to Los Angeles); residence expenses in a sanitarium or rest home; premiums on health and accident insurance covering the taxpayer or his/her dependents (but not life insurance of any kind kind (CCH (CCH 3781-3783-37843785-3786-3788).

Some other expenses which an employee may deduct from his income include fees paid to secure employment, labor union dues and initiation fees and out-of-work benefit assessments. Amounts expended in traveling in search of employment are not deductible. Also deductible are dues to professional societies, cost of small tools required on your job, cost of purchasing and upkeep of uniforms if required by the employer and not adaptable for general street wear (this must not be construed to mean ordinary work clothes or coveralls worn over other clothes to protect them while at certain jobs), and expenses connected with performance of your job that are not reimbursed by your employer (CCH 3731-3736-37453747). Any legal fees paid for aid in preparation of your income tax returns are deductible expenses. No other personal legal fees are deductible, including those incurred in defense of a criminal prosecution. regardless of the outcome (CCH 37093241).

If a non-business debt becomes worthless within the taxable year, the loss is treated as a short-term capital loss, regardless of how old the debt is. This means that it must be listed on Schedule D of Form 1040, and the loss deduction is limited to $1000.00 per taxable year, after being offset by any capital gains to be reported in that year (CCH 3583). Additional losses may be computed against other taxable years, up to five years backward or forward. It is a wise precaution in case of question from Internal Revenue Service to require that the borrower supply you with a written memorandum or IOU to prove that

one

a debt did in fact exist. Cancelled checks will sometimes suffice for this proof.

As I pointed out at the beginning, this does not begin to cover the full range of income tax preparation. Unless you are certain that you do not have enough special deductions to exceed 10 percent of your total adjusted gross income, it is usually sound advice to seek the aid of a tax consultant. But be careful, there are no regulations governing who may prepare income returns except that both the taxpayer and the person who prepares the form must sign the first page. Like fall-out shelter building, the tax field is wide open, and the crack-pots spring up like mushrooms at this time of year.

Many questions will be answered by the information desk at any Internal Revenue Service (if you can ever get a telephone line through to them), but I have found that those people are not always too charitable in helping you to realize maximum tax savings. Rather they seem concerned with finding the quickest and easiest answer so that they can move on to the next person.

Under certain conditions, exten; sions of time will be granted so that the taxpayer can file his return at a later date without incurring penalties. Inability to pay the tax is not one of them, and the form should be filed on time, even if additional tax is due but not included. The taxpayer is therefore only liable to a small interest charge and will be billed later by Internal Revenue Service. (They would like to slit my throat for telling this.) Requests for legitimate extensions must be made in writing before the date that the tax is ordinarily due. There are several restricting rules and conditions which must be met, and, for the ordinary taxpayer, the aid of a tax consultant is almost mandatory.

Sooooo-happy filing!