J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2017: For Preparing Your 2016 Tax Return
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Brian Kim, CPA · 2.89M YouTube Subscribers →What this book actually teaches
- 01The J.K. Lasser Your Income Tax series is an annual guide that walks through a complete federal return while also serving as a reference manual for specific situations — it goes deeper than tax software help screens and is more readable than IRS publications.
- 02The 2017 edition covers tax year 2016 — the last full tax year before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 restructured individual income tax, making this edition a useful historical reference for the pre-TCJA deduction landscape.
- 03For 2016 returns, the edition's coverage of unlimited SALT deductions, miscellaneous itemized deductions, the personal exemption phase-out, and the full ACA individual mandate is accurate — all of these changed materially after 2017.
- 04The series' tax planning emphasis — flagging year-end moves that affect the following spring's return — distinguishes it from a simple IRS instruction restatement and explains why it remains a reference of choice for sophisticated DIY filers.
- 05Annual editions of this series are current-year references only; the 2017 edition should not be used to prepare any return for tax years after 2016 without cross-checking every provision against current law.
What's in this book
J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax is the Institute's flagship annual tax preparation guide, published each fall covering the prior year's returns. The 2017 edition — covering tax year 2016 returns filed in early 2017 — represents the format at what may be its highest historical relevance: the last full tax year before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 fundamentally restructured individual income tax law. Understanding that context matters for anyone encountering this edition.
The Your Income Tax series is organized to walk a taxpayer through a complete federal return from start to finish, but it also serves as a reference manual for specific situations. The book opens with a filing status and income overview, moves through the major income categories (wages, self-employment income, investment income including dividends, capital gains, and rental income), covers above-the-line adjustments (IRA contributions, student loan interest, alimony, self-employed health insurance), and works through itemized deductions in detail before addressing credits. Tax planning strategies woven throughout distinguish the series from a simple IRS instruction restatement — the Institute consistently flags planning moves available before year-end that affect the following spring's return.
For tax year 2016, the itemized deduction landscape this edition covers was still largely intact: the personal exemption phase-out applied to high earners, miscellaneous itemized deductions (unreimbursed employee expenses, investment advisory fees, tax preparation fees) were still deductible subject to the 2% AGI floor, the SALT deduction was unlimited, and the mortgage interest deduction applied to acquisition debt plus home equity debt. All of these changed materially in 2018 under the TCJA. The 2017 edition's treatment of the alternative minimum tax is also notably different from the post-TCJA AMT, which affects far fewer taxpayers.
The edition also covers the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and premium tax credit mechanics — both of which changed significantly in subsequent years. For 2016 returns, these provisions applied in full and the coverage in this edition is accurate and useful.
The J.K. Lasser Your Income Tax series is trusted among tax preparers and financially sophisticated DIY filers because it goes deeper than TurboTax help screens and is more readable than IRS publications. The 2017 edition maintains that standard for its coverage year.
For tax filers preparing 2016 returns, amending prior-year returns for 2016, or students of how individual income tax worked in the pre-TCJA era, this edition covers the full return preparation process with the specificity and planning context the series is known for.
Where it falls short
like every annual J.K. Lasser edition, this one is a current-year reference that became a historical document when the TCJA passed in December 2017. Readers who consult it for current guidance will find a materially different tax law — the standard deduction, rate brackets, itemized deduction rules, personal exemption, AMT thresholds, and ACA individual mandate all changed. The series publishes a new edition every fall specifically because the law changes; prior editions are not updated and carry no warnings about subsequent changes.
Verdict
an accurate and comprehensive guide to preparing a 2016 federal income tax return; a useful historical reference for understanding pre-TCJA individual tax law; not a resource for any return filed after 2017.
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