The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-01-31
GET YOUR INCOME
FIGURES READY

Collector, Geo. H. Moore, today and
found him busy with preparation for
taking returns of incomes earned dur
ing the year 1918 for assessment and
collection of the U. S. Income Tax on
individuals and corporations.
eve shall soon be ready to begin the
work of taking returns and collecting
the tax," he said. EVERY single per-
son who made net income of 81 900
or more from all sources, and every
married person, living with wife or
husband, whose income from all sourc-
es, and this includes the earnings Of
both husband and wife and all chill
dren under the age of IS years, whose
net income amounted to $1,000 or
more must make return. Every cor
poration doing business must make a
return whether they made any net in
come or not. Every partnership
must make a return of business done
during the year, and report the
amount of profit to which each part
ner is entitled whether he or she
takes this profit or not The partner
ship as such, however, pays no tax.
That is taken care of by the individual
partners in their individual returns.
Every executor or administrator OF
an estate must make return of the in
come of the estate he represents if
the income is 1000 or more. Every
| trustee must make return of the in
come of the trust in his hands and
give the names and addresses of the
benefciaries of the trust and the
amount to which they are entitled.
Every resident alien must make re-
turn if he would enjoy the same ex-
emption as a citizen, otherwise he
will have to pay on his entire earn
ings and his employer will be held re-
sponsible for the tax unless he has the
alien employee earthly to the Govern
citizenship and residence in the coun-
try,
nous, the bills must be met, and
therefore the income tax laid on the
1918 incomes is the largest in history.
"To get this tax in and get it cor
rectly, for the Government does not
want anything that is not due it, is
the task before my Office and the pub
lie as well. Forms for reporting re-
turns for tax will soon be ready and
forwarded to my Office from the Cen
eral Office in Washington, and the ac-
tual work of taking returns and col
lccting tax will begin.
However, we do not need to wait
on the forms before beginning the
work of getting the figures in shape
which are to go into the returns. 1t
will greatly facilitate matters for the
taxpaying public if they will begin
this preliminary work now and have
their figures ready to insert as soon
as the forms are available.
"The income tax obligation imposed
by the law consists of two distinct
operations. One is t off fCxe.,,5..
operations. One is to file return or
statement of all items of income and
items of deduction allowable by law,
and to do this within the period named
in the law. The other is to pay the
tax, if any is due.
I, Neither of these obligations can be
met without a careful review of in
come and expenditures for the tax
year. That is the big job right now.
GAS soon as l receive tine new forms,
I will have them distributed through
out the district, and everybody will be
informed of the date when the sworn
return must be filed. 1t is my plan
to send my men out to central loca-
tions, and to have them travel through
the district, aiding the taxpayers in
the preparation of the returns and in
deciding doubtful points.
UExyarx, 20 po,1cf acaarf ai
curately his gross income from all
sources. First there's salary, wages,
fees and bonuses. If he sold property
at a profit, the gain must be included.
If he rented any property to other
persons, the rents received in the
year must be ascertained, and from
that figure a deduction may be taken
for taxes paid on rented property, the
necessary minor repairs, fire insur-
ance, any interest he may have paid
on mortgages, and reasonable allow
ance for annual wear and tear of the
rented property. The balance is in
cluded in gross income for the year.
"Interest on bank deposits, and
bond intereset received during the
year must be included, except inter-
est on State and municipal, and in
most cases drainage district bonds
and all public school district bonds.
Interest on United States bonds need
not be included by the ordinary bond
holder who purchased small amounts.
Holders of large amounts of Liberty
Bonds. however, should ask their
bankers to write to my office for the
rule applying to tax on such interest.
Dividends on stock shares are in
come, and must be included in the
gross figures, although the law does
not impose the normal tax on distri-
button made by domestic corporations.
This includes stock dividends made
from earnings.
How to Figure Business Income
"A person buying and selling mer-
chandise must find his profits for the
year on the following basis: First, as
certain the gross sales or total cash
receipts. Then add together the in
ventory at the beginning Of the year
and the purchases Of goods for sale.
From this latter sum subtract the in
ventory of goods on hand at the years
end, and the result is the cost Of goods
sold. This cost, plus necessary ex-