FOURTEEN MEDF0HD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Monday, March 7, 1955
Top Tax OTiiciial -Helps 'Prepare Eef urns
Editor'! Not: This if the first or a
upeclml teriei of five dispatches by the
top federal tax official to help tax
payers make oat their 1954 returns.
By T. COLEMAN ANDREWS
Commissioner of Internal
Revenue '
Written For United Press
Washington UR) It is
time for millions of U. S. citizens
and residents to file a federal
Income tax return for 1954!
This year there are new bene
fits for almost everyone, enacted
by Congress when it gave the
federal tax code a complete
overhaul.
The Internal Revenue Service
has compiled a list of questions
that taxpayers are asking about
the law as it stands now. with
particular emphasis on the
changes which have been made
since tax time last spring.
By answering the most-asked
questions here, I hope to save
many of you the trouble of wait
ing in. line to have your prob
lems solved by our staff of tax
payer assistants.
Without doubt, the most fre
quently asked question' is:
"When do I get my refund?".
That is one thing the new law
did not change. The answer is:
Just as soon as we can check
your return and mail your
check; it may take a few weeks;
but sometimes it can be a matter
of months.
Flla Return Earlr ,
The best advice, if you want
vour refund in a hurry, is to
file your tax return early. The
Internal Revenue Service is
handling almost 60,000,000 per
sonal income tax returns this
spring, plus more than twice
that amount on other taxes, so
the later you fe, the bigger
the pile of returns to be proces
pH ahead of vours. It's "first
come, first served."
Before we get to the other
questions. I would like to men
tion the most conspicuous
chanee in the new law: the
deadline April 15, or one month
later than in past years. It is
still better for us, and for you
if vou file early, however.
The basic fact of who must
file a return is unchanged from
last year. If you are a citizen or
resident of the United states,
under 65 years old, and your
gross income was $600 or more
in 1954, you must file. For most
waee and salary workers, gross
income is the same as the total
of their wages and salaries.
If vou are 65 or older on Dec
31, you are not, required to file
a return unless your gross in
come was $1,200 or more.
Even though you are not re
quired to file a return under the
rules outlined above, it is in
your interest to file if you had
income ' from which your em
ployer withheld taxes during the
year. You may be eligible for
a refund. .
Most Frequent Questions
The questions we "hear most
frequently on the new law in
volve allowances for sickness
and injury, for children who
earn money on their own, for
child care expenses, for divi
dends, for retirement : income,
and for the new "head of house
hold" and surviving widow or
widower classifications.
Old questions which reappear
most often are those which per
tain to the rules for husband
and wife filing their returns
jointly or separately, and the
relative advantages of each
method; exemptions allowed for
dependents; deductions allowed
for such things as insurance and
union or club dues; and prop
erty losses in storms, such as
last year's hurricanes, Carol.
Edna and Hazel. '
I shall answer the questions
on major new changes in the
law first and then the recurring
questions.
At this point, it might be well
to handle one more constant in-
quiry: which tax form should
I use?"
There are three to choose
from; Form 1040 A, short Form
1040 and long Form 1040.
. One taxpayer asks: "When
will we get a return the ordinary
taxpayer can make out without
help from others?" '
The new Form I040A is our
answer. It is a seven-by-three
inch card-check size-which is
brief and relatively simple to
fill out. Almost half the indi-
SNIDER'S
MILK
Helps you
Sleep
Better
vidual income tax returns filed
this year will be 1040 As.
Standard Deduction Benefit
You may use 104CA if your
income last year was less than
$5,000 and if jt was in the form
of wages and salary from which
cur employer or employers
withheld income taxes each pay
day, except that the total amount
my include not more than $100
in other wages, or dividends or
interest, from which taxes have
not been withheld.
A husband and wife may file
a joint , return on Form 1040A
if their combined incomes are
less than $5,000, and if not more
than $100 or this is income
which had no tax withheld from
it.
Use of 104 QA means, you
are getting the benefit of the
standard deduction of approxi
mately 10 per cent of your in
come for charitable contribu
tions, medical expenses, union
dues, taxes, interest and other
deductible items. Unless these
items were extraordinary (such
as the expenses of owning a
house or having a baby) you
probably will fare better with
the standard deduction.
When" you file a 1040A with
your district director of Inter
nal Revenue, please send the
card itself, not the yellow in
struction sheet.
And don't send your tax pay
ment. The director will com
pute your tax and send you a
bill if you owe more than was
withheld, or a refund . if too
much was, withheld.
To file the short Form 1040
you use page 1, and maybe
pages 2 or 4, of Form 1040.
The Short 1040 -
The short 1040 is for persons
or couples with less than $5,000
adjusted gross income that is,
gross income minus certain ex
penses of earning rj and who
have more than $100 from
which taxes have not been with
held, but who .do not want to
list the deductions such as con
tributions and other items which
may be claimed on the long
Form 1040. Using short Form
1040, the taxpayer must ascer
tain his tax liability from a
table, and submit with his re
turn a tax payment, if he owes
anything.
The standard deduction
plies for taxpayers using the
short 1040 as it does for those
using 1040A, and allowance for
this deduction, as well as for the
personal exemptions, is made in
Infernal Revenue Head Wants Payers To Receive Breaks
Washington U.R) T.
Coleman Andrews, commissioner
of internal revenue, wants every
taxpayer to get all the advan
tages he is fairly entitled to un
der the revised law passed last
year.
And he wants to make it as
easy as possible for taxpayers
to make out the .1954 returns
which must be filed by April
15.
the tax table. ,
The long Form 1040 is a must
for the small number of tax
payers to whom the 1040 A or
the short 1040 does not apply
for one ' reason or another.
Specifically, you must use the
lone Form 1040 if your income
aP"Jjs $5,000 or more, and you must
vise it if ;you choose to list your
deductions item by item.
Tuesday: The new rules about
exemptions for dependents.
He had the Internal Revenue
Service keep track of the ques
tions most frequently posed by
early-bird taxpayers who "al
ready have been seeking advice
from revenue offices. Those
questions and others are answer
ed by Andrews in a special ser
ies of five articles he has writ
ten for United Press, which be
gin today.
T. (for Thomas) Coleman 'An
drews became the nation's 30th
commissiioner of internal
revenue two years and one
month ago. ' -
He came to Washington from
Richmond, ,Va., where he had
practiced accounting for 35
years working on taxpayers'
problems from the start."
During his years as commis
sioner, Andrews has reorganiz
ed the Internal Revenue service
and renamed it (it used to be
the bureau of . ... ). Taxpay
er problems are now settled at
the local level; no longer, in
Washington. The average time
it takes to settle such problems
has been shortened. " Auditing
of tax returns has been increas
ed. : ' : . - .. .
Andrews directed a crack
down on' unjustifiable claims
for expense account deductions
and pressed for development of
a simplified tax form . ;
He is one of Washington'
most traveling officials because
he wants to discuss administra
tive matters with the staff
which conducts operations in the
field, and tax matters with tax
payers, large and smalL 'He
has also set up a nine-man com
mittee of lawyers, accountants
and tax officials of corporations
to advise him regularly en tax
affairs.
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MAIN & FIR STREETS
PHONE 3-4547