jug@whuxle.UUCP (Joseph U. Grauman) (01/18/84)
I'd like to recommend a tax guide that I have used for about 10 years.
This year it is the "1984 TAX GUIDE for ENGINEERS" (for preparing your
1983 federal income tax returns). The book (softbound) sell for $17.95
plus $1.60 for postage+handling ($3.70 if you wish it returned via
first class mail). You get a $2.00 discount if you're a repeat
customer and, don't forget, the cost of the guide is tax deductible.
The tax guide is available from:
Academic Information Services, Inc.
L'Enfant Plaza
Post Office Box 23279
Washington, DC 20026
The publisher guarantees your money back if this publication doesn't
save you an extra $200 or more on your taxes - it has saved me more
than that every year! The guide is also available for other
professions (I used to get the version for college teachers when I
was one).walsh@ihuxi.UUCP (B. Walsh) (01/18/84)
I'm just curious about these tax guides. What do they tell you that you
can't figure out from Publication 17 (if you can understand the gobbledygook)?
I can't imagine missing some deduction that would save me $200 that I
couldn't have found by reading publicaiton 17. My uncle was a CPA and knew
every trick, but nothing was mysterious or hidden; it was all right in the
instructions available from the IRS. The only possible advantage I can see
from such a guide would be hints on tax shelters to help you next year, but
I can't see how you can be helped for the year gone by.
Just Wondering,
B. Walshrs55611@ihuxk.UUCP (Robert E. Schleicher) (01/19/84)
A useful reminder of something that should be common sense: Tax guide books, etc. are tax deductible. You have to deduct the cost of such a book in the year in which the book was bought, however. Thus, if you buy a book in January of 1984 to work on your 1983 taxes, you can't deduct it until next year's return. The motto: buy your tax guide books in December! Bob Schleicher ihuxk!rs55611 AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, Ill.
ac4@pucc-h (Putnam) (01/19/84)
I second this recommendation. I have been using the tax guide for college teachers for quite a few years now. What this guide does is to tell you about the latest rulings from the tax courts that are specific to your profession. With teachers, for example, it gives specific instances of which travel expenses have been considered deductable when you are out of town on sabbatical. True, you can read publication 17 and try to decode it... It reads like one of those 1960 vintage FORTRAN codes written by engineers who "taught themselves" and never heard of structured programming! The examples go a long ways towards filling-in between the lines. Tom Putnam ...!pur-ee!pucc-h:ac4
jug@whuxle.UUCP (01/23/84)
The nice thing about the Tax Guide for Engineers is that it is written in PLAIN ENGLISH, including detailed examples with descriptions, as well as references to relevant court cases and IRS rulings. Indeed, Publication 17 contains everything you need to know about preparing your tax forms, but there's so much irrelevant material there written in such a way that I find it tedious to sort out. With regard to deducting the cost of the tax guide, you can only deduct it in the year in which you paid for it. So, if you buy a tax guide for preparing your 1983 tax return in 1984, then you may deduct the cost of the guide on your 1984 tax return.