Unlock Tax Filing Confidence with Practical Examples; Step-by-Step Instructions in this Comprehensive Income Tax Course

This income tax preparation course is designed to provide individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to accurately and confidently prepare and file their own income tax returns. The course covers essential topics such as determining filing status, understanding the significance of personal information, leveraging standard deductions, and correctly identifying dependents. Whether you're a beginner looking to understand the basics or someone with some experience seeking to enhance your skills, this course will guide you through the critical aspects of income tax preparation.
Topics Covered
Filing Status: Learn to determine the correct filing status, which is a crucial step in preparing your tax return. Understand the differences between single, married filing jointly, married filing separately, head of household, and qualifying widow(er) statuses, and how each affects your tax liability and eligibility for certain credits and deductions.
Name, Address, and Taxpayer Identification Number: Discover the importance of accurately entering personal information on your tax return. This includes ensuring that your name, address, and taxpayer identification number (such as your Social Security number) are correct to avoid delays in processing and potential issues with the IRS.
Standard Deduction: Gain a thorough understanding of the standard deduction, which reduces the amount of income on which you are taxed. Learn how to determine your eligibility for the standard deduction and how it varies based on your filing status, age, and other factors.
Dependents: Understand the criteria for claiming dependents on your tax return. Learn how having dependents can impact your tax situation, including eligibility for credits such as the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. You'll also learn about the rules and documentation required to claim dependents.
Course Benefits
By the end of this course, you will be well-equipped to navigate the income tax preparation process, understand the significance of key tax elements, and ensure your tax return is accurate and complete. This foundational knowledge will empower you to take control of your tax obligations with confidence and ease.

CPA, CGMA, M.S. Tax, CPI
Through working with students from many different schools, Mr. Steele has learned best practices for helping people understand accounting fast. Learning new skills and finding the best way to share knowledge with people who can benefit from it is a passion of his. Mr. Steele has experience working as a practicing Certified Public Accountant (CPA), an accounting and business instructor, and curriculum developer. He has enjoyed putting together quality tools to improve learning and has been teaching, making instructional resources, and building curriculum since 2009. He has been a practicing CPA since 2005. Mr. Steele is a practicing CPA, has a Certified Post-Secondary Instructor (CPI) credential, a Master of Science in taxation from Golden Gate University, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Economics with an emphasis in accounting from The University of California Santa Barbara, and a Global Management Accounting Designation (CGMA) from The American Institute of CPA (AICPA). Mr. Steele has also authored five books that can be found on Amazon or in audiobook format on Audible. He has developed bestselling courses in accounting topics including financial accounting and QuickBooks accounting software. In addition to working as an accountant, teaching, and developing courses Mr. Steele has helped create an accounting website at accountinginstruction, a YouTube channel called Accounting Instruction, Help, and How Too, and has developed supplemental resources including a Facebook Page, Twitter Page, and Podcasts that can be found on I-tunes, Stitcher, or Soundcloud. Mr. Steele's teaching philosophy is to make content applicable, understandable, and accessible. Adult learners are looking for application when they learn new skills. In other words, learners want to be able to apply skills in the real world to help their lives. Mr. Steele’s formal accounting education, practical work experience, and substantial teaching experience allow him to create a curriculum that combines traditional accounting education with practical knowledge and application. He accomplishes the goals of making accounting useful and applicable by combining theory with real-world software like Excel and QuickBooks. Many courses teach QuickBooks data entry or Excel functions but are not providing the real value learners want. Real value is a result of learning technical skills like applications, in conjunction with specific goals, like accounting goals, including being able to interpret the performance of a business. Mr. Steele makes knowledge understandable by breaking down complex concepts into smaller units with specific objectives and using step by step learning processes to understand each unit. Many accounting textbooks cram way too much information into a course, making it impossible to understand any unit fully. By breaking the content down into digestible chunks, we can move forward much faster. Mr. Steele also makes use of color association in both presentations and Excel worksheets, a learning tool often overlooked in the accounting field, but one that can vastly improve the speed and comprehension of learning accounting concepts. The material is also made understandable through the application of concepts learned. Courses will typically demonstrate the accounting concepts and then provide an Excel worksheet or practice problems to work through the concepts covered. The practice problems will be accompanied by an instructional video to work through the problem in step by step format. Excel worksheets will be preformatted, usually including an answer tab that shows the completed problem, and a practice tab where learners can complete the problem along with a step by step presentation video. Mr. Steele makes learning accounting accessible by making use of technology and partnering with teaching platforms that have a vision of spreading knowledge like CPDformula.