Taxes For Dummies 2005

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Especially the Advice on Dealing with the IRS
Review: Easy-to-read, well organized, and thoroughly helpful. I recommend "Taxes 2005 for Dummies" to people who want to prepare their own taxes, either by hand or by computer. Excellent advice and strategies for dealing with the IRS.

Pros:
Table of contents lists each line of the tax form, making information easy to find. Provides instructions for the 1040EZ, 1040A and 1040. (Most books just cover the 1040.) Icons indicate tax-saving tips and warnings to keep you out of trouble. The writers have done an excellent job of turning IRS technical jargon into something we can actually understand. The only book that guides you step by step to dealing with the IRS. If you received a letter from the IRS (and one out of three taxpayers do, according to the book), this book will tell you what the letter means, and how to respond to it. The authors even provide sample letters so you can respond promptly. The exceptionally well-written advice for dealing with the IRS is worth the price of the whole book. The section on tax planning is well-balanced and sensible. Unique are the authors' tips on how tax planning impacts financial aid for college. Provides sensible tips for finding a tax preparer, including a list of ten questions to ask during your initial interview. Information on reconstructing missing tax records is superb. The authors provide excellent suggestions for substantiating cost basis, business expenses, and fair market value.

Cons:
Some of the major problems taxpayers face are given very cursory treatment. For example, clients with losses of any kind (rental income, stock investing, or business) need to keep excellent records to protect themselves. I wish the authors had presented tips for what records to keep to defend their tax losses.

Very Minor Problems:
No book, however comprehensive, can include everything. At particular points, the reader is directed to IRS publications and instructions for further details. A do-it-yourself taxpayer may need instructions and worksheets not found in this book. Also, the book does not include tax forms, so you will need to obtain them elsewhere (library, post office, on the Internet).

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive, but sometimes vague
Review: I like this book a lot, because it gave me great ideas about how to structure my finances to take advantage of the tax deductions the government provides.

While the book makes it easy to read and understand your tax return, it fails in its efforts to make complicated tax issues simple. In many cases, I found more questions than answers, particularly in the parts that talk about the section 179 deduction and the modifications made after September 11, 2001.

If you are looking to be able to read and understand your tax return and to identify the tax deductions that are available, this is a great book. Even after reading it, however, you'll probably need a professional tax preparer to make sure you're doing it all correctly.

Rating:
Summary: Readable and Helpful
Review: I purchased this book because I was using TaxCut Standard, which is not very helpful at times, and I got stuck on a particular form. This book helped me to understand the Individual 1040, using language that is more clear and personable than the official IRS instructions.

Anybody who itemizes deductions, or who might do so in the future, will find _Taxes for Dummies_ extremely helpful. Plus, throughout the book, there are tips for handling personal finances. Most of these are geared toward the higher-income earner, but nearly everyone can learn from the tips about home ownership and retirement savings. The advice is sound.

I strongly recommend this book as an aid for preparing one's own 2003 taxes.

Rating:
Summary: Simply, required reading for EVERBODY.
Review: This book should be required reading for everbody--starting at the High School Level and adding it to the "reading list." This book helped me save about $20,000 over three years on my taxes. By helping you to understand the tax "system" you'll better appreciate why we pay taxes, how to pay them correctly, how to pay ONLY what you owe, and how to change your spending and savings habits to focus on the tax ramifications. It is written in PLAIN english. Simply superb. Simply the best book on the subject.

Rating:
Summary: Good for basics and new tax law description/definition.
Review: This book should be required reading for everbody--starting at the High School Level and adding it to the "reading list." This book helped me save about $20,000 over three years on my taxes. By helping you to understand the tax "system" you'll better appreciate why we pay taxes, how to pay them correctly, how to pay ONLY what you owe, and how to change your spending and savings habits to focus on the tax ramifications. It is written in PLAIN english. Simply superb. Simply the best book on the subject.

Rating:
Summary: Good no-nonsense guide to all sorts of tax situations
Review: This book tries it's hardest to explain taxes in an easy to understand fashion for us normal people who don't have time to look through those extremely complex IRS instructions and other gibberish they give us taxpayers. The book does a pretty decent job of it too (however to accomplish that flawlessly, in my humble opinion, is impossible). Overall, any individual or small business that needs a few clues on how to do your taxes can benefit from this book. I can't wait for the 2001 edition to come out!

Rating:
Summary: fernominal
Review: why read this at all?just twirl your locks and fiddle them like me.