Your Income Tax, Who Files, and How
Editor’s Note: The income tax
filing ordeal is here again. Here
is the first of a series of five
articles designed to make the
taxpayer’s chore easier. This one
tells who must file, forms to use
and how to figure deductions.
By James Marlow
WASHINGTON UP> — Midnight
Monday, April 15, is the deadline
for your 1962 income tax return.
Report only taxable income, not
the non-taxable kind like Social
Security payments. Examples of
both kinds are given below.
Changes in the law on 1962 in
dividual income are very few and
won’t affect most people.
You must file a return—to get
a refund—if your income was too
low to be taxable but tax was
withheld from it.
You must file a return, even
though you owe no tax, if:
1. You were under 65 and had
taxable income of $600 or more.
This includes children, parents are
responsible for them.
2. You were 65 by Jan. 1, 1963,
and had taxable income of $1,200
or more.
A self-employed person must pay
a Social Security tax of 4.7 per
cent on self-employment income
from $400 to $4,800. This is an
addition to whatever regular tax
he pays, like everyone else, on
taxable income over $600.
A man over 65 must pay this
Social Security tax on self-employ
ment income even though he is
drawing Social Security payments.
But there are limits on how
much income such a person can
have and still receive Social Se
curity payments. This can get com
plicated. If you have doubts about
your case, contact your nearest
Social Security office.
Social Security Number
Be sure (1) you enclose with
your return all the W-2 withhold
ing statements from your employ
er or employers; (2) you list your
Social Security number on your
return. There is a $5 penalty for
failing to list your number.
Many special questions are an
swered in the 14-page instruction
sheet which the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) sends taxpayers. It
includes both a tax table and a
schedule for figuring your own tax.
Still better, though it costs 40
cents, is the 144-page instruction
booklet— “Your Federal Income
Tax”—put out by the IRS and
sold by your district director of
Internal Revenue.
Organizations paying interest or
dividends of $10 or more—starting
Jan. 1, 1963—will report these pay
ments to IRS. Through this IRS
can check 1962 returns to catch
those who didn’t report dividend
or interest income received in 1962.
Two Tax Forms
There are two tax forms for
making returns: 1040 and 1040A.
Anyone, no matter how big or
little his income, can use form
1040. Most people will use form
104 A—a punchcard—because it’s
simpler, if they meet the require
ments.
You can use it only if:
1. Your income was under $10,000
and was entirely in wages from
which tax was withheld, plus not
more than $200 in dividends, in
terest or wages from which tax
was not withheld.
2. You accept the standard de
duction of 10 per cent—up to a
limit of $1,000—allowed people
using form 1040A without itemiz
ing.
Otherwise, you must use form
1040. On this one, if your deduc
tions actually exceed 10 per cent of
your taxable income, you can claim
them in full but must itemize to
do so.
If you use 1040A, but your in
come was under $5,000, you can
find your tax in the tax table or
let the IRS collector figure it for
you. He’ll send you a bill for any
tax still owed or send you a re
fund if you’re entitled to it.
In this case the 10 per cent de
duction is already allowed for in
the tax table. You don’t have to
claim it.
If you use form 1040A, but your
income was $5,000 or more but
under $10,000, you figure your
own tax and take, without item
izing, a 10 per cent deduction for
personal expenses up to a limit of
$1,000.
What's Left Is Taxable
Each exemption you can legiti
mately claims means $600 knocked
off your income before what’s left
is taxable. Everyone filing a re
turn gets a $600 exemption for
himself, plus $600 for each de
pendent.
If your wife had no income, you
can file jointly with her, or you
can file your own return. In both
cases you claim a $600 exemption
for her and one for yourself.
But married couples usually save
money filing a joint return, wheth
er or not the wife had income, be
cause the tax is split for them
when they file this way.
If your wife had income, you
can not claim an exemption for
her unless she files jointly with
you. If she does file jointly with
you, each of you claims a $600
exemption on the same return.
When the wife had income but
files her own return, she claims
her own $600 exemption on her
return and you claim your ex
emption on your return.
Next: Forms to use.
Petition Filed for Incorporation
Of Organized Borough
Named "Gateway" at Ketchikan
JUNEAU W — The Local Affairs
Agency said Friday it has received
a petition for incorporation of a
second class organized borough to
be known as the Gateway Borough
in the Ketchikan area.
The agency’s director, Ronald C.
Cease, said the petition was being
reviewed to determine if it is in
proper form and if the area cover
ed by the petition meets the stand
ards for incorporation prescribed
by the Borough Act.
Harry Truman Goes Home
KANSAS CITY iSh — Harry Tru
man went home from Research
Hospital Friday a day or two
earlier than his physicians had ex
pected.
The former President, 78, under
went a hernia operation a week
previously but made a quick re
covery.
Accompanied by Mrs. Truman,
he walked out of the hospital with
out a cane or crutches.
Fair Skies Caver
Most of the State
A Polar high pressure area mov
ing southward brought fair skies,
with patches of fog, to the eastern
half of the Alaska mainland and
the Southeast Panhandle today.
The warming trend extends to
the Arctic slope, which had cloudy
skies and freezing drizzle this
morning.
Overnight temperatures ranged
from a high of 43 at Cold Bay to
a low of minus 5 at Fairbanks.
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Atty. Gen. Hayes Decrees
Football Pools Illegal
JUNEAU — State law for
bids the operation of football
pools, bookmaking, parlay cards
and similar activities in Alaska,
Atty. Gen George Hayes said yes
i terday.
Hayes made the comment in an
. opinion addressed to Public Safety
Commissioner Martin Underwood
| and based upon an inquiry re
i ceived by Hayes’ office from the
U S. Department of Justice.
Hayes said state law prohibits
lotteries, with the exception of
certain raffles, lotteries and games
of chance carried on by charitable,
fraternal or educational organiza
tions under permits issued by the
Commissioner of Revenue.
The three elements of a lottery,
Hayes said, are chance, considera
tion and prize, adding:
“In betting or pool selling opera
tions, the participant’s only oppor
tunity to use skill or judgment is
in the picking of winners.
“The fact that there is a very
substantial element of chance in
predicting the winners of sporting
events is demonstrated by the lack
of unanimity among the expert
sports writers.
“If the participant in a pool must
predict not one winner, but must
choose correctly a number of win
ners in a number of different
sporting events, the element of
skill involved in making all the
choices correctly becomes negli
gible.”
Data Available for Making
Improvements On Homes
Spending some of the dark win
ter hours making improvements
on the home place? If you are, the
Cooperative Extension Service of
the University of Alaska has many
publications that can be of help to
you.
Here are just a few you can pick
up, or write for, at your nearest
Extension Service office, or from
the Extension Information Office
at the University of Alaska at
College.
Easy-to-Build Kitchen Cabinets,
G-12; Condensation Control for
Alaska’s Farms and Homes, EB
800; Freeways for Family Traffic,
Extension Publication No. 2; and
if you want to fix everything, you
will want a copy of Home Im
provement plans, MWPS-4.
White House Receives
$98,369 In Cash Gifts
WASHINGTON <*> — The White
House announced Friday it has
received additional cash gifts of
$98,369 since last Feb. 15 toward
its refurnishing project.
With these funds, it has pur
chased for the executive mansion
about 46 objects of art and furnish
ings, ranging from ink wells to a
Martha Washington arm chair,
costing a total of $92,869.
Since the First Lady Jacqueline
Kennedy started the project a total
of $232,439 in cash has come in
as gifts, mainly from persons the
White House says wish to be
anonymous. There have also been
nearly 350 direct gifts of furnish
ings, objects and paintings.
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Kennedy Cuts
Off Underground
Tests In Nevada
WASHINGTON UPi — President
Kennedy Saturday postponed the
current series of underground nu
clear tests in Nevada while dis
cussions with the Soviet Union on
a nuclear test ban treaty are in
progress.
In a brief statement issued by
the White House Kennedy said
“we are maintaining the capability
and readiness to resume our test
program at any time.”
The United States has been con
ducting a series of underground
shots over the past 18 months. The
White House did not say when
the current series would have end
ed — without the present stay —
or how many tests still were to
be conducted.
Kennedy said the United States
has “no intention of again ac
cepting an indefinite moratorium
on testing. If it is clear we can
not achieve a workable agreement
we will act accordingly,” he said.
Discussions by United States, the
Soviet Union and the United King
dom on a nuclear test ban treaty
are now taking place in both Wash
ington and New York.
The sessions are to resume in
New York Tuesday.
Food Shortages In Japan
TOKYO UP — Serious food
shortages have developed in Japan
because of blizzards that have crip
pled transportation in widespread
sections of the country. Helicopters
carried food and medical supplies
to some isolated communities.
Police reported that 37 persons
died in the snowstorms that hit
Japan’s west central coast. Most
of them perished in avalanches or
in the wreckage of houses crush
ed by the weight of the snow that
has fallen continuously for two
weeks. Drifts are 12 feet high in
places.
170 Canadian Jet Fighters
Declared Obsolete In Europe
LONDON Gf) — More than 170
Canadian jet fighters now in serv
ice in Western Europe have been
declared obsolete and will be sent
to Scotland for scrapping, a spokes
man said for the Canadian Defense
Department said.
The planes — more than 100
Sabers and more than 70 Canuck
CF-lOOs — will go to the grave
yard in Prestwick to be stripped
of valuable instruments. Their
hulks will be sold for scrap.
Dial 2631 For
Arctic Sanitary
Service
Future of Seattle’s
Monorail Is Uncertain
SEATTLE UP) — Future of the
$4.2 million Monorail system, a
major attraction of the Seattle
World’s Fair, remained uncertain
Wednesday.
The city announced Tuesday it
would not try to acquire the 1.2
mile system which carried millions
of fairgoers from the downtown
district to the grounds during th“
six-month exposition last year.
The city said it was acting on
the advice of consultants who rec
ommended that the Monorail be
operated privately.
Both Alweg Rapid Transit Sys
tem, Inc., and Century 21, Inc,
have shown an interest in operat
ing the system on a year-around
basis.
Alweg, an affilite of the Swedish
Wenner-Gren industrial empire
which built the Monorail, ran i*
during the Fair and has continued
since its close Oct. 21. Century 21
Inc. is the non-profit corpora
tion formed to develop the Seattle
center on the site of the Fair.
Alweg’s franchise to operate the
Monorail was extended recently
to Oct. 31. The corporation which
put on the Fair has an option to
take over the system at no cost
or order Alweg to tear it down.
Really Loaded . . .
EUREKA, Calif, (£> — When the
percentage of alcohol in the blood
reaches .15 California police con
sider the person with the percent
age too drunk to drive a car.
Between .15 to .30 the person is
so saturated he generally cannot
even walk.
When, rarely, a person is able
to reach a higher score than .30
without passing out, his life is
in danger.
Thursday two Eureka policemen
said they had to restrain before
I they could arrest a very lively 54
year-old logger they said they
found intoxicated in his parked car.
When finally subdued Leland
Breshears, of Eureka, registered
the only .50 blood alcohol score
ever recorded in this city.
Bachelors sometimes make lonely
brags about their freedom, but
Samuel Johnson nailed down their
situation long ago with the re
mark, “Marriage has many pains,
but celibacy has no pleasures.”
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