This book will give you the tools to prepare some of the most common tax returns. As you read through each chapter, you will learn the tax laws and see them in practice with comprehensive illustrations. Throughout the book there are review questions and tax problems for you to work out, because we believe practice is the key to learning. We have included an Answer Guide in the Appendix to assist you. There are two parts to this text. The first part will teach you to prepare a basic return while the second part will introduce some of the more involved aspects of taxation. Each chapter focuses on certain aspects and walks you through that aspect of the tax return step by step. By the time you finish this book you will be amazed at how easy it is to prepare a tax return! Mary W. Adams in an Enrolled Agent, eligible to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service. She has been preparing tax returns for 13 years with ABS Tax Service in Mobile, Alabama, giving her real world knowledge of tax preparation. She has been teaching tax preparation courses since 2001 and has captured the fundamentals of basic tax preparation in her own work, while trying to make the learning process as enjoyable as is the teaching process for her. She lives in Mobile, Alabama, with her husband and three children. She continues to prepare tax returns for ABS Tax Service.