INCOME TAX FORMS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 83, 8 April 1933, Page 10

INCOME TAX FORMS

SOME INNOVATIONS EXEMPTION FOR, WIVES. That annual source of perplexity, the income tax form, is now available at all post offices. The 1933 edition is the usual document of eight foolscap pages, but it bears a more respectable appearance than heretofore. The worn stereotype plate-, from which it used to be printed; and which seemed rather like insult added to injury, have been scrapped and all the pages have been set afresh—even those containing no reference to the bachelor tax and suchlike novelties. The imprint shows that 370,00 copies have been run off this year. What first strikes rhe harassed taxpayer’s eye is the heading in bold letters, “Claim for Exemption by Married Man in Respect of His Wife.” A littL higher up, in the section for personal particulars, he is required to state whether he was married or single on March 31, 1933. For the purposes of exemption he must give “full Christian name of wife, who is living with me or is supported by me.” Free Quarters and Sustenance. If the taxpayer has married in the course of the year or is a widower or divorcee, he must state the date on which the event took place. This is to enable the exemption to be reduced pro rata if he has not been in a married state for the whole 12 months. If the wife has had an income of £5O or over in her own right from all sources during the income year, the fact must also be stated, because if hetincome exceeds £49 no exempttion is allowed. The position is that the general exemption beginning at £260 and decreasing to nothing at £BOO has been reduced by £5O, but a special exemption is granted to married men under the conditions stated. This exemption is reduced by £1 for every 30s by which the income exceeds £725, so that; it reduces to nothing at £BOO. The only other change on the first page of the form is a requirement that income from dividends from companies trading in New Zealand must be stated in New Zealand currency. On the second page there is another innovation, which, like the bachelor tax, emanates from trie Land and Income Tax Amendment Act, 1932. If the taxpayer receives quarters, board, or sustenance allowance- from his employer in addition to his salary or wages, he is required to inclu : their estimated value in his income. Such benefits formerly were not taxable, and the idea of including them has probably sprung from like provisions in the unemployment tax legislation. Stamp Duty on Bonds. Another new item is •‘income from dividends received from companies or concerns the head office of which is outside the British Empire.” This income has all aLng been taxable, since the dividends are not regarded as having already been taxed in any British country, but it has been though; wise to include the item specifically instead of allowing it to remain in the form “from any other source” category. Two entries are required in dealing with the exemption on account of the 10 per cent, stamp duty charged upon interest on non-ta-free Government bonds and local body securities. The full amount of interest must be entered in the return of gross income and the amount of stamp duty in the special exemptions section. The reason for this is that special income tax exemptions do not apply to unemployment tax, for tho purposes of which the bondholder is rather unfairly called upon to pay tax on the paper value of a dividend of which he received only 90 per cent.