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Show District Internal Revenue Director Clarifies Status of Dependents for Purposes of Return Mr. Charles I Fox, Director of Internal Revenue, said today that while a taxpayer may obtain ob-tain a deduction for the personal per-sonal exemption of his wife, under no circumstances may he claim her as a "dependent" on his Federal income tax return. "Some people are under the Impression that a taxpayer may claim a deduction of $li00 for his wife as an exemption under the Internal Revenue Code of 1515-1 and also claim an additional deduction de-duction of $1500 for her as a dependent," de-pendent," Mr. Fox said. "Others believe that a taxpayer may claim his wife as a dependent even though she has income of her own and files a separate return." re-turn." "The Internal Revenue Code of 1954 contains a new provision designed de-signed to broaden the definition of 'dependent' to include persons for whom no deduction was al lowed under prior law, such as foster children and children in the taxpayer's home awaiting a-doption. a-doption. It does not include, how-jcver, how-jcver, the spouse of a taxpayer who has always occupied a i unique status for income tax purposes pur-poses because of the material 1 relationship. The spouse of the taxpayer has never been included within the definition of a dependent. de-pendent. "As was the case under prior law, when a joint return is filed, the husband and wife are each allowed .a $(500 deduction for per-jsonal per-jsonal exemption. If the taxpayer files a seperate return, he may also obtain a St500 deduction for the personal exemption of his wife, as well as a $000 deduction deduc-tion for himself, provided his Iwife has no gross income and is not the dependent of another j taxpayer." |