Individual Income Tax Procedures and GAAP vs. Income Tax Law

Accounting A — Supplemental Michigan CTE Module

Michigan Finance CTE — CIP 52.0800

This short unit covers two Michigan Finance competencies that are not fully addressed in our regular Accounting A textbook sequence.

Michigan CTE Competencies

A3 — Explain the individual income tax procedures and requirements to comply with tax laws and regulations.

A4 — Distinguish between GAAP and income tax law. 

What You Will Learn

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:

- Identify the basic steps and documents used in the individual income-tax filing process.

- Explain filing status, gross income, deductions, taxable income, tax liability, credits, withholding, refunds, and balances due.

- Explain taxpayer recordkeeping and filing responsibilities.

- Explain the importance of filing and payment deadlines.

- Distinguish lawful tax avoidance from tax evasion.

- Distinguish financial accounting under GAAP from income-tax accounting.

- Explain why book income and taxable income may be different.

- Identify simple permanent and temporary book-tax differences.

- Complete a basic book-to-tax reconciliation.

Day 1 — Individual Income Tax Procedures 

Day 2 — GAAP vs. Income Tax Law 

Day 3 — Applied Case and Review