Author Description

Completely updated to reflect the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Third Edition of <i>Federal Income Tax: A Contemporary Approach</i> continues its successful integration of several modern platforms to introduce students to the federal income taxation of individuals. As before, the book takes three passes through the system, each in increasing detail. The first pass, in two short chapters, introduces the basic structure of the federal income tax through the computation of taxable income. It lets students see the overall structure early in their study and gives context to new concepts as they are introduced. The second pass, consuming two larger chapters, walks through the concepts of gross income and deductions, respectively. The final pass, consuming seven chapters, then builds on the material from the first four chapters, considering exclusions, timing issues, characterization, and advanced discussion of property transactions, personal expenses, dual-use expenses, and tax shelters. The text includes dozens of review questions, hundreds of self-assessment questions, and nearly 100 detailed problems for class discussion, all of which require students to apply Code and Regulation provisions to real-life fact patterns. The book also includes links to several instructional videos to reinforce student comprehension. Like other titles in the Interactive Casebook Series, the accompanying electronic version gives students immediate access to cited cases, statutes, and articles.