Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1919-02-06
WISCONSIN INCOME TAXES
Directions Prepared for The Demo-
crat by n. r. Briggs Assessor.
Insurance

Insurance
Insurance received in payment OF a
death claim is exempt. Endowment or
other insurance paid to the insured
during his lifetime is taxable upon the
excess over the amount paid for the in
surance. Deductions cannot be made
for premiums paid on insurance.
Inheritances
All inheritances, gifts and bequests
are exempt.
Depletion
A reasonable depletion for mines is
allowed. In order to have depletion
allowed, it is necessary first to give the
cost Of the mine and then the estimated
life of the mine in years. The cost
should be the cost of the mineral right
alone and not the cost of the land.
Inventories
Care should be taken in reporting in
ve1tories They should always be
figured upon the same basis, For mer
chants, the actual cost of the goods on
hand is the usual basis for inventory.
A record should be kept and the
amounts reported should check with the
amounts reported in previous years.
All items should agree with the books.
Farm Inventories
It is sometimes the practice to guess
at farm inventories. This is a poor
practice as it may cause trouble when
returns for various years are compared.
Inventories should be carefully figured
at the market value of stock and grain
on hand January first. First Of all.
list of livestock should be made and the
value of all stock found, as 10 COWS at
500, 5000; steers at $40, $3.50; horses,
5000, etc. These amounts should all be
added. Then, the value Of all grain
and hay on hand January first should
be figured and then the values of
machinery and tools. All these items
should be added and the amount en-
tered under ''inventory." A record of
the amount reported should be kept,
since the inventory, which appears at
the bottom of page two of this years
report, must appear at the top of page
three of next years report. Also, the
value which appears under "inventory"
on page three of this years report must
check with the amount reported under
inventory last year at the bottom of
page two, as both questions call for the
inventory of January 1, 1918.
Claims should not be made for losses
because of death of livestock, because
such loss is taken care of by the inven
tory. For instance, if a cow worth 800
dies, the inventory for January /, 1919
would be 800 less than if this loss had
not occurred. and So allowance is made
| for it.
Sales
All sales of real estate and personal
property should be reported. In report
| ing sales Of real estate. the selling price
should be given and the purchase price,
and the year purchased, Information
as to the costs Of improvements made
since the purchase is also needed. In
sales of personal property, the entire
amount of the sale should be reported.
| If any article sold has been bought
since the last income return was made,
this cost can be deducted. The costs of
most of the goods sold, however, will
have been already deducted in previous
years and so should not be claimed
again.
Suggestions
1. Mail your return today, if possible.
2. Remember that it will be necessary
to impose penalties for returns not in
on time.
3. Do not forget to sign the return.
| A number of blanks are received every
year without signatures
8. Sign your name plainly.
5. If your name and address were
! written incorrectly on the envelope in
which your blank was received, this
office will appreciate return of the
envelope with your blank. This will
assist the Office in correcting the card
index. Likewise if two returns were
sent you in different envelopes, notifca-
ton of that fact will assist materially
in correcting the error.