The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-02-15
----'------l9A5 InccEI~ r.. Ers1e:---~ --- ---.-- Queries Indicate Many Are Puzzled By Rules Governing Income Tax

want to deduct expenses incurred for your employer for which he did no. reimburse you, then you can not file your withholding receipt, but must use Form 1040. You can, how. ever. use the table to ascertain your tax, if your income was under $50O0. LAW IS ILLOGICAL
 In general, from your salary or wage you can deduct only travel expenses. Otherwise entertaining clients, union dues, professional ex- peuseS, rent, etc.-must be taken out as miscellaneous deduction, and that would require that ycu waive use of the tax table and use the long form method. It is neither logical nor fair, but 1t is the jaw.
 Question: My local Internal Rev. enue Bureau says you are wrong in writing that the wife of a service man does not have to file unless her income is as much as $1200. am told she must file, like any civilian, If her income is as much as $500.
 Answer: Your local bureau is wrong. If the service man himself is in position to defer filing be- cause of absence from the country, then his wife need not file now, un. less she chooses, on any income uI1- der $120O. Of course if the service man is in this country both he and his wife, or they jointly, must file like anybody else, before March l5.
 Question: By private arrangement with my former wife I am contribut- ing most of the support of our two children, who live with her. Can I claim these payments as an income tax deduction?
 Answer: No, but you can claim the two children as dependents and take a $500 exemption for each, and your wife can not claim them.
 Question: If person legally de- pendent at any time during the year can be claimed as an exemption for the entire year, can my brother and I both claim 1o44 dependency for our mother, who lived with each of us half of the time and was entirely dependent?
 Answer: Mo- The rule I cited is intended to apply to children born, wives married, persons becoming de- pendent during the year; and to per- sons who die rbecome independent during the year-not to those who shift from one supporter to an- other. Where support is divided, the person who l -ovided more than hali by so much as one cent. worth claims credit.
 Question: How can the special $500 exemption for the blind bo taken on the Withholding Re- ce.pt-or on Form 104O, using the tax table?
 Answer: It can't. To claim that exemption one must use Form 1040 and compute his own tax.
 BOTH USE TABLES
 Question: Can a husband file his Withholding Receipt and the wife use Form 1040, or vice versa?
 Answer: Yes, provided the one filing Form .04O uses the tax table.
 Question: If husband and wife file individual returns, and one has deductions exceeding those allowed by the table but the other does not, can one use the table and the other compute his or her tax?
 Answer: No. Both must use the table, or both figure the tax. Question: How do report the in- come of my dependent children? Do I include it in 8 joint figure, aS I do with my wife?
 Answer: No. Unless Q child Cor other dependent, except your wife) earned as much as $500 1t is tax free, and any withholding against 1t can be reclaimed if the dependent files his withholding receipt as return. If the dependent earned as much as $500 he is not legally dependent. anG can not be claimed as such even though you supported him; he then must file and pay for himself.
 Question: Last March I overpaid my tax and left the prepayment as credit against 1914 estimates, but in 1914 I found that the withhold ing exceeded my tax liability 50 that I owed nothing on estimates. How can I get back that prepayment?
 Answer: Enter the prepayment as Item 7B, page Cor on line 5 on front of Form W-2), just as though you had paid it with tax estimates during 1914.