1 Overview 1
2 Who makes the law—and who doesn’t 3
3 How to research a tax question 9
4 What the law allows—and does not allow 15
5 How to find—and use—an aggressive tax adviser 31
6 Doing battle with the IRS 49
7 Reed’s Rules for understanding income taxes 63
8 How to take title 71
9 Tax differences between property types 77
10 Timing the acquisition 79
11 Tax information to gather at acquisition 81
12 How to calculate your basis 89
13 Break out personal property and land improvements 97
14 How to justify a high improvement ratio 101
15 The $500,000 homeowner exclusion 105
16 Depreciation 109
17 First-year expensing and bonus depreciation 113
18 Depreciation examples 117
19 Expenses 121
20 Home-office deduction 129
21 Dealer property 135
22 Installment sales 139
23 Passive-loss limitations 149
24 Why you should exchange rather than sell 155
25 How to do an exchange 165
26 The big picture 179
Appendix A: My legislative program 183
Appendix B: Pertinent books, periodicals, and seminars 187
Appendix C: Definitions 191
Appendix D: Abbreviations 193
Index 195