PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION
(TAX2601)
ASSESSMENT INFORMATION
(2025 Semester 1)
TAX2601/2025/Semester 1/Assessment information
Table of Contents
1. ASSESSMENT PLAN FOR THIS MODULE ........................................................................................... 3
1.1. Formative assessment ................................................................................................................... 3
1.1.1. Formative assessment submission schedule and weightings ................................................. 3
1.1.2. Submission of formative assessments ................................................................................... 4
1.1.3. Remark of a formative written assessment ............................................................................. 5
1.2. Summative assessment (examination) .......................................................................................... 6
1.3. How to calculate your marks .......................................................................................................... 6
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TAX2601/2025/Semester 1/Assessment information
1. ASSESSMENT PLAN FOR THIS MODULE
The assessment plan and all the assessment information of the module is provided in this document.
The semester is quite short and you need to take note of how this module is assessed and plan your studies
and submission of assessments carefully and timeously. The information provided below is therefore
extremely important.
Take very careful note of all the due dates and times when assessments need to be submitted as well as the
instructions on how to submit. Every semester we experience endless issues with students that do not follow
these instructions and this could cause you to fail this module.
1.1. Formative assessment
There are different types of formative assessments during the semester. There are four compulsory
assessments in total. The first two compulsory quiz assessments must be submitted, and a specific minimum
mark achieved, before you can access further learning units. The results of these two assessments DO NOT
count toward the year mark. Then there are two compulsory assessments that count toward your year mark
for this module. Lastly, there are also a number of self-assessment quiz assessments in the learning units.
These self-assessment quizzes are a learning aid and are therefore not compulsory to submit.
The table below sets out the submission schedule for assessments as well as the respective weightings for
the assessments that contributes toward the year mark.
1.1.1. Formative assessment submission schedule and weightings
SEMESTER 1:
to year mark)
(contribution
Assessment
Content of
Open Due (Close)
Weight
Format assessment
Date Time Due date Time
A Quiz 20 January 2025 10am Assessments A&B have no Orientation 0%
B Quiz 24 January 2025 10am specific closing dates / times LU 1 and 2 0%
1 Written 3 April 2025 10am 7 April 2025 10am LU 3, 4 & 5 40%
2 Quiz 25 April 2025 10am 30 April 2025 10am LU 5 & 6 60%
Take careful note of the opening and closing dates AND time (make sure whether the time indicated is in the
morning or evening e.g. am or pm) of assessments and ensure that you submit on time.
If the dates provided above change for any reason whatsoever, we will inform you via an announcement and
on the module page in myModules.
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TAX2601/2025/Semester 1/Assessment information
Assessment A:
Assessment A is a compulsory self-assessment quiz. The assessment covers the content of the Orientation
document and the Assessment information document. You need to read both documents and then answer
the quiz questions. You must obtain a mark of 70% for this quiz before you can get access to further learning
units. You have unlimited attempts to complete the quiz.
Assessment B:
Assessment B is a compulsory self-assessment quiz that covers learning units 1 and 2. You need to obtain a
mark of 50% for this quiz before you can get access to further learning units. You have unlimited attempts to
answer this quiz.
Assessment 1:
Assessment 1 is the first written assignment and will count 40% towards your year mark.
Assessment 2:
Assessment 2 is a quiz assessment and will count 60% towards your year mark.
1.1.2. Submission of formative assessments
Systems and processes at Unisa are very formalised. This is partly due to the fact that Unisa has so many
students. In order to avoid bottlenecks with the online submission of assessments, due dates and time are
approved in advance according to strict schedules. Any changes to submission dates and times must first be
approved by the assessment department of Unisa and can therefore not be changed (for an extension) on an
ad hoc basis by lecturers.
Take note of the following submission guidelines:
• Read the instructions provided for each assessment very carefully.
• A quiz assessment must be answered online during a timed session within the period that the
assessment is open (you will be informed of the duration of the timed session in the assessment
instructions). You must be online during the whole time that you complete the assessment.
• A quiz assessment consists of randomly drawn multiple choice questions (MCQs).
• Written assessments can be completed (in written or typed format) in your own time during the period
that the assessment is open and must be uploaded in pdf format only.
• Presentation of the answer in a written assessment:
We request that you do not present your answer to a tax calculation by providing the answer and then
by making use of a note to show the calculations separately (e.g. at the end of the answer or on a
different page). With electronic marking this makes marking extremely challenging as it takes a great
deal of time to jump between pages. We therefore request that you please keep your answers and the
accompanying calculations together to make marking easier and less likely for a marker to miss marks.
• Pdf documents need to be less than 50Mb in size.
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TAX2601/2025/Semester 1/Assessment information
• Do not take photographs of a document with a cell phone and then convert it to pdf. The file will be too
large to upload. Also, it usually comes up on our side as a corrupt file that cannot be marked. Rather
scan the document directly to pdf with a scanner or cell phone. There are a number of apps for cell
phones available that can do this (e.g. Microsoft Lens, CamScanner, etc.).
A word of warning:
• Do not skip any assessment, but rather submit all of them on or before the due date and time. This
may just be your saving grace if you do miss another assessment due to circumstances beyond your
control.
• We all know that “life happens”, so whenever possible, rather do not wait for the due date and time,
be wise and allow for adverse circumstances and try to submit the assessment a bit before the due
date and time slot. This will also help if you have an unexpected power failure.
• If you do wait for the last moment to submit an assessment, ensure beforehand that your myUnisa
login credentials are still valid. No exceptions will be made for late submissions due to this issue.
• If there is a system issue on Unisa’s side we are usually made aware of it. You need to provide proof
that the system was down. Usually this is done by taking a screenshot / snippet of the error message
on the screen. However, this screenshot / snippet should include the date and time reflected on the
device at the moment that the system issue happened, otherwise we cannot consider it.
• Once you have uploaded a pdf document, OPEN IT AND DOUBLE CHECK that you uploaded the
correct document. If you upload the wrong document (we mostly find that students upload either the
assignment question itself, the answer to a previous assessment, a document from another module,
or sometimes even personal documents), then we can’t allocate any marks. Resubmissions after the
marks were made available is not possible, since the solution has then been released already.
PLEASE CHECK your upload immediately and re-upload if necessary.
• Communicate with us directly after an assessment closed if you experienced issues with the
submission. DO NOT WAIT until the admission to the examination must be finalised and then complain
that you could not submit an assessment. By then it is too late and nothing can be done.
• We as the lecturers, do understand that sometimes real tragedy or a very serious illness does occur
and we always try our utmost to accommodate such instances. However, we will require legitimate
proof and we retain the right to decide whether the situation calls for an exception or not.
1.1.3. Remark of a formative written assessment
Once a written assessment has been marked and the results released, you need to work through the marked
assessment together with the suggested solution that is uploaded. This is part of the learning process which
allows you to see why you lost marks and where you should improve, in order to apply this to the next
assessment.
If you do not agree with the marks awarded to you for the assessment, you need to indicate clearly on your
marked assessment where you think you should get a mark/marks and then submit this document via e-mail
to [email protected] and request a remark. This process must be completed within the given time frame
as provided for that assessment (which will be communicated in an announcement). Due to the large
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TAX2601/2025/Semester 1/Assessment information
student numbers we cannot remark assessments outside of this time frame. Therefore, do not wait to request
a remark at the end of the semester when you realise that you need a mark or two to pass. Due to our high
student numbers, this cannot and will not be accommodated.
Take note that marks of assessments reflected in myModules is a separate system from the marks as reflected
in the “Assignment view” under the myAdmin tab. Once you have completed a quiz or your mark for a written
assessment is released, it may take a few days before the mark will reflect in the “Assignment view”.
Furthermore, the mark in myModules for a written assessment is the mark obtained (e.g. 30/50), whereas the
mark reflected in the “Assignment view” is converted to a percentage (e.g. 60%).
1.2. Summative assessment (examination)
The summative assessment for this module consists of a written (take home) examination of 100 marks that
is written/typed during the examination period of the semester.
Assessment Weight Year mark Weight Final mark
Assessment 1 40%
% 30% You need a final mark of 50% to pass the
Assessment 2 60%
module.
Examination 70%
Keep in mind that it is recommended to use a laptop/desktop computer to write the examination, as you will
need to use the invigilator app on your cell phone while writing/typing the examination. However, you can still
write the examination on paper and scan and upload your answer script with your phone while using the
Invigilator app.
The necessary information in order for you to successfully write the examination and upload your answers will
be communicated to you timeously during the semester. Keep an eye on the “Examination” tab on the module
page for more information.
1.3. How to calculate your marks
Here is an illustration on how to calculate your final mark:
Year Final
Assessment Marks Weight Calculation Weight Calculation
mark mark
(56% x 40%) =
Assessment 1 51% 40%
20% (59% x 30%) =
57% 30%
(62% x 60%) = 17,1%
Assessment 2 62% 60% 56%
37%
(56% x 70%) =
Examination 56% 70%
39,2%
©Unisa
2025
