In print now · Professional Edition · $299
THE TAX CUTTERY® Guide to Federal Income Taxation
A desk book you use yourself.
Written for 1099 contractors, single-member LLCs, and service-based agency founders. Compliance, planning, and what to do when a notice arrives. One hardcover, current through the July 2025 rewrite.
By Paul D. Diaz, EA, MBA, Enrolled Agent, admitted to practice before the Internal Revenue Service
Case-bound hardcover · 7 × 10 in · matte laminate · 564 pages · $299
Buy the Guide today · $299 Start today's consult
Do both today. Register the copy: one tax-topic question answered in writing. The consult is name, email, verify — then Paul on camera. Read ten minutes free →
564 pages is a strange length for a tax book. There’s a reason for it.
Read the transcript (for accessibility)
Five hundred and sixty-four pages. I’ll tell you why it’s that long.
Most tax books pick a lane. They do compliance — here’s how to fill in the form. Or they do planning — here’s how to pay less. Or they do resolution — here’s what to do when it’s already gone wrong.
But that’s not how a life works. The person who’s behind this year was doing fine three years ago, and the person doing fine right now is one bad quarter from a notice. It’s one arc, so I wrote it as one arc.
Every figure in here is verified against the code. Not against what somebody remembered from a seminar, and not against a blog post from before the law changed. The tax code was rewritten on July fourth of twenty twenty-five, and most of what’s on the internet still hasn’t caught up.
Here’s what I’d tell you honestly. Some people will read this and realize they don’t need me. That’s a fine outcome. It’s the outcome I wrote it for.
Read the sample. The free excerpt is the front matter — not Chapter 1. Ten minutes will tell you whether the rest is for you.
Most tax books pick a lane. Your life doesn’t.
The person who is behind this year was doing fine three years ago. The person doing fine right now is one bad quarter from a notice in the mailbox. Compliance, planning, and what happens when it has already gone wrong are not three subjects. They are three phases of the same arc, and you will live in all of them.
The tax code was rewritten on 4 July 2025. Most of what is on the internet has not caught up, and the parts that have are guessing. This book was rebuilt against the new law — not patched, not annotated, rebuilt.
How you use the book
Don't read it cover to cover. It is a desk book: a master index, a 104-term glossary, and twenty-four chapters that each stand alone. When the question arrives (entity, notice, deduction), the answer is ninety seconds away, and it cites the Code.
How the claims are verified
Every tax book on the shelf claims to be complete and current. You've heard it. Here's the method instead of the claim.
One arc. Twenty-four chapters organised as the Trident Framework. Compliance is a posture, not data entry — Part I. Planning is permanent, not a trick — Part II. Resolution is not a failure state, it is a phase — Part III. No other book covers all three, because no other practice runs all three. This one does.
Verified line by line. 1,706 factual claims in this book were checked against primary law — the Code, the regulations, the rulings — not against a seminar handout and not against a blog post written before the law changed. Nearly 2,000 inline citations, 149 distinct Internal Revenue Code sections. If a sentence in this book makes a claim about your taxes, you can follow it to the authority it rests on.
That is the whole mechanism. It is why the book is 564 pages, and it is why it took a practice to write rather than a weekend.
From the author
I wrote this because the tax code wasn't written for the people who actually need it most: the 1099 contractors, the single-member LLCs, the service-based agency founders. It was written for W-2 employees. Every book on the shelf either drowns you in statute or hands you a pamphlet. I wanted one volume a serious person could keep on the desk and trust. Then on July 4, 2025 the One Big Beautiful Bill was signed, and I rebuilt the book completely. The founding essay tells that story in full. I'm Paul Diaz, and this is THE TAX CUTTERY®.
What you would do instead
If this book did not exist, here is what is actually on the table.
- Google it, or ask an AI. Free, instant, and trained on a tax code that no longer exists. You will not know which of the answers is the stale one — that is the whole problem.
- Pay for one question. A single hour with a competent CPA to answer one entity-structure question runs $500 and up, and the answer arrives out loud, in a room, with nothing you can put in a file.
- A franchise preparer in February. Compliance only, once a year, by someone who will not be there in April when the notice arrives.
- A spreadsheet and your own nerve. The most expensive option on this list — and the only one that never sends you a bill for what it cost.
It isn't trying to beat other tax books. It's the volume on the desk of someone who files for a living, with answers in writing, at any hour, for as many questions as the years bring.
Read ten minutes before you decide
The free excerpt is the front matter: dedications, foreword, introduction, and the complete contents. It is not Chapter 1. If it isn't the most defensible tax writing you've seen, don't buy the book. That's the test. Ten minutes, not $299.
Buy the Guide
Case-bound hardcover · 7 × 10 in · matte laminate · 564 pages · $299
We do not warehouse this book. Your copy is printed for you when you order it, and shipped to you.
Printed to order · taxes and shipping calculated at checkout
You also get one tax-topic question answered in writing, from an Enrolled Agent, after you register the copy. That is a letter you can keep, not an hour in a room.
Want a notice if we ever change the printer?
Read a free excerpt · Browse the 24 chapters →. Already hold a copy? Register it here.
What's inside: the 24 chapters
Part I · Compliance — How the System Operates
- 1. How the tax system is structured
- 2. What counts as income
- 3. What you can deduct
- 4. Which credits reduce your tax
- 5. When income and expenses are recognized
- 6. Filing requirements and substantiation
- 7. How to think about compliance as a posture
Part II · Planning — How to Reduce Tax Legally and Permanently
- 8. Why planning matters and how to start
- 9. Choosing your entity structure (LLC vs S-Corp)
- 10. Compensation, benefits, and wealth design
- 11. Retirement account strategy (401k, IRA, SEP)
- 12. Real estate tax advantages
- 13. Investment and capital gains planning
- 14. Family and intergenerational planning
- 15. Estate planning as tax planning
- 16. The generational compact (step-up, charitable)
Part III · Resolution — What Happens When the System Breaks
- 17. How the IRS operates as an agency
- 18. What happens during an IRS examination
- 19. Appeals and collection alternatives
- 20. Substantiation, Cohan rule, and documentation
- 21. Penalties and how to get them abated
- 22. Your rights and Circular 230 ethics
- 23. Closing a tax case and resolution strategies
Part IV · Bonus
- 24. Cryptocurrency and the GENIUS Act
Questions about the book
What is this book?
A 564-page hardcover Professional Edition on federal income tax — Compliance, Planning, and Resolution as one arc. 1,706 factual claims verified against primary law. Current through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Written by Paul D. Diaz, EA. $299 one-time.
Is this a tax return or IRS representation?
No. This is a book. It is not a tax return and not IRS representation.
Is the free excerpt Chapter 1?
No. The free excerpt is front matter — dedications, foreword, introduction, and the contents. It is not Chapter 1.
Who wrote it?
Paul D. Diaz, Enrolled Agent, admitted to practice before the Internal Revenue Service. THE TAX CUTTERY®.
What does $299 include?
The case-bound hardcover, printed to order and shipped — $299. Register your copy and one written tax-topic question comes back answered from an Enrolled Agent. Not a booked hour.
How do I use it?
Open the index, find the chapter, follow the citation. When the question arrives, the answer is ninety seconds away. You don't read 564 pages first.
Buy the Guide
Case-bound hardcover · 7 × 10 in · matte laminate · 564 pages · $299
Your copy is printed for you when you order it, and shipped to you.
Printed to order · taxes and shipping calculated at checkout
Register for the written answer. Free video consult if a notice is already in the mailbox.