule.
Set textbook
There is one compulsory textbook required for this course:
Ho, P and Mak, K (2023) Hong Kong Taxation and Tax Planning, 21st edn, Pilot Publishing Company Ltd.
The textbook is not provided by HKMU. You will need to buy the textbook separately.
Supplementary readings
Readings from academic and professional journals are provided at the end of each study unit or via the Internet as appropriate.
Presentation schedule
The Presentation Schedule is available on the University's online platform — Online Learning Environment (OLE). It shows the exact dates for your tutor's receipt of your assignments. Remember, you are required to submit all your assignments in time to reach your tutor by the actual dates shown in the Assignment File. You should guard against falling behind in your work.
Online and multimedia materials
OLE
ACT B864 will maintain an OLE presence comprising webpages with downloadable and interactive materials, course notices and a discussion board, and other resources to facilitate the online dimension.
Other online resources
Equipment required by students and tutors
You are expected to have access to a personal computer (PC) with an Internet connection. HKMU provides some PCs for your free access at the HKMU lab PCs, many of which have access to the Internet.
Assessment in this course consists of assignments and a final examination. You will be assessed on your ability to interpret and apply the Inland Revenue Ordinance and the regulations made thereunder, and to draw your own conclusions from the relevant case law in taxation. You are also required to demonstrate your understanding of the relevant tax theories and objectives. The study units include self-assessment exercises that allow you to develop such abilities.
Assignments are worth 40% of the total course mark. The final examination for ACT B864 Tax Framework will be of three hours' duration and be worth 60% of the total course mark.
To pass this course, you are required to fulfil the requirements of the continuous assessment, i.e. assignments, and your final examination. You must obtain a minimum average score of 40% (out of 100%) on both assignments and a minimum score of 40% (out of 100%) on the examination.
Remember that your final result in this course depends on your performance in both the continuous assessment (assignments) and the examination. In order to pass the course, you need to pass both the continuous assessment and examination. For more information on the University's policies on assignments and examination, please refer to the HKMU Student Handbook.
Assignments
There are two assessment exercises for the course, each dealing with one of the key aspects of Hong Kong taxation.
Each assignment consists primarily of problems requiring you to formulate an opinion and to test it against materials given in the course. The assignments increase in complexity as the course proceeds. To help prepare you to complete them, you will be guided through activities, practice exercises and self-assessment exercises, which are included in the units.
How to submit assignments
You must use word processing software (such as Microsoft Word) to prepare the assignments, and submit the assignments via the Online Learning Environment (OLE). All assignments must be uploaded to the OLE by the due date.
Failure to upload an assignment in the required format to the OLE may result in the score of the assignment being adjusted to zero.
Assignment submission extension policy
The assignment policy of the University as stated in the Student Handbook should be observed. You are required to submit assignments for this course in accordance with the dates communicated by your Course Coordinator. You may apply for a submission extension on the grounds of illness, accident, disability, bereavement or other compassionate circumstances.
Applications for extensions must be submitted online via the OLE. Please note the following:
After an assignment is submitted via the OLE, it is your responsibility to check that the assignment has been successfully submitted. Extension applications due to any problem with uploading will not be accepted. The University cannot accept any responsibility for assignments that are not received by your tutor due to any problem with submission via the OLE. As a precaution, you are advised to keep a copy of each assignment you submit.
According to the University's policy, no extension of the due date will be allowed for the final assignment. This policy will be strictly enforced. Any late submission of the final assignment will result in the score of the assignment being adjusted to zero.
Final examination
The final examination for ACT B864 Tax Framework will be of three hours duration and have a value of 60% of the total course grade. The examination will consist of two parts. Part 1 will consist of compulsory questions and Part 2 will consist of shorter questions. Specific tax rates and allowances will be provided in the examination paper.
A specimen examination paper will be provided before the examination for practice purposes. The format of the specimen examination will be similar to that of the final examination.
Assessment summary
The assessment items are outlined in the following table.
| Assessment | Course area covered | Weighting |
| Assignment 1 | Unit 1–2 | 20% |
| Assignment 2 | Unit 3–4 | 20% |
| Examination | Whole course | 60% |
| Total | 100% | |
Student support for ACT B864 will include live online tutorials, supplementary lectures (pre-recorded videos) and a day school (in person).
A tutor will be assigned to students in each tutorial group in this course. The tutor will:
Your tutor will comment on and mark your assignments, keep a close watch on your progress and on any difficulties you might encounter, and will assist you during the course. Your assignments should be submitted in accordance with the dates shown in the Assignment File. Your tutor will mark and return them to you as soon as possible.
It is a good idea to keep copies of all the assignments you submit for marking. Copies will prove useful should you wish to refer to them during telephone conversations with your tutor.
Do not hesitate to contact your tutor by telephone if you need help. The following might be some typical circumstances in which you would find help necessary. Contact your tutor if:
To assist you in this course, live online tutorials and a day sc hool (in person) will be organized with your assigned tutor. As soon as you are allocated to a tutorial group, you will be notified of the detai ls of the learning sessions, together with the name and phone number of your tutor.
It is strongly recommended that you attend the live online tutorials and day school. They will provide considerable assistance in your study of taxation and tax law and improve your chances of gaining higher marks. They will also bring you into contact with other students who are studying this course.
Live online tutorials and supplementary video lectures
Live online tutorials and supplementary lectures (pre-recorded videos) will be organized at regular intervals to provide you with assistance on the course. The scheduling of the tutorial sessions will be provided in the Tutorial Schedule on the OLE. For this course, there will be five pre-recorded supplementary video lectures, five tutorials and one day school. You will be notified of the details of these learning sessions at the beginning of the course's presentation.
Tutors are required to start tutorial sessions on time. If a tutor fails to turn up 30 minutes after the scheduled starting time, students may assume that the session is cancelled and they should report the case to the Course Coordinator so that a make-up session can be arranged.
Day school
Students will be offered one day school in this course where they will review cases and prepare tax computations under the guidance of their tutors. Tutors will also be able to update students on any recent Board of Review decisions. Attendance at this day school is not compulsory for the purpose of passing this course.
Note: Starting from October 2008 intake of the PDPA/MPA programme, applicants to the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA)'s Qualification Programme (QP) are expected to have completed at least five of eight day schools of the compulsory courses. The eight compulsory courses are ACT B861, FIN B862, ACT B863, ACT B864, ACT B865, ACT B866, ACT B867 and LAW B868.
Online Learning Environment
This course is supported by the Online Learning Environment (OLE). You can find course material and the latest course information from the OLE. Through the OLE, you can also communicate with your tutor, the Course Coordinator as well as fellow students. For details about the OLE and how to access it, please refer to the Online Learning Environment User Guide.
ACT B864 Tax Framework is intended to develop your understanding of tax theories as well as the Hong Kong tax system and what is tax law. You will learn how to calculate various types of tax and to conduct tax planning, as well as interpret and construct tax statutes.
To understand the content of this course, you will need to analyse the course materials and apply the concepts that you are learning. We hope you will find ACT B864 Tax Framework both interesting and enjoyable, and be able to use the knowledge and skills from this course throughout your career.
Good luck, and enjoy the course!
If you wish to defer your studies of this course until a later date, you should apply for deferment of studies. For the regulations governing deferment of studies, please refer to your Student Handbook. If you have applied for deferment of studies you should continue with your studies of this course and submit the required assignments until formal approval is given by the University.
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