Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-01-23

enud mad. 80 long as you paid
more than half Of his or her
| support.
II the child reached age 10
during the tax year or is even
older YOU may still claim in
exemption n he or she is a fun
time student or had q taxable
income Of less than $500 for the
year--and still providing that
! you paid more than half the
support costs.
Requirements Stin
In addition 10 exemptions for
yourself. your spouse and your
children. you may claim other
dependents whether or not they
are related to you. These de-
pendents. however. have to
meet some pretty stih require
mentS.
To qualify as exemptions for
you these dependents must: :,
/ /. Have received less than
$500 in total reportable income
during 1857:
/ 2. Have received more than
half their support from you:
3. Have not fled q joint re-
turn for 1857 with their spouse:
4. Be a citizen or resident Of
the United States or a resident
Of Canada. Mexico. the Repub-
lie OF Panama or the Canal
Zone: and
5. Either have been q mem
Der Of your household for the
entire taxable year. or be re-
lated 10 you. II you are filing
a Joint return. they may be
related to either husband or
wife.
Relatives who may qualify
under these provisions are:
mother. father. mother Law.
father-in-law. brother. sister,
stepbrother. stepsister. BROTH
er-in-law. sister-in-law son-iIi-
law. daughter-in-law, step
mother. stepfather. grandpa
rents. grandchildren or-when
related by hlood--aunt, uncle.
niece or nephew.
Not that rule 5 above says
they must either have been q
member OF your household for
the entire tax year. or must be
related TO YOU. Thus. a foster
child would not qualify as a
relative. but might qualify II
he or she had scent the entire
year In your household and
net the other provisions as 10
income. ace. support. etc.
And the Internal Revenue
Service warns you not to try to
list the maid or the butler
servants are not considered
part Of the household.
You may have noted above
that one Of the provisions for
claiming an exemption is that
the dependent does not have a
lreportable income OF $500 or
more during the. year. Wen go
into this in greater detail In
the next article. but 1t might
be. well to point out here that
not all income need be re-
ported.
Social security payments. for
instance, are tax-free and need
mot be reported. and so are
most inheritances and death
benefits from insurance policies.
Suppose you have a child
aged 10 or more who had tax
able income of less than $500
for the year. but who received
$1,000 in death benefits from
an insurance policy. That 81 900
wo1ldnt count against the ex-
emption Ab,1t you would still
have to- show that you paid
more than half the support
costs during the year. II the
child used the $1,000 to pay
his or her own support costs.
you lose the exemption regard
less Of whether the $1,000 is
tax-free. unless you contributed
more than $1,000 additional TO
the support costs.
There is one more thing to be
considered while we're discuss
ing excmptions-the case where
several persons together con-
! tribute more than half the sup
port Of an individual during
the year, but no one alone con-
tributed more than half. That
might be the case where four
brothers Clipped in equally to
support a widowed mother.
Cooperation Pays
One OF the taxpayers con-
cerned may claim the supported
person as an exemption II:
!. The supported person
meets the requirements for a
dependent las outlined above):
2. The person claiming the
exemption contributed more
than 10 per cent Of the depend
ent's support, and
3. Each other person In the
group files a statement with
the IRIS declaring that he or
she is not claiming the same
exemption for the same tax
year.
/ In this way, each member Of
the group may take his turn In
claiming an exemption TO which
none Of the group would ordi-
narily be entitled.
The next article will outline
The tta01Vaa s,a., Ho.. - Aaalae.