This is a four-credit course. No prerequisites. Federal Income Tax (FIT) is an overview of the federal income tax, mostly as it applies to individuals. The aim of the course is to present the fundamental principles underlying the federal income tax. As a survey, FIT will touch on all the major issues, such as what is gross income, what expenditures are deductible, what is the appropriate taxable unit, what is the function of "basis," and what is the appropriate timing of income and deductions. Specific topics will include: employee fringe benefits, business deductions (e.g., travel, entertainment, and education), hobby losses, personal deductions (e.g., medical expenses and charitable contributions), the exclusions for gifts, bequests, and life insurance proceeds, taxation of the family (including divorce), the tax treatment of loans, capital expenditures, methods of capital recovery (e.g., installment sales and depreciation methods), capital gains and losses, tax-free exchanges and rollovers, tax accounting (e.g., the cash and accrual methods), and the "tax benefit" rule. There will be great emphasis on using both the Internal Revenue Code and the Treasury Regulations. Prior background in accounting, economics, math, or finance is neither needed nor expected.
Textbooks ( * denotes required )
Problems and Materials in Federal Income Taxation
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Ascher, Mark L. 