Federal Income Tax Law Approach Forum

[coldsummer]

Currently enrolled in Federal Income Tax Law I. Anyone have advice on how to attack this class (big picture organizational approach especially, exam strategy, etc.)?

Thanks in advance.

[pancakes3]

what counts as income, what doesn't count as income, and in what year do you count things as income, and at what value?

that's it.

[dabigchina]

what counts as income, what doesn't count as income, and in what year do you count things as income, and at what value?

Also need to know the above for deductions.

[grand inquisitor]

make a flow chart. above the line/below the line still haunts my nightmares.

[Leprechaun]

I used the Acing Federal Income Tax book and thought it did a good job for a basic tax class. YMMV but the Acing book taught stuff to me in a common sense, methodical way. Kind of like, if this, then that, otherwise this, etc.

(And generally, I'm not one that uses supplements as I don't put a whole lot of value in learning what some other author writes instead of focusing on what my professor wants me to learn, but the Acing book for me was much clearer than the textbook)

[SilvermanBarPrep]

Buy a supplement to read along with your casebook so that you know that you're pulling out all of the relevant information from each case and consolidating the cases that you're reading in class in the most effective manner. This would be my advice for any class, but I think it holds especially true for complex tax-related classes!

Sean (Silverman Bar Exam Tutoring)