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Identify Deductions and Credits

Coursera via Coursera

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Details

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Certificate Available
Effort

5 weeks, 1 hour a week
Sessions

Self-Paced
Level

Beginner
Subtitles

English

Found in

Tax Law Courses

Overview

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Review C corporation deductions and tax credits with an audit-ready mindset. This course teaches you to evaluate common Form 1120 line items by testing eligibility, verifying substantiation, and using pre-claim checklists before reporting. You'll learn to distinguish deductions from credits based on their tax impact, apply key limitation rules (such as the 50% meals disallowance and charitable contribution limits), and identify the documentation required to support each claim. Practical scenarios help you practice scanning fact patterns, flagging potential issues, and deciding whether an item is ready to claim or needs follow-up. By the end of this course, you'll be able to review corporate tax positions accurately and defensibly—asking not just "Is this deductible?" but "Can we prove it?" This course is designed for entry-level tax analysts and career starters who need a practical framework for corporate tax review. No advanced tax experience is required, though basic familiarity with business tax concepts is helpful.

Syllabus

Audit-First Foundations for Corporate Tax Claims
- This module introduces the audit-first mindset that drives defensible corporate tax review. You'll learn why every tax claim requires both eligibility (legal qualification under the tax code) and substantiation (documentation to prove the claim), and why one without the other puts a position at risk. You'll also practice distinguishing deductions from credits, screening out individual tax concepts that don't belong on a C corporation return, and scanning fact summaries to sort items into actionable categories. These foundational habits shape every review task.
Reviewing Common C Corporation Deductions
- This module covers common deductions that appear on Form 1120 and the review questions that go with them. You'll learn to connect expense categories to the correct line item, apply limitation rules like the 50% meals disallowance and charitable contribution limits, and distinguish currently deductible costs from those requiring capitalization. For each deduction type, you'll identify the substantiation that must be in the file before the item is ready to claim. Strong deduction review requires more than spotting an expense—it requires confirming the treatment is correct and supported.
Reviewing Common Corporate Tax Credits
- This module focuses on corporate tax credits, which reduce tax liability directly rather than reducing taxable income. You'll learn to identify common credits—including the research and development credit and foreign tax credit—match each to the correct IRS form, and test basic eligibility requirements. You'll also practice recognizing when a credit concept belongs to individual taxpayers rather than C corporations, a common source of review errors. Understanding how credits differ from deductions helps you start every review with the right classification.
Documentation Standards and Pre-Claim Review
- This module turns eligibility and substantiation concepts into a repeatable pre-claim checklist. You'll learn what documentation is required for common deductions and credits, how long records should be retained, and how to evaluate whether a file is ready for filing or needs follow-up. You'll also practice communicating documentation gaps clearly—explaining what's missing, why it matters, and what action is needed. A claim that cannot be substantiated is not ready to report, and this module helps you make that call consistently.
Common Mistakes and Applied Corporate Tax Review
- This module ties together everything from the course by reviewing the most common preventable errors in corporate tax work. You'll learn why mistakes happen—missing substantiation, importing individual concepts, skipping limitation checks—and how to catch them before a return is filed. A final case review activity gives you practice classifying a mixed file of deductions and credits, deciding what's ready to claim, what needs follow-up, and what should be removed. By the end, you'll be able to defend your review decisions with clear reasoning, not just instinct.