Customer Reviews

The Ernst & Young Tax Guide 2001

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This guide makes it quick and easy to find an answer to your tax question. Information is clear and concise, usually with examples of what qualifies and what doesn't. Often it includes IRS opinion and Tax Court rulings on how the law is interpreted. Contains virtually everything you need to file your own taxes, understand why or why not a deduction is allowed, and two copies of the forms you need. This is NOT a tutorial for someone who has never done their own taxes. In the past five years my 1040 has become more complex. I've bought a rental property, started investing in the market, and working from my home office. This guide is why I can still file my own return.

Helps You Make the Most Out of the 2001 Tax Law!

The new, 2002 version of this book deserves more than five stars.

As background for reading and considering this review, please be aware that I am an attorney, did well when I studied tax in law school, and employ a top CPA to help me do my tax planning and prepare my returns. Despite all of this background, I find it hard to keep up with the tax laws. Since I became a member of the bar, the number of pages in the Internal Revenue Code has doubled as have the number of pages of tax regulations.

I was inspired to read this book when a conversation with my CPA left me with 14 areas that I wanted to understand in much more detail. I could have asked him, but that would be very costly because he charges by the hour and would have to do research to find out what I wanted to know. Realizing from experience that working with the IRS code and regulations could take many hours, I hoped this book would serve as a time saver, and it did! I found the answers to my 14 questions in less than an hour, and also located several hundred dollars of potential tax savings that I need to discuss with my CPA. The experience was a very satisfying one.

The Federal tax laws changed in 2001, applying to both your 2001 tax return and to future years. Whenever Congress changes the tax law, you need to be alert. If you continue to do what you have done before, you may well make costly mistakes that could lead to extra taxes needing to be paid or even worse, owing money for penalties and interest.

The Ernst & Young Tax Guide 2002 is remarkably helpful in dealing with the 2001 tax law changes. The book opens with a summary of what changed, and gives you references to the sections where you can get more details for your 2001 return. The following section goes on to describe the other changes that will be phased in during 2002 and later years.

To test the guide, I also checked out the most difficult questions that I had had to deal with in the last 20 years, where I was pretty sure the law had not changed. Each of these questions was also accurately and succinctly described.

I was very impressed that I could look up answers in any one of many different ways. The actual 2001 tax forms and instructions are bound into the volume. So that was one starting point. There were also detailed chapters on common topics, from handling mutual funds to taxes on child-care providers. So I could start there. The index was also very complete, and I could dive in from that direction. In addition, the cross-references in the text were very complete and would send me to the right section of the right page.

If you prepare your own returns and have a somewhat complicated return, you will also benefit from the many worksheets in the book. If you are about to start working with an accountant, you will save time and money by using the many lists in the book for what to collect and how to organize it (a pile of paper in a shoe box is not the right way to go!).

You might think that it's too late to affect your 2001 taxes. Actually, you still have some choices open, such as whether or not to make contributions to IRAs between now and April 15. If you are going to be late in making your last estimated tax payment in January, you may also be able to avoid penalties by filing before February 1 and paying what you owe when you file.

May your future not tax you needlessly!

I started doing my taxes early this year. Only two books worth buying, 1. The 2001 Ernst & Young Tax Guide or 2. The 2001 JK Lasser's Your Income Tax. All the others don't even come close to the thoroughness and reputation of both of these books. My preference is the Ernst & Young guide, although my business partner uses Lasser for reference.

I have done Taxes for 10 years and I always get this book to help me catch up on the newest tax changes.It is easy to use and simple to follow. You can look up almost any subject and find it very easily. I recomend this book to anyone, no matter if you are a Professional or someone who just likes to do there own taxes.

Tax time won't go away, but this book makes it easier to meet the deadline. This guide is complete, providing information on every aspect of taxes. The chapters are divided in a way that allows the reader to quickly locate the information they desire without having to sift through pages of information not relating to their individual needs. The numerous examples which accompany the clearly written information make it even easier to understand. Locating exactly what the reader seeks is quickened by the highlighted areas and bold typed titles. The sample work sheets, graphs, and tables are wonderful examples and clarify the information even more. We were flood victims in 1997 and the information was extremely helpful on dealing with our loss. Disaster areas are listed city by city, with the dates and the cause of the disaster, eliminating any questions as to what qualified. There are chapters to cover foreign citizens working in the U.S. as well as U.S. citizens working abroad. There is a chapter helping you plan ahead for 1998, explaining in detail changes and things you can do now to help later. There is a chapter, whch hopefully won't be used, explaining and guiding you through an examination by the IRS. The book begins by alerting the user to tax law changes for 1997, and some that are changing in 1998. There are lists of reminders, common errors, and frequently overlooked deductions. These pages are followed by work sheets to get you started. The glossary in the back defines any terms the reader is not familiar with in easy to understand language. The book also contains forms to fit almost all tax needs. This book could guide a novice or be a wonderful resource to the seasoned taxpayer. This is a complete guide, well written, easy to understand and use. It is a great asset.

This is the tax guide to buy each year. Unfortunately, it comes out later than the others. Fortunately, that helps ensure it is more accurate and up-to-date.

We have been doing our own taxes for many years, for ourselves, some relatives and volunteering for low-income families. This is the reference we have next to us.

The past couple years we have done BOTH paper and computer tax filing. This book is still needed with BOTH.

Actually, they should call this book Taxes for Retards. I bought it with the hope that it would make doing my taxes a little bit easier this time around. No such luck.

Most of the matter covered in the book is of a very elementary nature - that much you can figure out just by reading the IRS publications for the relevant forms.

In most instances, i found that i had to go back to the irs publication whenever i had any doubt - the book only covered everything superficially.

if you had no idea that irs publishes instructions for all forms or are among the esteemed few who think taxes are optional and/or that the slavery deduction is real- this book is for you. for others who have a fairly good idea of what you are doing, save the ** bucks and spend them elsewhere.

When it comes to understanding and preparing tax returns, or understanding taxation in general, you cannot beat Ernst and Young. When Canada first implemented the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the company of Ernst and Young was among the first to come out with a publication fully explaining this often frustrating, mind-boggling and sometimes complicated tax. Their tax guides are commonly found in many accounting firms and contain excellent resource material. As one who provides information on taxation to my business management class, I have found the information contained here to be thorough and up to date. If I have a taxation question (taxation laws are forever changing,) the Ernst and Young Taxation Guide is the first place I search for the answer. This guide is an excellent book for the resource library and one any business office should have on hand.

Based upon media quotes on cover, I made the mistake of buying this NY City like phone directory of taxes.

It's confusing, cumbersome, and poorly written. It doesn't clearly explain many important topics and often punts by saying hire a CPA which of course is what these authors are.

In many places, rather than explaining issues in their own words, they simply lifted full pages of text from (free) IRS publications!

This is the best tax guide on the market. We use it in conjunction with TurboTax to do our taxes, which we file electronically. The tax guide comes in handy for in-depth review of some aspects as well as having a hard-copy throughout the year (well after taxes are filed) so that we can make informed tax decisions. It is a little pricey, but the ton of information and good examples make it worthwhile.