When can someone allowed a Personal Exemption?
The description I have on personal exemptions is fairly vague. All I have is a couple of paragrahs that gives me little more than, "based on the idea that a taxpayer with little income should be exempt from income taxation." Is this limitied to low income people or does it apply to everyone? If it is just for low income earners where is the cut off? I'm filling out a 1040 and don't know if I should include it. Please do not tell me to contact a tax professional. I am an accounting major and this is for my class in federal taxation. The 1040 inquestion is for a fictional person. I would ask the professor but she has been unavailable.
Public Comments
- In my experience a personal exemption is someone you can claim as a dependent, including yourself, if no one else can claim you. The more dependents you have, the higher your standard deduction. Why are you using the long form?
- A personal exemption is an exemption a taxpayers who is not a dependent on another taxpayer's return as an amount that is exempt from being taxed - in other words it reduces their taxable income. The amount for a personal exemption changes each tax year. This year the amount is 3,400. Anyone who is not claimed as a depedent by another taxpayre receives the personal exemption
- It's not just for low income earners, it's the same for everyone, but for high income people it doesn't eliminate as high a percentage of their taxes. So unless you can be claimed as a dependent, you should include it. But it you are in college there's a strong possibility that you are a dependent of your parents - in that case, your parents would get the exemption for you, you wouldn't get it for yourself.
