 | South-Western Federal Taxation 2009: Individual Income Taxes (with TaxCut® Tax Preparation Software CD-ROM) (West's Federal Taxation: Individual Income Taxes)
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 2008-10-12 - Horrible, horrible book
This books is a disservice to those trying to learn federal income tax.
- It is completely lacking in clarity
- the text frequently makes assertions in the examples that are not supported by the text leading to the example (in some cases, the example can be explained by information several pages later -- where the example SHOULD have occured
- it will provide lists of exceptions or rules, but then not explain what they mean. For instance when discussing Hobby Losses, the book states 9 rules to determine whether an activity is a hobby or a business, but doesn't inform the reader which would apply: "The expertise of the taxpayer" would that make it a hobby or a business? The book doesn't say. "The expectation that the assets will increase in value" Again, does that make it a hobby or a business?
- When discussing the restrictions on deductions for transactions between related parties, it covers Losses, Unpaid Expenses and Interest and THEN at the end defines what "related parties" means!
- It does next to nothing to inform the student HOW to do much of anything; it simply states what the rules are and moves on
- frequently it uses BUSINESS examples throughout the text instead of individual examples (this has lead to extreme confusion in the class over a test question where students, who had taken taxation of corporations, got the question wrong). Although many individual filers have private businesses, the book provides as an example whether "Blackbird Airlines" a non-private company can deduct the cost of its federally mandated engine tests!
It goes on like this for 800+ pages. It's unconscionable!
This is a book on tax law, not on how to prepare individual tax returns or to prepare for the CPA exam. In short, save your money and buy "Income Tax Fundamentals" by Whittenburg and Altus-Buller. For comparison, when discussing medical expense deductions, this book splits the dicussion into two chapters seven chapters apart and never states the formula. Income Tax Fundamentals has as the last sentence of the first paragraph "here's the formula to calculate".
Also in the South-Western book you will never see a 1040 or any of the supporting schedules because it is about tax LAW. In the Whittenburg book EVERY chapter shows you the forms and explains how to fill them out in detail and how to calculate the amounts because it is a tax ACCOUTNING textbook.
If this text is required in your class, write up a formal complaint to your school (I am documenting the flaws I have found and including page numbers), and during the class review share your thoughts on the text.
This book is a waste of time and trees!
 2008-10-05 - Great Book on Taxation
its a great book on tax law and even though its a hard reading its very informative
2008-10-01 - Comprehensive
I think it lacks good practice problems that are comprehensive and that encompass more than one issue. It would be better if there were more visual representations of IRS forms. Overall the text itself is easy to understand and studying is easy as it is organized well.
2008-09-22 - Great taxation book, quick shipping!
Great user-friendly taxation book. It is very easy to read, and explanations are clear and help you to understand the concepts. Book was true to description (NEW). Shipping was fast, received earlier than the estimated delivery date.
2008-09-22 - Great Book, long shipping
The book is great, but book took almost a month to get to me. Good thing my class does not start until October or else this book would have been pointless to get since it took so long.
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