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Tax Lesson 4 - Taxable and Nontaxable Income

In this tax topic you will learn about the different kinds of income and whether they are taxable or nontaxable. Income can be received in the form of money, property or services. It is usually received as employee wages, fringe benefits, bartering, thorough partnerships, corporations (including S corporations), and royalties. Other items of income are disability pensions, insurance proceeds, and welfare and other public benefits. Usually income that is taxable is income that is received in exchange of services. Others are specifically includable by law.

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Student Instructions:

Print this page, work on the questions and then submit test by mailing the answer sheet or by completing quiz online.

Instructions to submit quiz online successfully: Step-by-Step check list

Answer Sheet            Quiz Online

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Please use IRS Publication 525 to complete the this topic.

Prepare a Federal Form 1040 return for Yohannes Mulugeta.

Yohannes, age 23, and has never been married and has no children.

He received the following in 2008:
bullet $123.00 in interest income from Bank of the South.
bullet $2,100.00 in Unemployment Compensation.
bullet $ 950.00 refund from his state (He did not itemize last year).
bullet $600 bonus promised to be paid by his employer in February 2009.
bullet Turkey valued at $50 for the December holidays.
bullet $80 gift certificate for Thanksgiving.

Yohannes owed Sears & Roebuck (Department store) $800. He fell behind on the bill and could not pay. Sears offered to cancel $500 of the debt to have Yohannes settle the debt. Yohannes paid only $300 and the rest was forgiven.

He paid rent at a government owned building that is exempt from tax.

Get all their basic information from the following W2, including income information.

 

 

1. Look at the Form 1040 you prepared for Yohannes Mulugeta. What is the amount on Form 1040, Line 38?

A. $ 20,359.
B. $ 19,609.
C. $ 19,459. 
D. $ 19,409.

2. Look at the Form 1040 you prepared for Yohannes Mulugeta. What is the amount on Form 1040, Line 75?

A. $ 844.
B. $ 424.
C. $ 464. 
D. $ 494.

3. Income received by an agent for your is income you constructively received in the year the agent received it. If you agree by contract that a third party is to receive income for you, you must include the amount in your income when the third party receives it.

True False

4. If after October 16, 2006, you filed for bankruptcy under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, you

A. Must allocate your wages and withheld income tax.
B. Must file a statement with your income tax return stating that you filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
C. Must file a statement with your income tax return showing the allocation and describe the method used to take the allocation. 
D. All of the above.

5. If you receive advance commissions or other amounts for services to be performed in the future, you

A. Must include these amounts in your income when services are performed.
B. Must include these amounts in your income in the year received if you are a cash-method taxpayer.
C. Must include these amounts in your income in the year received if you are an accrual-method taxpayer. 
D. Can deduct the payment as an itemized deduction on your Schedule A (Form 1040).

6. Thomas received three employee achievement awards during the year: a nonqualified plan award of a watch valued at $250, and two qualified plan awards of a stereo valued at $1,000 and a set of golf clubs valued at $500. Assuming that the requirements for qualified plan awards are otherwise satisfied,

A. Each award by itself would be excluded from income.
B. Thomas must include $150 in his income because total value of the awards is more than $1,600. 
C. Both A and B are correct. 
D. None of the above.

7. Cost-of-living allowances generally are excluded from your income.

True False

8. If your employer gives you secured note as payment for your services, you

A. Must include the fair market value (usually the discount value) of the note in your income for the year you receive it.
B. Must include the fair market value (usually the discount value) of the note in your income for the year when you receive payments for the note.
C. Do not need to include it in your income since a secured note is never taxable.  
D. None of the above.

9. If your employer provides dependent care benefits under a qualified plan, you may be able to exclude these benefits from your income. A dependent care benefit is

A. An amount your employer pays directly to either you or your care provider for the care of your qualifying person while your work.
B. The fair market value of care in a daycare facility provided by your employer.
C. The fair market value of care in a daycare facility sponsored by your employer. 
D. All of the above.

10. A pension or retirement pay for a member of the clergy is not taxable as other pensions or annuities.

True False

11. If your employer sells you property or services at a discount, you may be able to exclude the amount of the discount from your income. This does not apply to

A. The price charged non-employee customers.
B. Discounts on property or services offered to customers in the ordinary course of the line of business in which you work.
C. Discounts on real property or property commonly held for investment (such as stocks and bonds).
D. All of the above.

12. Your employer provides you with a product or service and the cost of it would have been allowable as a business or depreciation deduction if you paid for it yourself, then

A. The cost is not included in your income.
B. The cost is included in your income.
C. You can claim the cost as a tax deduction on your tax return.
D. None of the above.

13. Fringe benefits received in connection with the performance of your services are included in your income as compensation unless 

A. You pay fair market value for them.
B. They are specifically excluded by law.
C. You employer pays for them.
D. A or B is correct.

14. Royalties from copyrights, patents, and oil, gas, and mineral properties are taxable as ordinary income. You generally report royalties in

A. Part I of Schedule F (Form 1040).
B. Part I of Schedule C (Form 1040).
C. Part I of Schedule E (Form 1040).
D. Part I of Schedule A (Form 1040).

15. Generally, the value of accident or health plan coverage provided to by your employer is not included in your income. Benefits you receive from the plan

A. Can be used to buy more insurance.
B. Are not taxable. 
C. May be taxable.
D. None of the above.

16. Generally, if you are covered by an accident or health insurance plan through a cafeteria plan, and the amount of the insurance premiums was not included in your income, 

A. You are not considered to have paid the premiums.
B. You must include any benefits you receive in your income. 
C. You are considered to have paid the premiums and thus the income in nontaxable.
D. Both A and B are correct.

17. You must include a recovery in your income in the year you received it up to the amount by which the deduction or credit you took for the recovered amount

A. Reduced your tax in the earlier year.
B. Increase your tax in the earlier year.
C. Of $500 or above.
D. None of the above.

18. You are generally taxed on income at time that it is available to you, regardless of whether it is actually in your possession. This income is

A. Constructively received income.
B. Non-Taxable income. 
C. Income that does not need to be reported.
D. Tax-free income.

19. If you received a refund or other recovery that is for amounts you paid in 2 or more separate years,

A. You must return the amounts in a separate envelope addressed to the Internal Revenue Service.
B. You must allocate, on a pro rate basis, the recovered amount between the years in which you paid it.
C. You must report it in the year that your received it if you are an accrual basis taxpayer.
D. None of the above.

20. Amounts you receive as worker's compensation for an occupational sickness or injury are fully exempt from tax if they are paid under

A. A workers' compensation act.
B. A statute in the nature of a workers' compensation act.
C. A tax free covenant.
D. Both A and B are correct.

 

 

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