How to Pay Zero Taxes, 2002

by Schnepper, Jeff

• ISBN13: 9780071380980
• ISBN10: 0071380981
• Edition: 19th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-12-01
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

Fully updated with all the latest tax changes. Annual guide delivers more tax-saving tips than any other guide. Outlines the easiest, most practical strategies consumers can use to lower their taxes this year, next year, and beyond, by focusing on hundreds of legal ways to preserve pretax income and profit. Softcover.

Table of Contents

Preface	xv
Is It Legal?	1	(10)
How Our Tax System Works	11	(6)
Exclusions-Tax-Free Money	17	(54)
Alternatives to ``Earned Income''	19	(14)
Hospitalization Premiums	19	(1)
Group Life Insurance Premiums	20	(3)
Group Legal Services Plans	23	(1)
Accident and Health Plans	23	(1)
Employee Death Benefits	24	(1)
Merchandise Distributed to Employees on Holidays	24	(1)
``Expenses of Your Employer''	25	(1)
Meals and Lodgings	25	(2)
Employee Discounts	27	(1)
Workers' Compensation	27	(1)
``Cafeteria'' Plans	28	(1)
Dependent Care Assistance Program	28	(2)
Employer Educational Assistance	30	(1)
Employee Awards	30	(3)
Miscellaneous Fringe Benefits	33	(1)
Donative Items	33	(6)
Gifts, Bequests, and Inheritances	33	(1)
Scholarships and Fellowships	34	(3)
Prizes and Awards	37	(2)
Investors	39	(1)
Interest on State and Municipal Obligations	39	(1)
Benefits for the Elderly	40	(10)
Public Assistance Payments	40	(1)
Social Security and Other Retirement Benefits	40	(3)
Retirement Annuities	43	(3)
Sale of Your Home	46	(3)
Buying Your Own Home-Twice!-The Schnepper Bootstrap	49	(1)
Miscellaneous Individual Exclusions	50	(18)
Carpool Receipts	50	(1)
Damages	50	(3)
Divorce and Separation Arrangements	53	(3)
Life Insurance	56	(2)
Qualified State Tuition (§529) Programs	58	(10)
Schedule of Excludable Items	68	(3)
Credits-Dollar-for-Dollar Tax Reductions	71	(26)
Estimated Tax and Withholding Exemptions	72	(4)
Credits	76	(13)
The Earned Income Credit	76	(3)
Excess Social Security Tax	79	(1)
The Child and Dependent Care Credit	79	(2)
Child Care Credits for Children of Divorced or Separated Parents	81	(5)
Credit for the Elderly or Permanently and Totally Disabled	86	(2)
Credit for Interest Paid on Mortgage Credit Certificates	88	(1)
Special Credits	89	(8)
Work Opportunity Credit (Formerly Targeted Jobs Tax Credit)	89	(1)
Welfare to Work Credit	90	(1)
Research Tax Credit	90	(1)
Orphan Drug Tax Credit	91	(1)
Adoption Assistance	91	(2)
Hope Scholarship Credit	93	(1)
Lifetime Learning Credit	93	(1)
Child Tax Credit	93	(1)
District of Columbia-First Time Homebuyer	94	(1)
Disability Credits	95	(2)
``Above the Line'' Deductions	97	(64)
Deductions for Adjusted Gross Income	101	(60)
Trade and Business Deductions	101	(1)
Employee Business Expenses of Actors and Other Performing Artists	102	(1)
Employee Business Expenses	102	(1)
Alimony	103	(8)
Interest on Qualified Education Loans	111	(1)
Retirement Plan Payments	112	(39)
Self-Employment Tax	151	(1)
Health Insurance Deduction for Self-Employeds	151	(1)
Moving Expenses	152	(9)
``Below the Line'' Deductions	161	(104)
The Importance of Filing Status	162	(5)
Tax Planning with Itemized Deductions	167	(90)
Medical Expenses	167	(17)
Income Taxes	184	(1)
Real Property Taxes	185	(2)
Personal Property Taxes	187	(1)
Interest	187	(20)
Charitable Contributions	207	(22)
Casualty Losses	229	(5)
Theft Losses	234	(8)
Miscellaneous Trade and Business Deductions of Employees	242	(1)
Travel Expenses	242	(6)
Transportation Expenses	248	(4)
Meals and Entertainment Expenses	252	(1)
Gifts	253	(2)
Reimbursable Employee Business Expenses	255	(1)
Educational Expenses	255	(1)
Limit on Itemized Deductions	256	(1)
Schedules of Deductions	257	(8)
Medical Deductions	257	(1)
Deductible Taxes	258	(1)
Charitable Deductions	259	(1)
Casualty and Theft Loss Deductions	260	(1)
Miscellaneous Deductions	260	(1)
Employee Miscellaneous Deductions	261	(1)
Investor Deductions	262	(3)
Traditional Tax Shelters	265	(64)
Deferral and Leverage	282	(40)
Real Estate	282	(13)
Fees in Public Real Estate Partnerships	295	(1)
Oil and Gas	295	(10)
Equipment Leasing	305	(4)
Single-Premium Life Insurance	309	(4)
Cattle Feeding Programs	313	(2)
Cattle Breeding Programs	315	(2)
Tax Straddles	317	(2)
Art Reproduction	319	(1)
Noncash Gift Shelters	320	(1)
Municipal Bond Swaps	321	(1)
How to Analyze a Tax Shelter	322	(7)
Getting Out of the Tax Shelter	324	(1)
Master Limited Partnerships	325	(4)
Super Tax Shelters	329	(62)
Family Shifts	330	(23)
Unearned Income of Minor Children	333	(4)
Outright Gifts	337	(4)
Clifford Trusts	341	(1)
Interest-Free Loans	342	(1)
The Schnepper Shelter: Gift Leasebacks	342	(6)
The Schnepper Deep Shelter	348	(1)
Family Partnerships	349	(1)
Family Trusts	349	(1)
Employing Members of the Family	350	(2)
Author's Delight	352	(1)
Running Your Own Business	353	(38)
Your Home	356	(12)
Your Car	368	(3)
Meals and Entertainment	371	(4)
Travel and Vacation	375	(6)
Gifts	381	(1)
Advertising	382	(1)
Deductible Clothes	382	(1)
Creative Deductions-Busting the IRS	382	(1)
Medical Premiums	383	(1)
Borrowing from Your Company	383	(3)
Lending to Your Company	386	(1)
Miscellaneous Corporate Advantages	387	(4)
Investment Planning to Save Taxes	391	(36)
Short Sales	396	(1)
Broad-Based Index Options and Regulated Futures Contracts (RFCs)	397	(1)
Wash Sales	397	(1)
Premiums on Taxable and Tax-Exempt Bonds	398	(1)
Original Issue Discount (OID)-Taxable Bonds	398	(1)
Original Issue Discount (OID)-Tax-Exempt Bonds	398	(1)
Market Discount	399	(1)
Municipal Bond Swaps	399	(1)
Employee Options-Non-Qualified	400	(1)
Incentive Stock Options	401	(5)
Year-End Stock Sales	406	(1)
Fund Strategies	406	(1)
Tax-Exempt Income	407	(2)
Special Report	409	(1)
Old Prices	410	(1)
Alternative Minimum Tax for Individuals	410	(12)
U.S. Savings Bond Exclusion	422	(5)
Last-Minute Tax Planning	427	(14)
Defer Taxes	428	(2)
Accelerate Expenses	430	(1)
Accelerate Special Deductions	431	(1)
Dependents and Personal Exemptions	431	(4)
Phaseout of Exemptions	435	(1)
Timing Strategies	435	(1)
Retirement Plans	436	(1)
Individual Retirement Plans (IRAs)	436	(1)
H.R. 10 or Keogh Plans	437	(1)
Marital Status	438	(1)
The Goldinger Deferral	439	(2)
The Attorneys' and Accountants' Relief Act of 1993	441	(16)
Training and Investment Provisions	443	(1)
Investment Incentives	444	(1)
Expansion and Simplification of Earned Income Tax Credit	445	(1)
Real Estate Provisions	445	(2)
Miscellaneous Provisions	447	(1)
Revenue-Raising Provisions	448	(6)
Business Provisions	454	(3)
Stealth Tax Reform	457	(24)
The New Taxpayer Bill of Rights	458	(4)
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, HR 3734	462	(1)
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, HR 3103	463	(4)
The Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, HR 3448	467	(12)
Tax Relief for Bosnian Effort	479	(2)
Tax Reform-Again!	481	(12)
The Mind-Numbing Complexity of the Tax Reconciliation Act of 1997, Also Known as the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997	482	(11)
The Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998	493	(10)
IRS Reorganization	494	(1)
IRS Governance and Oversight Changes	494	(2)
Extension of Attorney-Client Privilege to Tax Advice	496	(1)
Burden of Proof Shifted to IRS in Certain Civil Tax Cases	497	(1)
Taxpayer Rights	497	(2)
Roth IRA Conversion/Loophole	499	(1)
Capital Gains	499	(1)
Venture Capital	500	(1)
Home Sales Clarification	500	(1)
Conclusion	501	(2)
The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001	503	(32)
Marginal Rate Reductions	504	(5)
Tax Benefits Relating to Children	509	(1)
Marriage Penalty Relief Provisions	510	(3)
Education Incentives	513	(4)
Pension and Individual Retirement Arrangement Provisions	517	(8)
AMT Relief	525	(1)
Health Insurance for Self-Employed	525	(1)
Income Tax Treatment for Certain Restitution Payments to Holocaust Victims	525	(1)
Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Provisions	526	(5)
Sunset	531	(4)
How to Avoid/Survive an IRS Audit	535	(90)
Appendix A Cost Recovery/Depreciation	625	(14)
Appendix B Law Prior to the Tax Reform Act of 1986	639	(4)
Appendix C Law After March 14, 1984 (Real Estate)	643	(12)
Appendix D Business Use of ``Listed Property''	655	(8)
Appendix E Auto Leases	663	(44)
Index	707