Customer Reviews

J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2007: For Preparing Your 2006 Tax Return

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I have used the J. K. Lasser income tax books for years and am always impressed with them: this book for the 2006 tax return is a further refinement of an already excellent product. I have moderately complex returns but always do them myself with the assistance of a computerized tax preparation program. While I believe that I better understand tax law and rules by doing my own returns, the experience is often very trying, which is where this book comes in. The book is well indexed and features realistic and reasonable examples of the common issues that can be encountered in the various areas of return preparation and planning.

The Lasser income tax guides are the best of the home reference books I have found, and I have compared all major publications. (For professionals or for exceptionally convoluted returns Lasser also publishes a much more expensive professional guide, though if you need it I would strongly recommend letting a professional do your returns.) I find that the Lasser book is the most user-friendly, comprehensive, and has the most easy to understand examples of all the competing publications. Don't let the huge size intimidate you; the bulk of the book doesn't apply to all returns, but it proves itself invaluable for the chapters that do pertain to your specific tax situation. I find it particularly helpful in determining the eligibility and legality of deductions and depreciation, as the IRS rules can be especially bewildering in those areas.

I recommend this book highly for anyone preparing their own taxes. Likewise, even if you have a professional prepare your return, this book is good for preparing receipts and lists of deductions and assets for the preparer.

If you can't find the answer to your tax question in this book, you definitely need a CPA!

"JK Lasser's Your Income Tax 2007" is the best reference book for federal income taxes is the business. They have been publishing tax guides for 75 years. We first learned of this valuable resource when we saw it on an IRS auditor's shelf, many years ago. Since then when working in small public libraries it is the only tax guide purchased for the collection.
Of great value is their coding system: Filling tips-when and how, Planning Reminder gives the tax-payer suggestions for year-end tax strategies, Caution points out pitfalls to avoid, Law Alert indicates a recent change in the law, Court Decision signals new Tax Court rulings, and IRS Alert flags key rulings and announcements,not all rulings that affect the code come from the court-they maybe nothing more than a letter from the IRS. But these letters have influence within the department as to how an item is viewed as to its value as a deductible.
This is one of the big guys from which most smaller books have been devised. The volume is cumbersome as more and more information is packed into it, but it is easy to use with a fantastic index. We have include a diagram of the citation system in our book, because it helps the reader to understand the system of indexing. If it is used correctly you can go directly to the pertinent information for your situation.
Nash Black, author of "Taxes, Stumbling Blocks & Pitfalls for Authors 2007."

So this year I decided to venture back into do-it-yourself tax preparation. Armed with TurboTax and J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2007: For Preparing Your 2006 Tax Return, things went really well. If there's anything you need to know about preparing your taxes, you'll be able to find it somewhere in these 800+ pages...

Contents:
Filing Basics: Filing Status
Reporting Your Income: Taxable Wages, Salary, and Other Compensation; Fringe Benefits; Dividend and Interest Income; Reporting Property Sales; Tax-Free Exchanges of Property; Retirement and Annuity Income; IRAs; Income From Rent and Royalties; Loss Restrictions - Passive Activities and At-Risk Limits; Other Income
Claiming Deductions: Deductions Allowed in Figuring Adjusted Gross Income; Claiming the Standard Deduction or Itemized Deductions; Charitable Contribution Deductions; Itemized Deduction for Interest Expenses; Deduction for Taxes; Medical and Dental Expense Deductions; Casualty and Theft Losses and Involuntary Conversions; Deducting Job Costs and Other Miscellaneous Expenses; Travel and Entertainment Expense Deduction; Personal Exemptions
Personal Tax Computations: Figuring Your Regular Income Tax Liability; Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT); Computing the "Kiddie Tax" for Children Under Age 18; Personal Tax Credits Reduce Your Tax Liability; Tax Withholdings; Estimated Tax Payments
Tax Planning: Tax Planning Overview; Tax Savings for Residence Sales; Tax Savings for Investors in Securities; Tax Savings for Investors in Real Estate; Tax Pointers for Investors in Mutual Funds; Educational Tax Benefits; Special Tax Rules for Senior Citizens; Members of the Armed Forces; How To Treat Foreign Earned Income; Planning Alimony and Marital Settlements; Household Employment Taxes ("Nanny Tax"); Gift and Estate Tax Planning
Business Tax Planning: Income or Loss From Your Business or Profession; Retirement Plans for Self-Employed; Claiming Depreciation Deductions; Deducting Car and Truck Expenses; Sales of Business Property; Figuring Self-Employment Tax
Filing Your Return And What Happens After You File: Filing Your Return; Filing Refund Claims, and Amended Returns; If the IRS Examines Your Return
Sample 2006 Tax Forms and Tables; Glossary; Index

Tax preparation isn't fun, and the thought of having to work through an 800 page book to do so isn't appealing. But the layout of the book makes it easy to focus on the areas where you need help. Each section has a number of example situations where you can see the rules as they pertain to a real-life scenario. There are also a number of sidebars (law alerts, planning reminders, cautions, etc.) that are extremely valuable in determining exactly how the legal interpretation of the tax situation plays out. I also appreciate the numerous legal case examples where the IRS ruled one way and the Tax Court overturned the decision. It makes it apparently that an IRS decision does not necessarily mean that you have no other recourse.

This would be a recommended book to have by your side if you're doing anything more than a short-form filing. It will answer the questions behind what or if something is deductible or not, as well as helping you get a head-start on next year's "festivities"...

J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax has for many years been the "Gold Standard" of income tax instruction books. It is clear, complete and comprehensible. I have been using for many years and find it to be a useful adjunct to the computer program that I use to prepare my return. Lasser's book gives excellent explanations of the income tax provisions so that one can have an understanding of the substantive aspects of what is going onto the return. I recommend it without reservation.

This guide has a lot of bulk but not that much substance. Sure, there's a good amount of superficial information that will be helpful to 99% of "straightforward" situations, but if you run your own business, invest in rental real estate, etc, this book will do nothing for you.

You can get a lot of useful information for free from the IRS publications website, and it covers the topic material in more depth and with greater detail. Lasser's guide does add a bit of insight with regard to recent tax dispute rulings and how that might affect the interpretation of some of the IRS codes, but there isn't that much really useful in-depth information.

I thought the Lasser book would be more comprehensive. It certainly is thick enough, but once you look inside its clear that they've spread a modest amount of material very thinly. Just my opinion of course, but for my real estate investment questions, it was absolutely useless to me and I had to go elsewhere. John T. Reed's Agressive Tax Guide is a resource I could recommend for that type of info.

Rather than buy this book, I'd start with IRS Publication 17 "Your Income Tax" and go from there.

This book is a great resource and a must have for everyone, even tax professionals!!

This is a remarkable series (if every year's book is as good as this one is. It really covers almost every situation with clear examples. Although I still had to seek professional advice concerning K1 forms, clear advice on limited partnerships inside an IRA was almost unavailable anywhere else, so I cannot fault Lasser too much.

Great resource.

Very Good book for anyone doing taxes. Put into language for lay person or professional tax preparers.

I have successfully used JK Lasser's for years. The information is accurate and user friendly. Now I can get it at a more reasonable price.

As always, Lasser's is the definitive resource at tax time. There's simply nothing better.