About the Book
Tax season doesn't just have to be about paying Uncle Sam his due. Sure, giving up your hard earned dollars hurts, but you can turn lemons into lemonade by turning knowledge into immediate and long term tax savings. What's more, wising up about your tax situation can only increase your financial savvy and bolster your future fiscal health. Combining tax preparation and tax planning advice, "Taxes 2007 For Dummies" is the latest offering in the highly praised "Taxes For Dummies" series. This easy and fun guide (yes, a fun tax guide) walks you line by line through the most common forms, with analysis especially relevant for TurboTax and other tax software users. Fully updated for 2006, including Alternative Minimum Tax relief and Roth IRA conversions, this handy resource covers critical tax code changes and provides new tips for money saving end of year tax moves. You'll find out how to: itemize your deductions; negotiate with the IRS; take advantage of tax credits to reduce what you owe; make tax wise personal finance decisions; avoid common mistakes before you file; audit proof your tax return; and, fill out the dreaded Schedule D.
Packed with standout tips, tax cut opportunities, warnings, reminders, and sidebars, "Taxes 2007 For Dummies" is a clear road map to doing your taxes in 2007 and to wisely planning your future finances for years ahead.
Table of Contents:
Introduction. Part I: Getting Ready to File. Chapter 1: Understanding the U.S. Tax System. Chapter 2: Tax Return Preparation Options and Tools. Chapter 3: Getting and Staying Organized. Chapter 4: No Form Fits All (Or, What Kind of Taxpayer Are You?). Part II: Tackling the Various Forms. Chapter 5: Easy Filing: 1040EZ and 1040A. Chapter 6: Form 1040: Income Stuff. Chapter 7: Form 1040, Part II: Adjustments to Income Stuff. Chapter 8: The Rest of the 1040. Part III: Filling Out Schedules and Other Forms. Chapter 9: Itemized Deductions: Schedule A. Chapter 10: Interest and Dividend Income: Schedule B (1040), Schedule 1 (1040A). Chapter 11: Business Tax Schedules: C, C EZ, and F. Chapter 12: Capital Gains and Losses: Schedule D. Chapter 13: Supplemental Income and Loss: Schedule E. Chapter 14: Giving Credits Where Credits Are Due. Chapter 15: Other Schedules and Forms to File. Part IV: Audits and Errors: Dealing with the IRS. Chapter 16: The Dreaded Envelope: IRS Notices, Assessments, and Audits. Chapter 17: Fixing Mistakes the IRS Makes. Chapter 18: Fixing Your Own Mistakes. Part V: Year Round Tax Planning. Chapter 19: Tax Wise Personal Finance Decisions. Chapter 20: Reducing Taxes with Retirement Accounts. Chapter 21: Small Businesses and Tax Planning. Chapter 22: Your Investments and Taxes. Chapter 23: Real Estate and Taxes. Chapter 24: Children and Taxes. Chapter 25: Estate Planning. Part VI: The Part of Tens. Chapter 26: Ten Tips for Reducing Your Chances of Being Audited. Chapter 27: Ten (or So) Often Overlooked Tax Reduction Opportunities. Chapter 28: Ten (Plus One) Tax Tips for Military Members (and Their Families). Chapter 29: Ten Interview Questions for Tax Advisors. Glossary. Index.
About the Author :
Eric Tyson, MBA, is a bestselling author, syndicated columnist, and lecturer. He works with and teaches people from myriad income levels and backgrounds, so he knows the financial and tax questions and concerns of real folks. After toiling away for too many years as a management consultant to behemoth financialservice firms, Eric decided to take his knowledge of the industry and commit himself to making personal financial management accessible to all of us. Despite being handicapped by a joint B.S. in Economics and Biology from Yale and an MBA from Stanford, Eric remains a master at keeping it simple. An accomplished freelance personal finance writer, Eric is the author of other For Dummies national bestsellers on Personal Finance, Investing, Real Estate Investing, and Home Buying. His work has been critically acclaimed in hundreds of publications and programs including Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and NBC's Today Show, ABC, CNBC, PBS's Nightly Business Report, CNN, FOX TV, CBS national radio, Bloomberg Business Radio, and Business Radio Network. Margaret Atkins Munro, EA, (who answers to Peggy) is a tax advisor, writer, and lecturer with more than 30 years' experience in various areas of taxation and finance with a mission in life to make taxes understandable to anyone willing to learn. Her practice is concentrated in the areas of family tax, small business, trusts, estates, and charitable foundations. She is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University and has also attended University College Cork (Ireland) and the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto, and she feels that her ability to decipher the language in the Internal Revenue Code derives completely from her familiarity with a variety of obscure medieval languages. Peggy is the author of 529 & Other College Savings Plans For Dummies. She lectures for the IRS annually for its volunteer tax preparer programs and speaks on a variety of tax related topics. David J. Silverman, EA, has served on the Advisory Group to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. David has a Certificate in Taxation from New York University and has been in private practice in Manhattan for more than 25 years. He regularly testifies on tax issues before both the Senate Finance Committee and the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means. As the result of his suggestions regarding penalty reform that he made while testifying before these committees, legislation was enacted that reduced the amount of penalties that may be assessed in a number of key areas. David is the author of Battling the IRS, which has received critical acclaim in The New York Times, Money, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other publications. David has been a contributing editor and wrote a monthly column for Smart Money magazine and is frequently interviewed on national TV and radio as an expert on tax issues.
