Evening star., 1952-02-07
Your Income Tux &
Government Pon1pbl Ell Required
lAs Guide for 1910 Long Form

lowed when you 1iIe your return
lon Form 1040. Self semployed
persons also must use another.
separate form, called Schedule Cs
There they provide information
ion which they base their social
security tax.
Claim All Exemptions.
s. BE careful To claim all the
Exemptions To which you're en-
Titled. For each exemption. you
knock $500 OF your income.
What's left is taxable.
Every one filing & return gets
$500 on for himself, another
$500 II he's blind, and still
another $500 II he's. 65. And you
Eget $500 on for each dependent.
but nothing extra II he's blind or
|65.
Note: A wife is not considered q
dependent. So the rule on ex-
|emptions for wives is a little
complicated.
If your wife had no income and
is not someone else's dependent
and you alone file q return--or il
she did or did not have income
but files jointly with you--you
get a 5000 exemption for her.
plus $500 II she's blind. plus 5000
IL she's 65.
Note: If your wife had any in
come at all, no matter how small.
you get no exemption for her
unless she files jointly with you.
II q wife files separately: she
claims her exemptions on her own
return.
z. Anyone with 5000 or more
income gets for deductible per-
sonal expenses what is called .
standard deduction. It means
that, without itemizing or having
to prove anything, you may take q
deduction Of 10 per cent Of your
income up to q limit Of 81 200.
You deduct that much from your
income before what's left is tax
able.
How II Operates.
(, Example: Jones, income $4,000
standard deduction Of 10 per
cent is 5000. Smith. income $40. 900
deduction Of 10 per
cent gives him the limit. 81. 900.
Brown, income SIS, ,000-may take
no more than that limit Of 81 900
unless his expenses actually were
more, and he wants to itemize.
Anyone whose deductible ex-
penses amounted to more than
that standard deduction may claim
them In full, but in that case he
must itemize them all on Page 3
of Form 1O4O and be prepared
to prove he had them.
And right here. for husbands
and wives. comes a problem that
a single person with 5000 or
more income doesn't have on
Form 1040.-
That single person takes the
standard deduction. II that's not
enough to cover his expenses. he
can claim them all by itemizing.
When q husband and wife file
a Joint return-whether or not
both had income they may take
the standard deduction or itemize
to get more than the standard
deduction gives them.
But note: When . husband files
separately-and 1t makes no diff
ference whether the wife did or
didn't have income -he no longer
may take that standard deduction
|up to 81 900. He can take only .
nat deduction Of $500.
Examples On Filing
Example: Jones had $4,000 In
come. his wife had none: If they
file Jointly. he takes . standard
deduction Of 5000. II for some
reason she fails to file jointly with
him, he gets only $500. They lose
$500 on that deal. When husband
and wife both had income but file
on the long form, each
is limited to q nat deduction OF
$500.
If both had income, and one
uses the long form while the other
with smaller income, uses Form
1o4o-A or the 104O short form.
then.
/. The one using the long form.
is limited to q fiat $500 deduction.
q. The other, using form 1040-A
- %t,a 1nAn short farm RAtg the