This course deals with the practical operation of the rule making and dispute resolution in the Australian tax system. It analyses these issues in an over-riding, critical framework. Its longer title might be 'Tax Processes in an Age of Self Assessment'. It is driven by the operation and limits of a modern, computerised tax self-assessment system operating under the pressures of mass decision making.

It examines the role of key tax institutions. More specifically it covers: the functional limits of legislative supervision (including drafting styles, principle based legislation and the imperative of clear, robust tax law); the interaction of the bureaucracy and self-assessing taxpayers based on a Culp Davis delegated decision making model (with particular emphasis on Rulings). This includes rulings as part of the delegation process; the methods of auditing self assessment, and amending assessments in a self assessment framework; the strengths and limits of judicial intervention as a dispute resolution and rule making vehicle, including constitutive rules of courts and the innovative Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The course develops a working familiarity with the framework of review, taxpayer remedies and other legal material on tax procedure. It emphasises the crucial information gathering rules.