Information for Professor Nellen's Classes

San José State University

Click HERE for MST class schedule

Table of Contents

Administrative Matters

• Information about the SJSU MST Program

• SJSU MST Mission & Learning Objectives

• SJSU Academic Integrity Policy and Information - all students should read this 

• Buy your text online at Spartan Shops (or purchase it in person at the Spartan Bookstore on the main campus) Note: To find the book at the Spartan Shops website, go to Textbooks, and then select the appropriate MBA term (not fall, spring or summer). If you go to the bookstore in person, look for the off-campus MBA program to find the MST textbooks. If you want an e-book, check the publisher's website, be sure you have the right title, edition, ISBN (not all texts are available this way though).

• Information on becoming a CPA in CA or using MST courses as CE  (CE for MST classes - Reg 88 which provides that for university courses, "each semester hour credit shall equal 15 hours toward the requirement")

• Information from the AICPA on careers in taxation

How to Access RIA, CCH, Tax Analysts and IRS Tax Research Tools

• RIA CheckpointEdge and CCH Answerconnect - need to access through the King Library database website:

  • At the library website, click the link for "Articles & Databases". Then, under C look for CCH Internet Tax Research Network, and Checkpoint (or for Checkpoint, use this to go directly to the site). After you click on either of these links, you'll be directed to login to the King library using your SJSU user ID and password.

  • MST students enrolled before fall 2020 may still have an RIA user ID and password and will loginto Checkpoint with this link: RIA Checkpoint  This likely will expire sometime in 2020 and at that point, follow tie above instructions to access Checkpoint.

• CCH AnswerConnect   (see instructions above about the library database access)

  • RIA and CCH How to Use - We cover this in 223A. You can also find a brief video on each posted in the MS Taxation Students Canvas site in the module on Tax Research Tools + Brief Videos.

• Tax Analysts Free Tax Library

• To access other library databases including Nexus - click here.

• IRS - use the search box at the top of the IRS website and search tips) - MST students - you cannot find everything you need on the IRS website or from a Google search, you'll need to use a commercial tax research tool (see above)

How to Get Free Student Membership in AICPA and CalCPA

• For students who are not yet CPAs

• Cal CPA student membership - here

• AICPA - To sign up for the student membership, visit this link: http://www.thiswaytocpa.com/ .  You need to use your SJSU email address. Click the Sign Up link at the top of the page. At the bottom of the registration page, there is a box that will give you reduced fee AICPA membership as a student.  Once you have completed the registration, you should receive a member number in about five business days via email. You then register for a member account on www.CPA2Biz.com to place orders with the member discount.

Tips for Academic Success

• Remember - graduate level study is supposed to be challenging!

• Time Management Tips (from Professor Nellen)

• Comply with SJSU's Academic Integrity Policy

Business 223F, Tax Accounting Methods and Periods 

• syllabus will be available in late March (posted to Canvas and/or emailed to you)

• If you want to start some reading in advance:
  
  • IRC 446, 448, 451, 461, 471, 263A
  • IRS Publication 538
  • BNA Portfolio 570, Accounting Methods - General Principles (access here)

• Canvas:  Instructions       Log-in page

• Web sources for primary authority

• Academic Integrity

Business 225K, Advanced Individual Taxes 

• Syllabus and homework posted at Canvas

• Public course website  (please check for lesson on Canvas before using this public website)

• Canvas:  Instructions       Log-in page

• Web sources for primary authority

• Academic Integrity

Business 223A, Tax Research & Decision-making (MST)  

• Syllabus - posted to Canvas website.  NOTE - the assignment for Day 1 will be emailed to students at least 1 week before the start of class.

• Canvas:  Instructions       Log-in page

• Academic Integrity + Plagiarism Tutorials (you will complete both the Plagiarism and Plagiarism Graduate Level tutorials. Printouts of your scores are due at the first class meeting.)
         (If you do not have a student ID yet because you are an Open University student, use 123456789. Note that someone else's name might appear on your final answer sheet; just cross it out and write in your name.)

• Writing tips - Read these!

  • Be sure to see the tips and writing examples on the Canvas website

  • Writing Skills for the Tax Professional (from Georgia State University)

  • How to Paraphrase (from Purdue)

  • How to Paraphrase without Plagiarizing (from Colorado State Univ)

  • Grammar guides from the SJSU Writing Center (very helpful!)

  • There are additional resources for 223A students on the Canvas website for the course.

• Commercial tax research tools used in all MST courses (RIA, CCH and BNA) - See access instructions.

• To access other library databases including Lexis Nexus and Academic Search Premier - click here.

• To access e-journals (includes several tax journals) - click here [see tab for journals]

• Law Dictionary from FindLaw

• Tax links you might use in 223A or for other purposes:

Reports Professor Nellen Sometimes Make Reference to in Class

• CRS Report on brief overview to history of federal taxation

• GAO Report on Alternative Filing Systems (10/96)

• AICPA, Tax Policy Concept Statement: Guiding Principles of Good Tax Policy: A Framework for Evaluating Tax
  Proposals, January 2017

Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism

University Policy: Your own commitment to learning, as evidenced by your enrollment at San Jose State University, and the University’s Academic Integrity Policy requires you to be honest in all your academic course work.  Here are some key points from that policy, but you are highly encouraged to read the entire policy as well.  The SJSU Academic Integrity Policy can be found at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/F15-7.pdf. 

• Faculty are required to report all infractions to the Office of Student Conduct & Ethical Development - there are no exceptions. This means that if your paper includes text that is not your own, it is not in quotes and/or there is no reference, you have committed an act of plagiarism and your professor will be required to report that infraction of the university's academic integrity policy to the Office of Judicial Affairs. If you share homework or test answers with a classmate - that is cheating and must be reported and sanctions given.  You are engaged in academic work - there is NO phone a friend, poll the audience, copying, asking someone else (besides your instructor).  Do the right thing - all of your work must by your own work and properly referenced!
• The policy defines plagiarism as follows:  "At SJSU plagiarism is the act of representing the work of another as one's own without giving appropriate credit, regardless of how that work was obtained, and/or submitting it to fulfill academic requirements. Plagiarism at SJSU includes but is not limited to:
  • The act of incorporating the ideas, words, sentences, paragraphs, or parts of, and/or the specific substance of another's work, without giving appropriate credit, and/or representing the product as one's own work;
  • Representing another’s artistic/scholarly works such as musical compositions, computer programs, photographs, paintings, drawing, sculptures, or similar works as one's own."
• The policy also defines cheating. It includes "Copying, in part or in whole, from another’s test or other evaluation instrument including homework assignments, worksheets, lab reports, essays, summaries, quizzes, etc."  An example would be using a classmate's paper (from your current course or a prior course) to obtain  your answer rather than doing the work yourself. Another example would be working with a classmate to complete an assignment on which you were to present your individual effort.  Cheating would also be using a student paper from a prior semester to get answers to a current assignment that was similar or identical. Also aiding anyone in cheating is a violation of the academic integrity policy.
• When you are asked in a homework assignment to summarize something, that means in your own words.
• When  you are asked a question in an online quiz, you need to answer in your own words. Do not ever cut and paste an answer into an online quiz or homework assignment and turn it in.  That is just wrong. A graduate level student should already know how to do their own work, how to paraphrase and how to reference to where information came from.  Cut and paste is copying and is a violation of the SJSU academic integrity policy.

Additional Information from Professor Nellen - "Avoiding Plagiarism" (required reading for BUS 223A).

When in doubt about anything you can or cannot do - ask your professor.  For example, never assume it is permissible to work with another student your homework.

Updated    October 30, 2021

To reach Professor Annette Nellen

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