Newest Entry Among Tax Advice Books Is Far and Away the Best : Publications: “Taxes for Dummies” is fun to read and teaches about the tax system itself.
Tinkering with the U.S. tax code has become such a congressional habit that nary a year goes by without a change, minor or massive. Now, as roughly 113 million Americans grapple with filing their returns, these ever-evolving rules will send millions to bookstores, searching for the latest and clearest tax advice.
If you’re among the advice-seeking masses, there’s good news in 1995. The newest entry in the crowded tax book market is far and away the best.
Indeed, it’s odd to say this about a tax guide, but “Taxes for Dummies” by Eric Tyson and David J. Silverman is actually fun to read.
That’s because “Taxes for Dummies,” which retails for $14.99, is not designed to be yet another what-do-you-put-on-Line-17 type of guide. It tells you a bit about the tax system itself and why understanding it is better than closing your eyes and hiring a professional tax preparer.
Some people should hire professional preparers, author Tyson acknowledges. Many people lack the time, energy, enthusiasm or skill to do their taxes themselves. But even then, you should know enough to review the preparer’s work and ask intelligent questions. This book should help.
It has a whole chapter on whether to do it yourself or use a software program, book or preparer. If you decide on a preparer, it explains the differences between the different types--and what you should ask them before putting your financial life in someone else’s hands.
The book also provides excellent advice about dealing with mistakes--created by you or the Internal Revenue Service. And it talks about fitting taxes into your daily financial planning. In other words, it’s a book you can use after April 17, as well as before.
What “Taxes for Dummies” doesn’t do is take you through the 1040 form in line-by-line fashion. It does explain concepts, deductions and rules that many people need to understand when filing their returns, but it doesn’t reprint the IRS forms or pull you through them. The book recommends IRS Publication 17--a free book available to anyone who calls (800) TAX-FORM--or more detailed guides for that.
The rest of the season’s tax guides have at least a year of experience under their belts.
“Tax Guide for the Intimidated” ($10.95) is the closest thing to “Taxes for Dummies.” It is a line-by-line guide, but it’s a fairly short one that doesn’t go into excruciating detail about arcane issues such as handling the sale of business property or depreciating assets placed into service before 1981. It’s written for people faced with fairly common issues who need some explanation but not tons of advice.
“The Ernst & Young Tax Guide” ($13.95) is one of the perennial bestsellers. This thick tome’s claim to fame is multiple copies of easy-to-detach IRS forms that you can use in filing your return. But when it comes to advice, this book is as dry as the Sahara. In many cases, it reiterates--word-for-word--the Internal Revenue Service’s printed advice. It does offer some tax-planning advice and examples, however. And it has a tax organizer, a detailed index and a nifty, official-looking blue and gold cover.
“Consumer Reports Guide to Income Tax” ($13.99) also has a helpful income tax organizer, which would particularly help those who use paid preparers. Why? It’s so detailed, it could save your preparer several hours of billable time. But if you do your return yourself, completing the organizer is equivalent to doing your return twice. Use it instead to remind yourself which documents you need, without actually filling it in.
The guide is also comprehensive and well-organized. The main problem with the book is that it is written by lawyers, which becomes obvious deep in the text.
The section on the earned income tax credit, for example, features a sentence with 68 words. Instead of printing a table that shows how much earned income credit you can get at any given level of income, this book tells readers how to calculate it--a Byzantine and unnecessary exercise. However, those who buy the tax guide can score a discount on the retail price of other Consumer Reports books.
J.K. Lasser’s “Your Income Tax” ($14.00) is the granddaddy of today’s many tax guides. One of the first to be published, it was the first to lead people through the book by putting section numbers right next to the lines on a 1040 form.
This book is particularly helpful to seniors who are grappling with the new Social Security tax rules and to small-business owners who travel for work. The section titled “Tax Pointers for Senior Citizens” has helpful work sheets. The section on travel and entertainment expenses has a marvelous chart that spells out the cities where you can claim more than the standard meal allowance without specific receipts. Overall, the guide is also simply written and clear.
“The Money 1995 Income Tax Handbook” by Mary Sprouse retails for $13.99. Oddly enough, Sprouse, a Los Angeles-area tax accountant, writes clearly and appears to have a sense of humor. It comes up in subtle ways such as in her checklist of taxable income, which includes “embezzlement proceeds, in the year of the embezzlement.” In her section titled “Eight Basic Tax Principles,” she again refutes the commonly held misperception that criminal gains are not taxable. She also explains nicely how individuals can determine whether their relocation expenses are deductible.
Niggling shortcomings of the book: It has usable tax forms in the back, but the pages aren’t perforated so they’re difficult to tear out. Additionally, like most other tax guides, it reprints the IRS tax tables, which spell out tax rates for all those with less than $100,000 in income. But it doesn’t include the tax rate schedules needed to calculate tax on higher incomes.
The “H&R; Block 1995 Income Tax Guide” ($12.95) is the one to buy if you are planning to pay someone to file your return electronically--or if you’re likely to chuck it all and bring your return to a professional preparer in the end. That’s because Block’s book includes a $10 coupon toward tax preparation or electronic filing services at H&R; Block offices. If you use it, the book costs a total of just $2.95.
The Block book, while a little tougher to plow through than some of the others, also does a better-than-average job in catering to the needs of lower-income filers. It is one of the few, for example, that actually includes the tables that spell out earned income credit amounts at any given income level. Ignore the EIC Questionnaire, however. It’s confusing, if not inaccurate.
