Acbosgd.1664 net.taxes utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!mhtsa!harpo!cbosg!cbosgd!mark Tue Jan 12 20:52:57 1982 Re: schedule G OK, folks, now that we have two conflicting "facts" on this topic, I dragged out my book (1978 Tax Guide for College Teachers - Academic Information Service, Inc, Washington DC - old but probably still applicable) and I find out we were both wrong. I quote from page 163: "If you are married and file jointly this year and were either unmarried or filed separately in one or more of the previous 4 years, you simply add your taxable incomes together to arrive at the taxable income for that year." It goes on to refer you to IRS publication 506 for special rules. There are, of course, various exceptions. The law appears to be specifically aimed at screwing people who just graduated from college and want to average over their last 4 years when their parents (or scholarships) supported them. If you are over 25 and were NOT a full time student for those last 4 years, you qualify. If your wife is a housewife (e.g. provides less then 25% of your total income each year) she doesn't have to meet the support test, as long as you do. ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.