This course is the first course in a five-course US Federal Tax Specialization. It covers and focuses on the U.S. federal tax system as it relates to individuals, employees, and sole proprietors. Key concepts covered include gross income and items that are statutorily included or excluded in it, personal and business expenses that qualify as tax deductions, and the differing tax treatments for employees versus self-employed taxpayers. Unlike many other introductory courses in tax and as part of this course’s comprehensive wrap-up, learners will be provided with practical and tangible experience reporting both income and expenses on the main individual tax return used in the US, Form 1040.
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Federal Taxation I: Individuals, Employees, and Sole Proprietors
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera
Overview
Syllabus
- INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
- In this module, you will become familiar with the course, your instructor and your classmates, and our learning environment. This orientation will also help you obtain the technical skills required to navigate and be successful in this course.
- MODULE 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO TAXATION
- In this module, you will be introduced to the different kinds of taxes faced by US taxpayers and the US federal income tax structure. The origin of tax law and its constitutionality is discussed along with a brief history of the different changes in rates that have occurred since the 16th Amendment was passed. Finally, we will discover the three different sources of new tax laws and rules.
- MODULE 2: COMPUTING THE TAX
- In this module, we will take a deeper dive into each part of the US federal income tax structure, with a focus on what is included in gross income. We will learn how for-AGI deductions reduce gross income to generate adjusted gross income, or AGI, and why AGI is an important number that determines the floors and ceilings of many from-AGI deductions. We will also discuss who qualifies as a dependent. We will wrap up the module with a discussion of the actual calculation of the tax as well as filing status and filing requirements.
- MODULE 3: GROSS INCOME
- In this module, you will take a deeper dive into gross income, specifically regarding statutory inclusions. Congress, the courts, and the IRS have specific rules on whether and when certain income items are included as gross income. These rules provide clarification in situations where it is unclear whether money or property received should actually be included as income.
- MODULE 4: GROSS INCOME: EXCLUSIONS
- In this module, you will take a deeper dive into gross income, specifically regarding statutory exclusions. Congress, the courts, and the IRS allow exclusions of money or property received by the taxpayer for various reasons.
- MODULE 5: DEDUCTIONS AND LOSSES: IN GENERAL
- In this module, you will learn about deductions, which is the term used in tax to describe an expense that is allowed to reduce a taxpayer’s tax liability. You will discover what adjusted gross income is, why it is important, and how to calculate it. You will also learn the difference in tax treatments for special types of activities, such as hobbies and rentals.
- MODULE 6: BUSINESSS DEDUCTIONS
- In this module, we discuss several unique situations where the same expense may or may not be deductible, dependent on the facts and circumstances surrounding the situation. We will also learn about another from AGI deduction, the new 20% deduction for qualified business income. Finally, we will discuss other business deductions such as bad debts and net operating losses.
- MODULE 7: ITEMIZED DEDUCTIONS AND RETIREMENT PLANS
- In this module, we first turn our focus to expenses that qualify as itemized deductions, which are a from AGI deduction. To finish off this module, we’ll switch back to discussing income and situations where taxpayers can elect to delay recognition of income, such as saving for retirement, as well as situations where taxation of the annual earnings of those retirement savings are either deferred or permanently excluded from income.
- MODULE 8: COMPREHENSIVE EXAMPLE
- In this module, you will review the Comprehensive Example video and then learn to apply the concepts to a tax return problem.
Taught by
Petro Lisowsky, PhD, CPA
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Reviews
4.7 rating, based on 3 Class Central reviews
4.9 rating at Coursera based on 643 ratings
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This class is an excellent resource for individual taxpayers in the USA. It provides a comprehensive overview of the tax code and helps taxpayers understand how to prepare their tax returns. While many of us are accustomed to using tax software, thi…
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(Course audit.) This explains the legal structure enabling taxation to become law and how it is "generally" applied to all persons. This is not a course explaining the next tax code's inclusions and exclusions pertaining to filing one's federal tax return. Some good information, but could have gone into more detail with how the judicial system functions for taxpayers given their choice of three legal avenues to complain/appeal a tax debt.
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Nice , the course content is so good. Covered all the areas and the material
Most important thing is it's free you don't have to pay anything
