Your Weekend Reading

Our staff’s pick of the weekend:

“What the IRS Doesn’t Want You to Know: A CPA Reveals the Tricks of the Trade” by Marty Kaplan and Naomi Weiss ($14.95, Villard Books).

Some tax books help you with the immediate task of filing your tax return. Others, such as this one, should be savored in the off-season so that you have time to make the changes it suggests.The title may sound like you’re about to read a book by a conspiracy theorist, but CPA Marty Kaplan actually provides solid advice for avoiding tax trouble, limiting the damage in an audit and arranging your affairs to take full legal advantage of tax laws. He explains how the IRS really works, the red flags that can trigger an audit and the most stupid things a taxpayer can do when confronted by an IRS agent.