Using source documents to enhance a cumulative tax case study: W-2 example

Using source documents to enhance a cumulative tax case study: W-2 example

The introduction to federal income taxation of individuals is a course commonly offered as part of most accounting programs. After review of the resources and textbooks available for this course, it is evident that content coverage is similar and most (if not all) textbooks first cover detailed federal tax rules, and later require students to apply those rules to a comprehensive tax calculation problem. The goal of this paper is to offer a more realistic approach to these comprehensive problems by incorporating source document analyzation as part of the tax preparation/calculation, as opposed to presenting the data in a simple paragraph. As evidenced in this case study, utilizing source documents as part of a comprehensive problem provides the students with exposure the real-world tax profession and enhances the learning environment by closing the gap between theory and practice.

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