Product Description
Purchasing tax lien instruments from city, county, and municipal governments can provide you with very high and secure rates of return, in some cases as high as 12%, 18%, 24%, or even 1,000% or more per year. If performed correctly, investments in tax lien instruments will far outpace stock market performance, even traditional real estate investments. The key is to know how to perform this process correctly. Tax lien certificates and deeds are not purchased through a broker; you purchase these property tax liens directly from the state or county government (depending on the state). This type of investment was created by state law, and state law protects you as the investor. Investing in tax liens and deeds can be very rewarding. Tax liens can be tax deferred or even tax-free. You can purchase them in your self-directed IRA. Interest rates vary but average between 4% and 18%. The interest rates are fixed by local governments, essentially a government-guaranteed loan. Additionally, the investment is secured by real property (real estate). This sounds great, but what is the catch? There really is none, except you must know what you are doing! This groundbreaking and exhaustively researched new book will provide everything you need to know to get you started on generating high-investment returns with low risk, from start to finish. You will learn what property tax liens and tax lien certificates are; how to invest in tax lien certificates; how to buy tax lien certificates; insider secrets to help you double or even triple your investment, how to start with under $1,000; the risks, traps, and pitfalls to avoid; and a detailed directory of states that sell tax lien certificates with contact information. In addition, we spent thousands of hours interviewing, e-mailing, and communicating with hundreds of todays most successful investors. This book is a compilation of their secrets and proven successful ideas. If you are interested in learning hundreds of hints, tricks, and secrets on how to purchase tax liens and deeds and earn enormous profits, then this book is for you.
Customer Reviews:
Doesn't offer much.......2007-08-09
The other reviewers are obviously novices, easily impressed, or are related to the author or publisher. Would you rather read a cook book written by Julia Child or Martha Stewart or one written by me after interviewing Julia & Martha? The author has never bought a tax lien and doesn't pretend that she has, and the book reads that way.
The book is fairly thorough, but gives no real insight or tips experienced by a seasoned investor in tax liens. The book has a very general tone about it throughout. It's obvious the author has never gone near a courthouse or auction. The book is roughly 30-40% filler material. I read this book in one evening. Of all the tax liens books that I've read I would put this one at the bottom of the stack.
The best book on tax liens over the past several years is Profit by Investing in Real Estate Tax Liens by Larry Loftis. The 16% Solution written in 1994 is dated, but would be my second choice. No I'm not related to Mr. Loftis and wouldn't recommend any other book written by him that I've read.
More viable information than any other similar book I have found todate.......2007-06-08
The Complete Guide to Investing in Real Estate Tax Liens & Deeds: How to Earn High Rates of Return - Safely
"By far the most through and comprensive of any book I have found anywhere on this subject of Investing in Tax Liens"! Has enabled me to make a considerable amount over the past few months with very little effort.
Buy this book and avoid the seminars.......2007-04-09
Tax lien investing is interesting. They are touted as a surefire winning ivestments and many "experts" offer training costing thousands of dollars to "train" you on how to invest in these "goldmines". Do yourself a favor, buy this book and avoid the seminars. You are going to learn by experience and this book will help you get started. The seminars are simply going to part you and your money. Tax liens are not as easy as they sound. You cannot simply go down to the courthouse and buy a 25% lien. Most people trying to get you into this game neglect to mention the fact that large companies will flood the market with lowball offers to obtain a majority of the better tax liens.
No nonsense. No hype. No Details.......2007-01-13
From reading the cover you might think this is another get rich quick idea. After reading the book, however, you'll find a hype-free matter of fact approach. All the benefits and pitfalls (at least that I could think of) are covered. I went to a seminar where someone pitched an expensive package of services to help someone who wanted to invest in tax lien certificates. Instead I bought this book. It will answer your questions and help you decide if you want to proceed. What the book does not include are all the little details you'll need to actually execute a purchase. This varies a lot by state and would require the book to double in size. So, if you just want to know about these investments, I recommend this book. If you are ready to invest, you'll need more information.
Good explanation of difficult subject.......2007-01-04
Tax lien and tax deed investing are complicated subjects, made even more complicated by the huge variations in laws from state to state. This book explains the different details with great clarity.
The book opens with general chapters that explain why the differences between tax liens and tax deeds, the things an investor must consider when planning such an investment, and guidelines that will help make the process more comfortable. For example, even an experienced investor may have little experience with auctions, which is the method most governments use to sell tax liens and deeds - "The Complete Guide" has tips on what to bring and do in those situations.
Also in the early chapters, Burrell uses real world examples to help explain points - showing, for example, the forms used to register for an auction in Los Angeles. Later, Burrell discusses subjects like foreclosing (the painful part for those of us without thick skin) and getting financing for a tax lien or tax deed investment.
However, the key parts of the book are the tables (I think there are about 20); Chapter 12, which has a comprehensive breakdown of the different state laws; and the exceptionally comprehensive, 60-page (you read that right!) glossary.
Book Description
Tax season doesn’t just have to be about paying Uncle Sam his due. Sure, giving up your hard-earned dollars hurts, but you can turn lemons into lemonade by turning knowledge into immediate and long-term tax savings. What’s more, wising up about your tax situation can only increase your financial savvy and bolster your future fiscal health.
Combining tax-preparation and tax-planning advice, Taxes 2007 For Dummies is the latest offering in the highly praised Taxes For Dummies series. This easy and fun guide (yes, a fun tax guide) walks you line-by-line through the most common forms, with analysis especially relevant for TurboTax and other tax software users. Fully updated for 2006, including Alternative Minimum Tax relief and Roth IRA conversions, this handy resource covers critical tax code changes and provides new tips for money-saving end-of-year tax moves. You’ll find out how to:
- Itemize your deductions
- Negotiate with the IRS
- Take advantage of tax credits to reduce what you owe
- Make tax-wise personal finance decisions
- Avoid common mistakes before you file
- Audit-proof your tax return
- Fill out the dreaded Schedule D
Packed with standout tips, tax cut opportunities, warnings, reminders, and sidebars, Taxes 2007 For Dummies is a clear road map to doing your taxes in 2007—and to wisely planning your future finances for years ahead.
Customer Reviews:
Taxes 2007 for Dummies.......2007-08-29
The book covered the basics. Definitely geared to the basics taxpayer
without to intricate of a return. Taxpayers has to have some idea
of what they need to know in order to utilize this book.
Overall Good General Information.......2007-03-08
I bought this book, along with "JK Lasser's 1001 Deductions & Tax Breaks 2007", to get an idea of what to look for in the future for tax reductions.
This book gives a good general overview of most tax deductions and important information regarding taxes. I am not familiar with tax terms and wording. I am more of a math person who is good at doing the calculations required. This book made sense of most of those vague and mysterious terms in regards to taxes that I had no clue what they meant.
I rated this book a 4 based on my purchase of the other book I previously listed. The Dummies book here took longer to explain a tax item. The "1001" book broke it down to the quickest, simplest terms to understand.It may be a "guy" thing, but I liked the meat and bones approach on the "1001" as compared to the fluffed up Dummies explanations.
If I didn't also get the "1001" book, this would have got a 5 Stars.
Book Description
The most trusted name in law school outlines, Emanuel Law Outlines support your class preparation, provide reference for your outline creation, and supply a comprehensive breakdown of topic matter for your entire study process. Created by Steven Emanuel, these course outlines have been relied on by generations of law students. Each title includes both capsule and detailed versions of the critical issues and key topics you must know to master the course. Also included are exam questions with model answers, an alpha-list of cases, and a cross reference table of cases for all of the leading casebooks.
Customer Reviews:
Tax is just hard.......2007-01-03
The outline was very helpful--tax is just a difficult subject to master. I used the book as a supplement to my text book. You certainly cannot use only the outline and expect to learn federal income tax well. It is an invaluable resource when used to help reinforce a concept. Also, when I did not understand a concept the outline was great because it generally used easier terms and examples to explain the bare bones of a subject. Once I understood the outline's explanation, it was much easier to understand my text book.
good outline.......2006-08-16
This is just about as good as the other emanuel outlines, but income tax is a diificult subject to outline.
This book is bad........2006-07-30
I usually like the Emanuel outlines and have found them invaluable now for eight other courses I've taken. The Taxation outline is an exception. I forced myself through the first five chapters in this book and then gave up on it, realizing that it was not adding to my general understanding of the course material or any of the little details either, for that matter. It was too hard to read and follow to be of help.
mediocre .......2006-07-24
It's a mediocre tax law outline--simply put. Buy it used, if at all.
The worst commercial outline for beginners.......2006-06-19
This commercial outline is terrible as an introduction to federal income tax. It takes FOREVER to find basic definitions, such as the distinction between ordinary income and capital assets. Without an understanding of these definitions, you won't understand anything in the book, yet the author fails to make the definitions clear.
For example, I first went to the capsule summary to find the definition of "capital asset" and then found that I had to turn to another section of the book. When I turned to that page, I found that I had to turn a couple more pages to find only PART of the definition of "capital asset" and then I had to turn to yet another section of the book, no pages provided by the author this time, to get the rest of the definition.
To make a long story short, the organization of this book makes no sense at all. If you already understand federal income tax, this commercial outline might be useful as a review. Otherwise, if you're taking tax only because you feel obligated by the requirements of your bar exam, then perhaps another commerical outline is better.
Product Description
CrunchTime provides a comprehensive topic breakdown and critical information review all in one tool! The application flow charts can be used all semester long, but the capsule summaries are ideal for exam preparation. Each title offers capsule summaries of major points of law and critical issues, exam tips for identifying common traps and pitfalls, sample exam and essay questions with model answers, and recommended approaches for crafting essays that will get winning grades!
Book Description
The Inventive Peasant Arnaud du Tilh had almost persuaded the learned judges at the Parlement of Toulouse, when on a summer's day in 1560 a man swaggered into the court on a wooden leg, denounced Arnaud, and reestablished his claim to the identity, property, and wife of Martin Guerre. The astonishing case captured the imagination of the Continent. Told and retold over the centuries, the story of Martin Guerre became a legend, still remembered in the Pyrenean village where the impostor was executed more than 400 years ago.
Now a noted historian, who served as consultant for a new French film on Martin Guerre, has searched archives and lawbooks to add new dimensions to a tale already abundant in mysteries: we are led to ponder how a common man could become an impostor in the sixteenth century, why Bertrande de Rols, an honorable peasant woman, would accept such a man as her husband, and why lawyers, poets, and men of letters like Montaigne became so fascinated with the episode.
Natalie Zemon Davis reconstructs the lives of ordinary people, in a sparkling way that reveals the hidden attachments and sensibilities of nonliterate sixteenth-century villagers. Here we see men and women trying to fashion their identities within a world of traditional ideas about property and family and of changing ideas about religion. We learn what happens when common people get involved in the workings of the criminal courts in the ancien régime, and how judges struggle to decide who a man was in the days before fingerprints and photographs. We sense the secret affinity between the eloquent men of law and the honey-tongued village impostor, a rare identification across class lines.
Deftly written to please both the general public and specialists, The Return of Martin Guerre will interest those who want to know more about ordinary families and especially women of the past, and about the creation of literary legends. It is also a remarkable psychological narrative about where self-fashioning stops and lying begins.
Customer Reviews:
Stellar historical novel!.......2007-09-13
This is a well-written and well-researched historical work. The book needs all the requirements for academic writing, yet actually manages to be readable! Shocking thought, right? This is definitely worth the time to read! As a note there is a movie version, in French, that is actually quite well done (Davis consulted on it) and knock off US version set in the Civil War (Sommersby), which sucks.
Davis explores the trial of Martin Guerre in medieval France. Guerre runs off to war and deserts his wife and son. Years later, a man appears claiming to be Guerre. The town and his wife accept this man with few complaints. Then, all of sudden, Guerre's family accuses this man of not really being Martin Guerre. The trial ensues with Martin's wife (Bertrande) standing staunchly by that this IS her husband. In the final bit, just as the courts are about to believe Bertrande and "Martin," another Martin appears - the real Martin. The imposter (Arnaud du Tilh) is hung and Bertrande goes back to her "real" husband. The story reads like it should be fiction - and a soap opera at that - yet it is a historical trial. Davis' sources come straight from the trial transcripts and the one of the judges. She even includes a chapter that explores this at the end (this is probably the hardest to read for a casual reader).
Davis does a beautiful job of recreating the era and the people, especally Bertrande. Bertrande can be easily pushed aside in this story, yet it is her story that Davis highlights.
I use this book in my western civilization classes because it really showcases the "normal" people of medieval France. It is definitely worth the time to read. If you want to enjoy a book AND learn something, this is the book for you. It also makes a great present to budding young historians.
Great "Micro- History," a new genre in history.......2006-12-17
At first, Natalie Davis collaborated with the director Daniel Vigne on his film, but she became dissatisfied by how many elements of the story never made it into the movie. Her book adds specific details she thought central to the story; such as, the Guerre's Basque roots, Bertrande first meeting Arnaud du Tilh at an inn outside of the village, and Bertrande's reasons for collaborating with the imposter. Davis' story affords her audience a rare glimpse into the world of peasant life in sixteenth century France. Historically, there are only a few times when the everyday lives of the lower social classes receive comment in history or literature. Students of the humanities have only a few primary source books to examine. The Domesday Book is a collection of census records from eleventh century England. The Canterbury Tales are a fourteenth century collection of tales describing the lives of religious pilgrims in England, authored by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Decameron is also a fourteenth century collection of stories, this time from Italy, written by Giovanni Boccaccio.
Davis' story focuses on Bertrande de Rols and her place in sixteenth century society, especially as a wife. Bertrande was married to Martin Guerre who was a young peasant of Basque heritage. Both Bertrande and Martin were in their early teens during a time when marriage customs for peasants was changing in Europe. For several years, these two very young kids have trouble consummating their marriage. Davis speculates that Bertrande may have been happy with this circumstance since it gave her a chance to enjoy adolescence and be free of the drudgery of motherhood and all the duties that went with it. This becomes evident by the fact that she refuses to annul her marriage at her parent's insistence. A few years go by before Bertrande conceives and gives birth to a son - her first foray into adulthood. Davis explains how Bertrande, like other peasant women, became even more aware of the male dominated world in which she lived. This is evident by the particle "de" in her name, which was a custom in the area where she lived depicting the social and legal connection female peasants had to the men in their families. She was subordinate to her father, her husband, and finally her widowed mother and her uncle turned stepfather. Frances and Joseph Geis illuminate in detail the customs of family and marriage during this time in history. During the Middle Ages, most peasants did not have formal marriage vows conducted in church. Instead, they vowed to each other to live as common law husband and wife. Formality was not necessary since peasants did not own property; they worked the lands of the nobility as tenant farmers. Marital mores change in the sixteenth century due to the peasant's ability to own land, which in turn causes parents to insist on having more control over their children's marital choices.
In 1548, Martin runs away from his village of Artigat, France to join the army, leaving his twenty-two year old wife Bertrande and a young son. His abandonment severely reduces Bertrande's social standing in the village. She is no longer a full-fledged wife, nor is she a widow who had property rights. Without a body to prove Martin is dead, she cannot divorce him; thus, she is stuck with her plight. She has to move back in with her mother. In addition, she faces ridicule from peers at every turn. Davis believes that all of these circumstances add up to Bertrande becoming an unhappy person. After eight years of living in quiet desperation, it is no wonder that she would finally find fulfillment of her hopes and dreams of a better life when the imposter Arnaud du Tilh nicknamed "Pansette," shows up in the village in 1548, in the guise of Martin Guerre. Of course, Bertrande would be predisposed to want to believe that her husband had returned to her, which would allow her to regain a better social status in the village. It also meant that Bertrande would be able to have her own household with her husband who inherited land from his recently deceased father. Davis correctly speculates that even if Bertrande soon realizes Pansette is not her husband, she still finds in him a congenial companion and falls in love with him. They also have a daughter together. Davis finds it very plausible that Bertrande would become a willing collaborator, in order to protect her newfound freedom and social standing. The couple's marital bliss unravels the day Pansette argues with his uncle, Pierre Guerre, over his desire to sell off some of the land. This causes Pierre to become suspicious of the identity of his nephew, since it is an old Basque custom never to sell ancestral land, leading him to sue Pansette as an impostor in a court of law. The feud divides the village and finally places a rift between Pansette and Bertrande. Bertrande had originally testified that Pansette was the original Martin. However, before the start of a subsequent court hearing she caves into the enormous pressure from her widowed mother who married Pierre, to change her testimony. Fearing she could lose her good name and social standing in the family and village, she changes her testimony and accuses Pansette of being an imposter.
Davis comes under heavy criticism from Robert Finlay surrounding the suppositions that she makes about Bertrand's emotions, motivations, and her complicity in the deception perpetrated by Pansette. In Finlay's, article The Refashioning of Martin Guerre he accuses Davis of reading too much into the court record left by Coras. "This Bertrande de Rols seems to be far more a product of invention than of historical reconstruction." Davis, responding to Finlay's criticism of her research methods, more than adequately defends herself in her journal article On the Lame. In it she describes her meticulous research of the court records, social roles and cultural customs of sixteenth century France. "For Davis ... peasant women, are people with sexual as well as economic drives and with cultural traditions and resources which have escaped the eyes of most orthodox historians."
The social historian Natalie Davis was tireless in her efforts to comb the local archives, judicial records, and in conducting interviews of present day inhabitants of the village Artigat to record the folklore of the "famous case" from their village. Davis has brought to light this micro history of sixteenth century peasant life in France in an easy to understand and compelling film and narrative. What makes the story so interesting to modern day viewers and readers is how relevant the story and the people in it are to our own times. This story is about a history of everyday people rather than royalty and generals, history's usual subjects. The story is replete with mystery and plot twists. It also examines the psychological areas of passion and deceit, while questioning personality formation and the self. In tying all of these sub plots together, Davis presents to her modern day audience a chance to examine and to compare their own identities and questions of self.
I read this book for a graduate class in the Humanities. Recommended reading for anyone interested in history and, psychology.
History With Academic Rigour and Real Literary Worth.......2006-08-29
The Return of Martin Guerre is not a regular history book. It is extremely short and extremely readable: a tale of intrigue; muddled and contradictory motivations; ethnic assimilation, sexual deficiencies; witch craft; and the stolen identity of a peasant by another on the backdrop of the Protestant reformation in France, Natalie Z. Davis's account of this utterly weird case of sixteenth century fraud proves the old dictum that historians never tire of explaining to incredulous novelists and an unfortunately indifferent public: truth is stranger than fiction.
The life of Martin Guerre would have left nearly no evidence of any existence, and have been of little use for any historian, were it not for the fact that he abandoned his young wife and son when he was in his early twenties for motivations that the modern historian can only guess at. Wanting adventure and release from a matrimonial bond that had been established for him at an extremely young age by his wife's and his own parents, young Guerre made his way into the service Spanish nobility and then fought in the Spanish wars in modern Flanders and Holland, where he would loose a leg. This, in and of itself, is unremarkable. There were likely many gimps made by their service in Armies of Spain in the sixteenth century. The utter weirdness of this situation only begins with the entrance of Arnaud du Tilh.
From a modern standpoint, it is difficult to imagine that anyone who knew Martin Guerre would have mistaken Arnaud du Tilh for him for any great length of time. Martin was tall and slender whereas Arnaud was short and stocky; Martin was athletic whereas Arnaud was a lazybones; Martin was difficult and irascible where Arnaud was generally likable; Martin was a native speaker of Basque whereas Arnaud's first tongue was French. The only thing that Arnaud and Martin really had in common was that neither was happy enough in the life they were born into to remain where they were. The question becomes then, how could Arnaud possibly hope to, and very successfully, appropriate the identity of Martin Guerre?
Davis gives many reasonable explanations. First, this was an age before photography and therefore only flawed memory could serve the purpose of knowing what Martin looked like among peasants too poor to have considered portraiture. Second, the Basque tradition which Martin Guerre grew up placed a powerful emphasis on the importance of family and seeing him return would have been, even after a less than honorable exit nearly a decade before, a nearly unadulterated joy. Finally, Davis points out what is the truly amazing about Arnaud is that he had, "a memory an actor would envy (35)." Though this mechanism alone, Davis believes, Arnaud is able to tap into a myriad number of stories which he is able to consciously able to craft into a believable mask of Martin Guerre--one that would, seemingly, fool Martin Guerre's friends, family, and his wife for several years. Even more amazingly, when much of his family was certain that Arnaud was not actually Martin, he would nearly deceive several magistrates.
The fraud only did not go unpunished because the real Martin Guerre reappeared on the scene in the nick of time, and with not much in the way of explanation, with less of memory for the events of his life than Arnaud had. It was this fact that compelled Davis's two primary sources on the case of Martin Guerre to try to understand just what it was that they had witnessed. As Davis points out, this was a case where absolutely nothing was as it seemed. This is what drew both Jean Coras, the judge who nearly freed Arnaud to return to Martin Guerre's wife, to write his magisterial Arrest Memorable and Guillaume Le Sueur Admiranda historia de Pseudo Martino. Both works show a powerful respect for the fact that Arnaud was able to pull off such an incredible act of fraud for so long, but neither could come to terms with how a peasant was capable of doing this. Ultimately this is what drew Davis to the case and will likely be what continues to draw readers to her book.
Reflective Writing.......2005-04-06
What is real? How do we really judge other people? How do we know what we know? How do perceptions influence social interactions? These are the kinds of reflective questions this book causes you to think about.
Set in 16th century France, this case of mistaken identity, where one person assumes the identity of another, is intentionally ambiguous in drawing the reader in to make some personal judgments independent of the author. This masterful technique requires an active reader.
Chapter 10 describes one of the judges in the case after it was appealed. He went on to write a book on the matter. Jean de Coras was a Christian scholar, a writer, lawyer, romantic, and communicator. Fortunately for us the author included this excerpt on him, as he was a character who made a mark that has survived over time.
Overall this is a book that will make you consider yourself and how you treat other people. It's a healthy form of reflection that is designed to help you consider things you might otherwise overlook.
A look at Joe Everyman from southern France in 1560.......2004-06-15
Davis gives us the story of how in the mid 16th century, a man named Arnaud du Tihl impersonated the long departed well-to-do peasant named Martin Guerre, took over his identity, his wife and family, and his property.
In itself, the story is interesting enough. What makes Davis's book special is her concise presentation of everyday life in the early renaissance (1560 is not in the Middle Ages, which ended about the time of Christopher Columbus 1492). We see village life, village institutions, we get a feel for what businesses the people ran (e.g. sheep for wool) we learn of legal procedures, of "dangerous new ideas" on marriage (from protestant influences) as well as inconvenient old one (secret marriages made without priests, nevertheless legitimate). We learn of differing customs on inheritance among different regions (the Basque and Gascon customs) of the role of women in public life.
The only problem I find with the book is that it is incomplete. We know what end Arnaud du Tihl meets, but we do not learn what happened after the trial to the real Martin Guerre or to his wife. Of course, the records are probably lost so we cannot fault Davis for this. But while we learn much of Jean Coras, the court official who published one of the two contemporary accounts of the case, a more detailed account of what befell him following the Martin Guerre case would have been interesting.
But that's a lack, not a flaw. Recommended!
Product Description
This popular CCH resource provides sample filled-in reproductions of several commonly-used business tax forms along helpful coordinated explanations of the tax law. Updated annually, this new edition includes discussion of law changes made by recent legislation that impacts the preparation of 2006 returns in 2007, including the latest new tax developments affecting completion of business tax returns. Current year forms and related discussions included are: - Form 1120 and schedules (corporations) - Form 1120-S (S corporations) - Form 1065 (partnerships) - Form 1041 (fiduciaries) "What's New for 2006" highlights the most significant new changes that must be addressed by tax return preparers.To help readers understand specific items on the returns and associated calculations, the filled-in forms contain cross references to the related CCH Explanations. These instructive explanations cover the separate items and schedules of each return and are keyed to the actual illustrative figures. Tax Rate Tables for Corporations and Estates and Nongrantor Trusts are also included for convenient reference. The expert CCH explanations, coordinated design elements and large format make this title the perfect quick-reference for tax return preparers and a great tool for staff training or personal brush-up for tax season.
Book Description
Expressing the legal limitations and realities of how Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) are formed and how they operate, this tax guide seamlessly blends jargon-free writing with concise, expert explanations. From the hybridized origins of the LLC designation to the modern day difficulties brought on by con artists, this guidebook covers every need-to-know aspect of this unique and flexible entity. Chapters also discuss, at length, issues such as filing articles of organization with state authorities, properly paying required fees, maintaining a minimum capital base, and heeding to rules of at-risk and loss limitations.
Book Description
Hands-on guidance to help nonprofits through the tax filing maze
Forms 990 provide a wealth of financial and programmatic information to enable government regulators, funders, journalists, and the interested public to measure a nonprofit's performance. A copy of the forms must be provided to anyone who asks; charities' forms are now posted for public view on the Internet courtesy of Guidestar.org. These forms are the most widely used tools for evaluating tax-exempt organizations. Schools, health and welfare organizations, business leagues, civic associations, museums, parent groups, garden clubs, private foundations, and the myriad of other nonprofit organizations recognized under section 501 of the federal tax code must file this form annually. Clear, correct, and concise preparation of Forms 990-EZ, 990, 990-PF, and 990-T is important, not only as financial documents, but also as a means of communicating an organization's mission and accomplishment to the public.
Demystifying the Forms 990 for financial professionals and nonprofessionals alike, this user-friendly handbook walks you through the federal tax compliance process to assure maintenance of tax-exempt status. Blazek is widely recognized for her ability to translate complicated concepts into understandable language and explain the why and how Forms 990 should be prepared. In this book, readers will find:
- Comprehensive, fill-in forms with line-by-line instructions including a synopsis of applicable tax issues
- Explanation of consequences of answers that can have several consequences
- Suggestions for dealing with the IRS as an organization grows and changes
- Ways to maximize deductions in calculating tax due on unrelated business income
- Tips for successful navigation of the interactive parts of Form 990-PF and reducing excise tax
Customer Reviews:
It's boring, but then, so is air and water.......2001-05-04
It's hardly the most sexy book I've reviewed, but it may be among the most useful if you are involved with a US nonprofit organization, or know someone who is. 990 Handbook is a line-by-line approach to the annual IRS Form 990.
Written by Jody Blazek, the book is a self-contained soup-to-nuts guide to completing these annual forms correctly.
Blazek accomplishes what she set out to do, as stated in the book's Preface: "My goal for this handbook is to demystify the Forms 990 for financial professionals and nonprofessionals alike - to make it easy for a nonprofit organization to achieve the best possible presentation of their financial activity and mission accomplishments for all to see."
As a lawyer who focuses on the law of tax-exempt organizations, one of my least favorite tasks is to prepare these annual forms. This handbook just made my life easier, and likely will result in a better result for my clients.
Book Description
"Strongly atmospheric . . . Fans of Spanish Mystery master Arturo Perez-Revate will enjoy this volume." -Baltimore Sun
"There's plenty to admire in this mystery. . . . Satisfying."-Washington Post Book World
"Impressive levels of storytelling and fairness. . . . Wonderful. . . . Pawel resists easy solutions to historically difficult problems."-Chicago Tribune
"A colorful, thrilling story about loyalty and love . . . Pawel weaves together her characters' fate with a deft and cunning hand."-Detroit Free Press
"[Pawel] frames the difficult and moral questions of the era in the lives of her fascinating characters, bringing history alive."-Rocky Mountain News
Lieutenant Carlos Tejada has been transferred to Salamanca, the city where he studied law before the Civil War. His new police duties include monitoring parolees-former professors who were fired for protesting a Franco decree. Elena Fernandez, having lost her job because of her political sympathies, has returned home to Salamanca from Madrid where she and Tejada had first been romantically involved. Her father, one of the parolees, was a distinguished professor of Classics. He has just received a letter from a Jewish friend, Professor Joseph Meyer, begging for help to cross into Spain from France before he is forcibly repatriated to Germany.
Professor Fernandez cannot violate his parole by traveling to the border town of San Sebastian so Elena goes in his stead. Tejada, tracing a missing parolee, finds himself in San Sebastian, too. There Elena and Tejada's paths fatefully cross again.
Rebecca Pawel is 26 years old, lives in New York City and teaches at a Brooklyn high school. Her widely-praised first novel, Death of a Nationalist, won the 2004 Edgar® Award for Best First Novel and was an LA Times Book Prize finalist. Death of a Nationalist appeared on several 2003 top ten mystery lists, including Chicago Tribune, Publishers Weekly and Detroit Free Press.
Customer Reviews:
Very good second book........2005-10-03
This is a period of history about which I know very little. Pawel is an excellent writer and has created an interesting, intelligent and complex character in Tejada. On one hand, he will use force if he feels it is "necessary," and yet he is a good man caught in a time of political loyalties. They story is not as gripping as "Death of a Nationalist," which I highly recommend and would read first, but is more of a mystery and suspense set during a time of political turmoil. I was completely caught up by the story and found it a straight-through, four-hour read. Highly recommended.
An Outstanding Historic Novel & Mystery - Definitely 5 Stars!!.......2005-07-02
Carlos Tejada Alonso y Léon, who was introduced to readers in Rebecca Pawel's Edgar Award-winning novel "Death of A Nationalist," has recently been promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the Guardia Civil and transferred from Madrid to Salamanca, a city famous for its university. Tejada studied law here before joining the Guardia during the Civil War. He is just past thirty years-old - certainly very young to be a lieutenant. However, Tejada's entire profile is unusual for a National Guardsman. He is the second son of a wealthy landowner, a conservative, and a staunch Nationalist. A Falangist, he backed Franco from the beginning. Now he enforces the laws and policies of the Generalissimo's authoritarian government, and searches for "enemies of the state," usually Republicans, who are jailed, sometimes tortured, and frequently killed. Tejada is basically a decent man, a hero of the siege of Toledo - and while I am certainly not an apologist for Fascism, (on the contrary), there must have been some good people who fought and believed in the Nationalist cause, even if they were on the wrong side of history.
I wrote in my review of "Death of a Nationalist," that author Rebecca C. Pawel presents the reader with a very interesting dilemma. How does one empathize with a protagonist who is a member of the Fascist cause, one of the victors in Spain's bitter, bloody Civil War? How does one embrace, in a literary fashion, someone who works to enforce Fascist policies? This continues to be an issue in "Law of Return," although personally, I resolved my problems with Tejada in the last book. I find too many admirable qualities in him to pass over because of his politics - which I am definitely not in agreement with. I accept him for the man he is, and for the man he has the potential to become.
It is 1940, and although the Civil War has been over for a year, fear, paranoia, hunger and shortages are everywhere. One of Tejada's new responsibilities in Salamanca is overseeing local parolees who must report to him weekly. There are approximately seventy-five, and many are considered troublemakers because of their Socialist leanings and/or former affiliations. Of particular interest are a group of four, all former university professors called "the petitioners."
These men are labeled "petitioners" because of a historical incident which occurred on October 12, 1936, at a public ceremony at the University of Salamanca commemorating Dia de la Raza. Keynote speaker, Falangist General Millan de Astray finished his address with the slogan, "Viva la Muerte!" ("Long Live Death!"). Miguel de Unamuno, a great Spanish author, educator, humanist and philosopher, was standing next to the general on the platform. He said, "Vencera pero no convencera."). ("You will win but you will not convince"). Enraged, Millan had to be physically restrained from striking Unamuno, who was immediately removed from his position at the university and placed under house arrest. He died two months later. Ironically, Unamuno was a devout Catholic and accepted by the Falangists. He had misinterpreted Franco's cause, however, thinking it represented nationalism. Manuel Arroyo, Guillermo Fernandez , Tomas Rivera, and Arturo Velasquez are fictional characters who, as professors, circulated and signed a petition protesting the treatment of their colleague.
There are times when I so dislike our protagonist, even though I understand his reasoning. This is due to the author's extraordinary talent in developing complex, true-to-life characters. She is also on-target when portraying the political conflict of the period. Tejada, when interviewing Dr. Rivera, thinks, "You were a damn fool to meddle in what didn't concern you." (Because Rivera signed the petition knowing there would probably be retribution). Yet one knows, from reading about him, that Tejada would never just obey orders or keep silent when faced with what he believed to be injustice. Carlos Tejado is an anti-hero, struggling with his personal political beliefs, his firmly entrenched dedication to justice and the law, and the grim post-war situation he finds himself in. He begins to understand that in the tonal scale of life, the differences between right and wrong are more subtle and variegated than black and white.
When one of the petitioners disappears, Tejado's investigation takes him to the seaside resort of San Sebastian, and then on to Nazi occupied France. On this trip he comes into contact, once again, with the lovely schoolteacher he met in Madrid, Elena Fernandez. She had been dismissed from her job because of her leftist politics, and returned home to Salamanca to be with her parents. However, this is not Tejada's first post-Madrid encounter with Elena. Her father is Guillermo Fernandez, a distinguished Classics professor. He is also one of the "petitioners" and a parolee. When Elena accompanied him to one of the weekly meetings, she and Tejada saw each other. The growing relationship between these two greatly enriches the narrative. Their mutual attraction, affection and respect, along with their opposing political viewpoints, makes for a good match and an interesting read. Both Elena and Carlos are extremely bright and literate people which provides a strong base of commonality. It helps that she is clever at figuring out mysteries too.
There is an important and moving side story here. Professor Joseph Meyer, a German-Jewish friend and colleague of Professor Fernandez, writes begging for help to cross into Spain from France before he is forcibly repatriated to Germany and sent to a concentration camp. The Fernandez family's humanity, as individuals and as a unit, is emphasized here considering the risk they are willing to take for an outsider.
"Law of Return" is just plain fascinating. Its originality is refreshing and the taut, well written prose is far different from what is found in many formulaic crime novels on today's market. This is much more than a mystery, however. It is historical fiction at its best. Ms. Pawel paints a vivid portrait of post-war Spain, whose people are trying to come to grips with past horrors and return to some semblance of normalcy. The author's descriptions of the humiliation, defeat and isolation of those who did not support Franco's cause is palpable.
I highly recommend "Law of Return," and suggest reading "Death of a Nationalist" first for maximum enjoyment. Both books stand on their own, however, without any prequel. I am about to begin the third novel in the series, "The Watcher In The Pine," and can't wait to get started.
JANA
Second Novel Loses Focus.......2005-05-24
Rebecca Pawel has a lot of things going for her series of Carlos Tejada crime novels. First of all, she has set her story in a great time and place. Its 1940 and France has just fallen to the Nazis and Spain is recovering from a protracted and brutal civil war. Facism is spreading its terror throughout Western Europe. This is the time and place where so many great suspense novelists like Eric Ambler and Alan Furst have planted their stories.
The hero/anti-hero is a fascist officer in the Guardia Civil. Tejada is a complex hero. He does not have a problem rounding up Reds and other fellow travellers. Tejada is no stranger to obtaining information using the third degree. However, he is not your standard fill in the blank evil (Gestapo, NKVD)totalitarian cop. He may be serving a bankrupt regime but he has a nuanced view of the world.
Finally, Rebecca Pawel is a very talented writer. She has all the gifts that the above average crime writer. Her intelligence radiates throughout the story.
However, where things go wrong is when the novel loses its focus and drifts from being a crime novel into a love story. The chemistry between the two lovers is good but in the end their love story douses out the essential crime element of the novel.
My advice is start the series from the beginning. One will have more patience with this story, if one has read the novel that goes before it.
More a fine historical thriller than a police procedural.......2005-01-19
In 1940, Carlos Tejada looks forward to his promotion to lieutenant in the Guardia Civil and his assignment to the university town of Salamanca as he studied there before the Civil War exploded. He does not expect his job to tax his brain as he has to keep track of parolees consisting of former professors who became classified as convicts for defying a Franco decree.
Also returning to the city is Carlos' college lover Elena Fernandez, who lost her job because she was politically incorrect. Carlos must report on her father as one of his parolees to his superiors.
When a paroleegoes missing, Carlos investigates. He follows Elena to the border where she claims she meets her father to take him home. Actually, Elena is helping a family friend, German Jewish Professor Joseph Meyer, flee France before the French return him to Germany for ethnic cleansing. Will Carlos do his duty to Spain and turn in a woman he still desires and might be a killer or will he help sneak the twosome into Salamanca while also trying to solve the murder of his missing parolee?
Though Carlos is part of the law and involved in a murder mystery, LAW OF RETURN is more an entertaining historical thriller that spotlights the beginning of Franco's long rule in Spain. Of interest is that though Spain is Fascist like Germany and Italy, the Jewish Meyers feels that this is a safer spot for him than Vichy France and obviously Germany. Readers who take pleasure in a deep historical tale will find Rebecca Pawel's story providing plenty of pleasure.
Harriet Klausner
So-So Sophmore Effort.......2004-07-28
This second book in Pawel's series relocates newly promoted Gaurdia Civil officer Carlos Tejada from Madrid to the northern university city of Salamanca in 1940. As Hitler's armies cruise through Europe in the background, things are quieter in Spain following the end of the Spanish Civil War. Although Salamanca wasn't a hotbed of insurgency, there are still ex-Reds and other troublemakers to monitor. One of Tejada's new duties meeting with everyone on a list of questionable people, required to check in with the Guardia on a weekly basis. Coincidentally, one of these is the father of Elena, the Socialist woman Tejada encountered in "Death of a Nationalist." An eminent classicist, he had signed a protest against the firing of a former university rector who had spoken out against Franco. As it so happens, one of his other co-signatories disappears in the first week of Tejada's new assignment. As Tejada painstakingly hunts for clues to the man's disappearance, which may have coincided with the moving of a lot of cash from his estate, the classics professor and his family are faced with a request for succor from a Jewish colleague fleeing Germany.
The proceedings are rather more conventional than the previous book, and the novelty of having a right-wing protagonist has worn off (in interviews Pawel has been careful to call him an anti-hero). Throughout his investigation, Tejada must tread cautiously due to a choleric superior and the influence of Slamancan grandees who are related to the missing man. Elena and her family must tread carefully due to both the precariousness of their situation (limited food rations and income) and the illegality of aiding someone trying to escape the Germans. These two threads gradually bring Tejada and Elena closer together, despite their being on opposite sides of the political spectrum. While the story is rich in period detail and atmosphere, neither plotline is particularly compelling (although a cross-border foray to Biarritz in occupied France adds some much needed spice). It's not a bad read, just not a gripping one, and nowhere near the quality of Death of a Nationalist.
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