A Logical Organization that Makes Learning More Efficient

The Taxation of Individuals & Business Entities volume is organized to maximize topical efficiency and to emphasize topics that are most important to undergraduates taking their first tax course. The first three chapters provide an introduction to taxation and then carefully guide students through tax research and tax planning. Part II discusses the fundamental elements of individual income tax, starting with the tax formula in chapter 4 and then proceeding to more depth on individual topics in chapters 5-7. Part III then discusses tax issues associated with business and investment activities. On the business side, it addresses business income and deductions, accounting methods, and tax consequences associated with purchasing assets, property dispositions (sales, trades, or other dispositions). For investments it covers portfolio-type investments such as stocks and bonds and business investments including loss limitations associated with these investments. Part IV is unique among tax textbooks; this section combines related tax issues for compensation, retirement savings, and home ownership. Part V provides a comprehensive overview of entities, and the formation, reorganization and liquidation of corporations. Unique to this series is a complete chapter on Accounting for income taxes, which provides a primer on the basics of calculating the income tax provision. Included in the narrative is a discussion of temporary and permanent differences and their impact on a company’s book “effective tax rate.” Part VI provides a detailed discussion of partnerships and S corporations. The last part of the book covers state and local taxation, multinational taxation, transfer taxes and wealth planning.

Part I: Intro to Taxation

1. An Introduction to Tax

2. Tax Compliance, the IRS and Tax Authorities

3. Tax Planning Strategies and Related Limitations

Part II: Basic Individual Taxation

4. Individual Tax Overview

5. Gross Income and Exclusions

6. Individual Deductions

7. Individual Income Tax Computation and Tax Credits

Part III: Business and Investment–Related Transactions

8. Business Income, Deductions, and Accounting Methods

9. Property Acquisition and Cost Recovery

10. Property Dispositions

11. Investments

Part IV: Specialized Topics

12. Compensation

13. Retirement Savings and Deferred Compensation

14. Tax Consequences of Home Ownership