Tax Education Professional: research and ethics

01

The tax educator's job and the authority ladder

In simple words

When you are not sure about a game rule, you can ask a friend, read a post online, or open the official rule book. The rule book wins. A tax educator always goes back to the rule book, explains it in plain words, and says "ask an expert" when a question is about someone's own money.

Before this course: Small Business Tax Concepts: GST/HST, payroll and incorporation (course 5.8.3). You can already explain value-added sales tax, payroll, business structures and a small business tax calendar. This course moves from knowing the concepts to researching them like a professional, teaching them safely and reviewing other people's work.

Key facts

Three jobs, one boundary. A tax educator (1) teaches general ideas, (2) researches official sources and shows where facts come from, and (3) refers personal questions to a qualified professional. Telling a person what to claim, how to file or how much they owe is advice, not education.
The authority ladder (strongest first):

Rung	What it is	How much weight
1. The law	The tax act passed by the legislature	The rule itself
2. Regulations	Detailed rules made under the law	Also law
3. Court decisions	How judges read the law in real cases	Can settle what the law means
4. Agency guidance	Guides, forms, folios, memoranda from the tax agency	The agency's view of the law
5. Professional commentary	Articles and books by accountants and lawyers	Helpful, but an opinion
6. Social media and forums	Posts, videos, comments	Never enough on its own

Canada worked example, the law: the Department of Justice publishes the Income Tax Act on the Justice Laws Website. When checked, the page said the text was current to 2026-10-19 and last amended on 2026-06-18, and that shaded provisions are not in force.
Canada worked example, guidance: the CRA publishes Income Tax Folios, grouped into seven series (from Series 1, Individuals, to Series 7, Charities, Non-profit Organizations and other Tax Exempt Entities). The CRA says folios "will be replacing interpretation bulletins over the next several years".
Guidance is the agency's view, not the law. For example, in its GST/HST memorandum on rulings, the CRA writes: "We are not bound by the interpretations that we issue" (Lesson 3).
Every country has its own tax agency, main tax law and main guides. The box shows where to start in each.

In your country

The agency is the CRA. Sole proprietors report business income on Form T2125, explained in guide T4002, and are taxed on net income (income minus allowable expenses).
Source: CRA, guide T4002: www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publicatio

The agency is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Self-employed people report business income and costs on Schedule C (Form 1040) and figure self-employment tax on Schedule SE.
Source: IRS, Self-employed individuals tax center: www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/self-employed-in

The agency is the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Self-employed people and professionals use Form 1701Q for the quarterly return and Form 1701 or 1701A for the annual return.
Source: BIR Form 1701-MS guide (Aug 2024): bir-cdn.bir.gov.ph/BIR/pdf/1701-MS%20Guide%20August%202024%20ENCS_Fina

The agency is the State Taxation Administration (STA). Self-employed people and individual businesses pay Individual Income Tax on "business income" under the Individual Income Tax Law.
Source: Individual Income Tax Law (STA): www.chinatax.gov.cn/n810219/n810744/n3752930/n3752974/c3970366/content

The agency is the National Tax Agency (NTA). A final tax return (kakutei shinkoku) is generally filed between 16 February and 15 March of the following year.
Source: NTA, Final tax return: www.nta.go.jp/english/taxes/individual/12011.htm

The agency is the National Tax Service (NTS). Returns are filed through Hometax, and the NTS publishes English guides for foreigners.
Source: NTS English guide page: www.nts.go.kr/english/na/ntt/selectNttInfo.do?mi=10788&bbsId=30698

Step by step

Draw the six-rung authority ladder on one page.
Write your country's tax agency and its main guide for self-employed people next to rung 4 (use the box).
Find your country's main income tax law on an official government site and write its name next to rung 1.
Pick one tax "tip" you saw online this month (practice only) and place it on the ladder.
Find the official page that covers the same topic, and place it on the ladder too.
Write one sentence on the difference you found between the tip and the official page.
Check: the official page sits on rung 1, 2 or 4, and the online tip sits on rung 5 or 6.

Watch on YouTube

Who can you trust? Judging sources onlineCrashCourse · YouTube · youtube.com

Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.

LESSON 01The tax educator's job and the authority ladder

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00

Voice

Read the video script

[Host] "Someone online says a cost is 'fully deductible'. How would a tax professional check?"
[Screen: a ladder with six rungs, law at the top, social media at the bottom] "They climb the authority ladder: the law, regulations, court decisions, agency guidance, commentary, and last, social media."
[Text on screen: guidance = the agency's view] "Agency guides are very useful, but they are the agency's view of the law, not the law itself."
[Text on screen: teach, research, refer] "A tax educator has three jobs: teach ideas, research sources, and refer personal questions to a professional."
[Host] "Climb the ladder before you repeat a tip. Your country's starting points are in the box."

Try it now

Collect five tax claims from posts, videos or conversations (practice only). Place each one on the authority ladder, find the official page for each, and mark it "matches", "partly matches" or "does not match".

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Tax Education Professional: research and ethics" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "The tax educator's job and the authority ladder".

What the lesson teaches:
- Three jobs, one boundary. A tax educator (1) teaches general ideas, (2) researches official sources and shows where facts come from, and (3) refers personal questions to a qualified professional. Telling a person what to claim, how to file or how much they owe is advice, not education.
- The authority ladder (strongest first):
- Rung - What it is - How much weight
- 1. The law - The tax act passed by the legislature - The rule itself
- 2. Regulations - Detailed rules made under the law - Also law
- 3. Court decisions - How judges read the law in real cases - Can settle what the law means
- 4. Agency guidance - Guides, forms, folios, memoranda from the tax agency - The agency's view of the law

The exercise I'm working on:
Collect five tax claims from posts, videos or conversations (practice only). Place each one on the authority ladder, find the official page for each, and mark it "matches", "partly matches" or "does not match".

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
4. This is for learning only. Remind me to check with a licensed professional before I make a real decision about my own money, health or legal situation.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "The tax educator's job and the authority ladder" from the course "Tax Education Professional: research and ethics".

Here's what the lesson says:
When you are not sure about a game rule, you can ask a friend, read a post online, or open the official rule book. The rule book wins. A tax educator always goes back to the rule book, explains it in plain words, and says "ask an expert" when a question is about someone's own money.

The activity:
Collect five tax claims from posts, videos or conversations (practice only). Place each one on the authority ladder, find the official page for each, and mark it "matches", "partly matches" or "does not match".

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Keep it general and educational. This is not advice for a real situation.

Open Claude

Sources

Justice Laws Website, Income Tax Act: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-3.3/
CRA, Income tax folios index: www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/technical-information/inc
CRA, GST/HST Memorandum 1-4, Excise and GST/HST rulings and interpretations service: www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publicatio

My notes

I learned this

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