Taxes Books

when can I order the 2000 edition?

Busby has done a superb job helping a minister figure out tax complexities yet his work is not complex itself. It is worth it by far!

This series by Dan Busby (both the Church & Nonprofit Organization Tax & Financial Guide and the Minister's Tax & Financial Guide) are a must have EVERY YEAR for anyone doing church finances, and payroll in particular. These books are especially helpful for non-accountants serving as church treasurers as they are written in plain English with little or no "accounting jargon". They are easy to read and understand and, more importantly, put into use. I also recommend them for tax preparers who have little or no experience doing returns for ministers. Even the best, most professional tax preparers can make mistakes on ministers' returns (I've seen it happen!) because of some of the strange tax codes particular to ministers.

This book is simply a "must have" for anyone involved in any way in the finances of a church. I have been in church finance for over 10 years and I am frequently chagrined to find out how many misconceptions and how much bad information is out there about church accounting and ministers' tax treatment. This book is a clear and concise guide to the specific issues related to accounting and record keeping that are unique for ministers.

Though written by an accountant, it is easy to read for non-accountants while remaining useful for accounting professionals.

I cannot recommend this book, or it's companion, Zondervan 2003 Minister's Tax & Financial Guide, highly enough. I pre-order the new editions every year.

This book is simply a "must have" for anyone involved in any way in the finances of a church or a minister. I have been in church finance for over 10 years and I am frequently chagrined to find out how many misconceptions and how much bad information is out there about church accounting and ministers' tax treatment. This book is a clear and concise guide to the specific issues related to accounting, record keeping, tax preparation and tax planning that are unique for ministers.

Though written by an accountant, it is easy to read for non-accountants while remaining useful for accounting professionals.

I cannot recommend this book, or it's companion, Zondervan 2003 Church and Nonprofit Tax & Financial Guide, highly enough. I pre-order the new editions every year.

This guide covers all the most important tax topics for churches and nonprofit organizations and includes most of the areas where nonprofits tend to get into trouble. The author covers issues of accountability, tax exemption, employee compensation, benefits, reporting, financial records, charitable gifting, risk management, and many other common problem areas. Of particular value is the special index that points the reader to the specific issues and problems of churches. In addition there are multiple checklists, charts, procedures, and even sample board resolutions.

Written in plain English so anyone can understand and yet comprehensive enough to keep your nonprofit or church well-organized and out of trouble, the Zondervan 2005 Church and Nonprofit Tax and Financial Guide is highly recommended to everyone involved with the financial aspects of any nonprofit or church.

Aknowledged as one of the more difficult areas of personal taxation, this clearly stated guide offers very relevant information and advice. I found the book so useful since purchasing it two years ago, that I have purchased the latest version.
Even though I am a CPA, I still find the tax code challenging as well as boring. This resource is logically organized, well indexed and easily understood. Thank you!

I am an audit manager and CPA with a big four public accounting firm. Our church decided to start an internal audit committee. Having a backaground in auditing, I had a good understanding of what procedures to perform, but having very limited nonprofit industry experience and no church accounting experience, I searched for several books as resources on how churches should account for items. I bought this book as a possibility based on its low price and of the 5 books I purchased, this one is hands down the best. It is easy to read, has the technical accounting for things a church should be doing, sample policies, and things to look for if performing an audit. I would highly recommend this book to anyone in a treasurer / finance committee position of a church as it has the technical information on what to do in order to keep the church's tax filings correct and the church to keep its tax exemption status.

I'm a CPA, and I buy this book every year. In fact, I buy extra copies for my minister clients. It provides the clearest, most user-friendly explanations I've found - better than anything else currently on the market. The examples, lists, charts and illustrations are invaluable. I wish all tax law was this easy to follow.

The Budget Bucket is one of 20 buckets in my book, Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit, and I draw heavily on Dan Busby's savvy wisdom in that bucket. Ball #3 in the Budget Bucket is simple: "Monitor Monthly Reports." But here's the catch. When you change board treasurers, don't change your reporting! Pardon the pun, but you can take this one to the bank.

This scene writes itself all across North America: Your nonprofit board elects a new board treasurer. He's from the hardware industry and he's a smart guy. He tweaks the monthly financial reports based on his experience and his accounting knowledge. Your last treasurer was from the hotel industry, and three years ago, she changed the report formats to align with her financial preferences. The previous treasurer asked Cousin Eddie to install financial software from his dry cleaning business. One problem--your nonprofit doesn't do dry cleaning!

Time out, everyone! This makes absolutely no sense and no thoughtful business person would ever permit this craziness in his or her own business. Resist the temptation to allow elected board treasurers and board finance committees to change the reporting systems at will.

The solution? Dan Busby recommends that you establish a standard reporting format and stick with it. Busby says there is one basic rule in preparing financial reports: "Prepare different reports for different audiences. For example, a church board would normally receive a more detailed financial report than the church membership. Department heads in a nonprofit organization might receive reports that only relate to their department." It's simple--but it takes courage to find a report format and stick with it. Busby's book is a must for your church or nonprofit ministry.