Suggested tax book for beginner?

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TonyHouston
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Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2014 3:31 pm

Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by TonyHouston »

I have looked around the WIKI. I did not see a Tax book for investors suggested. I do my own taxes but it has never been more than itemizing for charity, state sales tax or property taxes? I have never had a capital gain that I know of. I see tax harvesting? Yes I read the post but most of it went over my head. I just started reading about investing a couple months ago. Before that I did not know what an index fund or a REIT was. Any suggestion for a book to read to get me started understanding the tax implications of investing? A beginner book maybe?
Thanks
Tony
in Houston
gkaplan
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by gkaplan »

IRS Publication 17. It's free. You can download it from the IRS website, or you can have the IRS mail it to you, which may take awhile.

I checked several hours ago. The 2014 version is not out yet.

(Edited to add "17".)
Last edited by gkaplan on Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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livesoft
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by livesoft »

The IRS has publications that one can access online. I think they are better than a book because one can bite off and chew a little bit at a time.
Pub 17
Pub 550

should give you an idea of whether they suit your purpose. Just use those terms in a web search and they will be in the search results.
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maywood
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by maywood »

Capital Gains, Minimal Taxes by Kaye Thomas, author of tax help website, fairmark.com

http://fairmark.com/books-fairmark-pres ... mal-taxes/
stan1
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by stan1 »

IRS Pub 17 "Your Federal Income Tax" is a great place to start.

Here's a link to 2013 version, should be "good enough" if you just want general info and aren't trying to solve a specific 2014 tax issue (since 2014 pub isn't available yet):
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf

As well written as any book on taxes with plenty of examples. No need to pay for anything else.
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mlipps
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by mlipps »

Volunteer at a VITA tax prep site in your community. You'll learn all that and much more!
Lafder
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by Lafder »

I don't know whether to be impressed of horrified you all are rec reading the IRS guidelines to understand taxes. I would need Aleve plus Tylenol plus something else to have the patience to read and reread those to make sense of them. On the occasions I try to read about a specific question, I do not always have the answer after a few reads of the same pages ! It reminds me of teaching someone to drive by telling them to sit in the driver's seat and read the owner's manual :)

I like something such as this as a simpler starting point so I at least have an understanding of what the rule is generally before trying to make sense of the IRS' writings. For me the IRS info via the internet is more to fact check once I think I have it figured it out by reading after a google search of my question.

This looks like the book I would choose to read :)

http://www.amazon.com/Taxes-Made-Simple ... 8524512803

I have also liked the NOLO book I bought re rental property, and they have a lot of info on their website. (I have no $$ ties to any of these recs)
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/taxes

And, of course the great resource of posting your question here :)
lafder
johnny847
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by johnny847 »

Lafder wrote:I don't know whether to be impressed of horrified you all are rec reading the IRS guidelines to understand taxes. I would need Aleve plus Tylenol plus something else to have the patience to read and reread those to make sense of them.
It's really not that difficult. You just need to read thoroughly and have some patience.
johnny847
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by johnny847 »

mlipps wrote:Volunteer at a VITA tax prep site in your community. You'll learn all that and much more!
This sounds like the best suggestion yet (but, it would definitely take a lot more time than learning just what you need for your taxes). I plan on doing this this tax season, because I actually enjoy doing taxes and learning of legal ways to minimize them.
livesoft
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by livesoft »

Lafder wrote:I don't know whether to be impressed of horrified you all are rec reading the IRS guidelines to understand taxes.
They are just a start. I agree that reading about the foreign tax credit gives one a headache. Do those books you recommended talk about the FTC when one has more than $20,000 in foreign qualified dividends?
How to make adjustments. To adjust your foreign source qualified dividends or capital gain distributions, multiply your foreign source qualified dividends or capital gain distributions in each separate category by 0.3788 if the foreign source qualified dividends or capital gain distributions are taxed at a rate of 15%, and by 0.5051 if they are taxed at a 20% rate. Include the results on line 1a of the applicable Form 1116.
You adjust your foreign source qualified dividends or capital gain distributions taxed at the 0% rate by not including them on line 1a.
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Toons
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by Toons »

I found entering questions at the Turbo Tax website was extraordinarily helpful when I first started doing taxes.
You can do the same at TaxAct and HR Block.Another great site is Fairmark Tax Guide For Investors.:happy


https://ttlc.intuit.com/

http://fairmark.com/forum/index.php
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placeholder
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by placeholder »

I generally find that the IRS publications are pretty well written and have a good set of relevant examples and to besides the ones mentioned anyone with an IRA should read 590 thoroughly.
Last edited by placeholder on Sun Dec 14, 2014 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
njay73
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by njay73 »

Great overview book "Taxes Made Simple: Income Taxes Explained in 100 Pages or Less"

Kindle Price - 4.99 ( I think I paid $9.00) last year.

http://www.amazon.com/Taxes-Made-Simple ... ade+simple
mlipps
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by mlipps »

placeholder wrote:I generally find that the IRS publications are pretty well written and have a good set of relevant examples and to besides the ones mentioned anyone with an IRA should read 590 thoroughly.
Agree, if you have a specific question you're seeking an answer to, the IRS pubs are pretty readable for the most part.
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Epsilon Delta
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by Epsilon Delta »

Some of the third party tax books have huge chunks that are direct copies of the IRS pubs. At one time it was convenient to have information from multiple pubs indexed under one cover, rather than wait for mail from Denver. Not so much since they invented the Internet.
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Peter Foley
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by Peter Foley »

The difficulty with Pub 17 is that it is not organized to take the reader from the simple to the complex. It is a great reference, but not a good learning tool. It also does not look at taxes from the perspective of managing your finances to exercise some control over your annual tax obligation.
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JupiterJones
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by JupiterJones »

A third recommendation here for Mike Piper's excellent "Taxes Made Simple".
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Topic Author
TonyHouston
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Re: Suggested tax book for beginner?

Post by TonyHouston »

Thank you all very much for the suggestions.
Tony
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