Taxes 2008 For Dummies^®

by Eric Tyson; Margaret A. Munro; David J. Silverman

• ISBN13: 9780470175675
• ISBN10: 0470175672
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-01
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

The one-stop tax guide for the first-time or last-minute filer Completely revised for the 2007 tax year, Taxes 2008 For Dummies is the only tax guide on the market that walks readers through the major tax forms line by line, including the 1040 and Schedules A through E. Filled with helpful tips and strategies for filing income tax returns accurately and on time, this book is aimed at individuals who want to do their own taxes without hiring a preparer. Financial expert Eric Tyson teams up with tax experts Margaret Munro and David Silverman to answer the most frequently asked tax questions in plain English. This new edition features a chapter on tax credits, a rundown of key things to remember when filling out common forms (such as Form 6251, the alternative minimum tax, and Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs), information on correcting tax mistakes and audit-proofing a tax return, and a new list of wise, end-of-year tax moves that can add to tax savings.Eric Tyson, MBA, is a financial counselor and the author of bestselling For Dummies books on personal finance, investing, and small business. Margaret A. Munro, EA (Montpelier, VT) is an enrolled agent with decades of experience in handling tax cases. David J. Silverman, EA (New York, NY) also an enrolled agent, has more than 30 years of experience as a tax preparer.

Author Biography

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.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Getting Ready to File

Understanding the U.S. Tax System

Tax Return Preparation Options and Tools

Getting and Staying Organized

No Form Fits All (Or, What Kind of Taxpayer Are You?)

Tackling the Various Forms

Easy Filing: 1040EZ and 1040A

Form 1040: Income Stuff

Form 1040

Adjustments to Income Stuff

The Rest of the 1040

Filling Out Schedules and Other Forms

Itemized Deductions: Schedule A

Interest and Dividend Income: Schedule B (1040), Schedule 1 (1040A)

Business Tax Schedules: C, C-EZ, and F

Capital Gains and Losses: Schedule D

Supplemental Income and Loss: Schedule E

Giving Credits Where Credits Are Due

Other Schedules and Forms to File

Audits and Errors: Dealing with the IRS

Dreaded Envelopes: IRS Notices, Assessments, and Audits

Fixing Mistakes the IRS Makes

Fixing Your Own Mistakes

Year -Round Tax Planning

Tax -Wise Personal Finance Decisions

Reducing Taxes with Retirement Accounts

Small -Business Tax Planning

Your Investments and Taxes

Real Estate and Taxes

Children and Taxes

Estate Planning

The Part of Tens

Ten Tips for Reducing Your Chances of Being Audited

Ten (or So) Often-Overlooked Tax-Reduction Opportunities

Ten Tax Tips for Military Families

Ten Interview Questions for Tax Advisors

Glossary

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.