CCH Learning Center

Description:

The purpose of this series of courses is to bring the tax preparer ‘‘up-to-speed'' in the most efficient way possible for the tax preparation season. It offers quick answers and hands-on help for tax return preparation that has become increasingly complex by several recently passed tax Acts.

This sixth course in the series covers deductions that taxpayers can use to reduce tax liability. It reviews the rules on deducting travel and entertainment, business and job-related, moving, and investment expenses, and examines the methods used in claiming depreciation, such as MACRS and ACRS. Also covered is the deduction for amortization, which is similar to depreciation. The course also reviews the rules for recognized losses that can be deducted from a trade or business, such as casualty, theft, and bad debt. In addition, it reviews the the deduction for domestic production activities.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to do the following:

• Complete Schedule C or C-EZ
• Apply the deduction for domestic production activities
• Utilize the vacation home rules
• Determine eligibility for and report deductions on a range of business expenses
• Report deductions for travel-away-from-home costs
• Figure meal and entertainment deductions, including applicable limitations
• Calculate deductions for business car use
• Figure the home office deduction
• Determine deductible expenses in connection with investments and income-producing activities
• Claim a deduction for work-related education expenses
• Determine eligibility for deducting expenses
• Determine how employer-paid expenses are treated
• Explain property depreciation, first-year expensing, bonus depreciation, and depreciation recapture
• Apply the rules for amortization, depletion, different types of losses, and bad debts
• Identify expenses subject to amortization
• Figure depletion deductions
• Apply the limits on trade or business losses
• Figure the amount of casualty and theft losses that can be deducted
• Determine net operating losses
• Determine whether a debt is a business or nonbusiness bad debt
• Determine whether a nonbusiness bad debt is deductible
• Apply the statute of limitations on bad debts