LAWS 9926 Taxation I (Individual Income Taxation)

Taxation I is the basic introductory course in federal income taxation. In contrast to courses in the first year, it is principally a statutory course, dealing with the Internal Revenue Code and the Regulations. The focus of the course is divided between mastery of the technical tax principles and understanding of the basic policy judgments which are implicit in those principles. For a student who takes no additional tax courses, Taxation I should provide an overall understanding of how the federal income taxation system functions. For students desiring to continue their studies of tax, Taxation I develops the themes which will be recurring in later courses and forms the basis on which the subsequent tax courses build.

Course overview

Department
Law
School
LAW
Credits
4
Level
Graduate
Offered
Every Fall, Every Spring

Course evaluations

Response-weighted averages from Boston College’s official course evaluations (Avalanche/Blue).

Course rating
4.40 / 5 · Very Good
504 responses
Instructor rating
4.63 / 5 · Excellent
504 responses
Terms evaluated
10
Most recent: Spring 2026

Scales: overall ratings run from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent); agreement questions from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree); weekly effort from 1 (up to 1 hour) to 5 (10 or more hours).

Evaluations by term and instructor
TermInstructorCourse overallInstructor overallWell organizedClear learning objectivesIntellectually challengingHelpful assignmentsApplicable beyond courseAttendance necessaryWeekly effortResponses
Spring 2026James Repetti4.34.54.54.74.74.74.84.74–6 hrs/week22 of 25
Fall 2025Diane Ring4.64.84.64.74.84.64.74.94–6 hrs/week66 of 75
Spring 2025James Repetti4.34.64.34.44.74.64.74.74–6 hrs/week39 of 43
Fall 2024Diane Ring4.74.94.84.94.84.84.84.84–6 hrs/week32 of 37
Spring 2024Diane Ring4.74.84.84.74.84.74.74.94–6 hrs/week48 of 52
Fall 2023Diane Ring—————————30 of 32
Fall 2023James Repetti—————————51 of 63
Spring 2023Diane Ring4.54.64.54.54.74.74.44.74–6 hrs/week25 of 26
Fall 2022James Repetti4.34.54.54.64.74.44.54.64–6 hrs/week66 of 80
Fall 2022Shu-Yi Oei4.04.34.14.44.84.34.44.54–6 hrs/week41 of 43
Spring 2022Shu-Yi Oei4.44.54.44.54.64.64.54.77–9 hrs/week20 of 31
Fall 2021James Repetti4.44.74.54.74.84.64.74.74–6 hrs/week64 of 81

Data freshness

Course and evaluation data last updated 2026-10-09. Source details and limitations are documented in Data Sources and Methodology.

Instructors

  • Diane Ring
    Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 · Official rating 4.78/5
  • James Repetti
    Spring 2026, Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 · Official rating 4.58/5
  • Shu-Yi Oei
    Fall 2022, Spring 2022 · Official rating 4.36/5