The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-01-12
YOUR FEDERAL INCOME
 TAX OUR INCOME TAX SYSTEM
YOUR FEDERAL INCOME TAX
 No. ! SURTAx EXEMPTIONS FOR
TAXPAYERS

AAA kAAC aAaAOAAAs VI aA come tax you owe you are entitled to the benefit of credit known as "surtax exemption" If you use your withholding Receipt as a return or if you file a short-form return on Form i040, the benefit of the surtax exemption is allowed auto- matically through the use of a tax table provided by law. If make a long-form return on Form l040, you should subtract this exemption from your net income before applying the surtax rates.
 Before 1914, the law provided for various personal exemptions and credits for single persons, married persons, and heads of families. Be- ginning In 1914, the status of head of family" has been abolished for income tax purposes, so that 1t is no longer necessary to determine whether a person qualif1eS as a head of family in computing in- come tax. The system has been changed so as to secure substan- tially the same benefits as before but with a standard uniformity in credits that will hereafter place all taxpayers who are similarly cir cumstanced approximately on a par with each other.
 There is a separate credit Cor exemption) for each kind of tax. The normal-taX is explained in arr ticle No. 6 in this series,
 What are "surtaX exemptions?
 Tn computing the surtax to be entered on long-form return for 1944, you may treat as not subject to thsi tax, and you may therefore subtract from your net income as "surtax exemption" on line 4, page 4 Of Form l040, in ascertain ing the income that is subject to subject to surtaX, a flat or fixed amount, of $500 for each name properly listed in item 1, page of the return, that is--(a) $500 for yourself; (b) $500 for your wife or husband provided that you file a combined or joint return, or that she or he has no gross income for the calendar year in which your taxable year begins and is not a dependent of another taxpayer; and Co $500 for each dependent who has less than $500 gross income for the calendar year in which your taxable year begins and who, If married, does not file joint re- turn with wife or husband. The surtaX exemption for dependents is further explained in article Mo- 8 In this series.
 NETtf HhaIliYNm n. ceipt as return and let the col- lector compute your tax for you by using the tax table, or If you use the tax table in the Shortforn return on Form 1940 you auto matically get tho full benefit of all tIie surtax exemptions to which you are entitled without having to make the actual subtraction, be- cause an allowance for the credits which you claim Con the back of the Withholding Receipt or in item on page of Form 1040) has been worked into the table itself.
 If a husband has gross income and hiS wife has none Cor less than $50O) they are entitled to file Q combined or joint return in which they receive the benefit of a total surtax exemption of $l,0o0, In which case neither of them can be claim edq as a dependent by any other person even though, for example, the wifes father may have furnish cd the entire support of his daugh- ter.
 Formerly, husband and wife filing separate returns could divide their joint personal exemption ($l,- 200 for l943) between them as they chose. Now, if they choose to flo on a. separate return basis each may receive the benefit of only his own surtaX exemption of $500, and neither may use any part of the exemption to which the other is entitled. If, however, a wife does not fine a return because she has no gross income at all, her huS- band may claim In his return the benefit of the entire $1,000 surtaX exemption ($500 for himself plus $500 for his Wife). provided she was not a dependent of another per- son, meaning either (a) that she did not receive more than half of her support from another tax" payer, or (b) that a taxpayer who furnished more than one-half oi her support was not within one of the degrees of relationship to her specified in the law and. therefore is not eligible to claim her as de- pendent. If she was dependent upon her taXpaying father and does not join in joint return, her father, and not her husband, is entitled to claim the $500 SurtaX exemption for her. This exemption cannot be allowed to two different taxpayers al the same time with respect to one person.
 Must the SurtaX exemption be porated where marriage or death occurs during the year? No; you are entitled (a) to full exemption of $500 for your self, and 'b) either to full exemption of $500 for your wife or husband or to none at all. For this purpose whether you were single or married on the last day of your taxable year Cor December 3l for a calendar year) determines, as a general rule, whether you arc to be treated as single or married for the entire year. If your mar riage occurred on December 3l, l944 and your wife had no gross in- come and was not supported by another taxpayer, you may take the 1Jill $50G AiirtAx exemption for her 1n youg 4S4i return Or if you were divorced on December 3i, 1044, af- ter having been married for several years. you would be treated as q single person for the entire year 1914 and you would not be entitled to any surtax exemption for your wife. The former requirement. that a married couple must live togeth- CT to be recognized as married for income tax purposes is no longer in the law Though n husband and wife may live apart, they are en- titled, for 1914 and later years, to