Thomas J. and Robin Havens - Page 4




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          and that as a dependent earning less than $2,500 of income in any            
          given year, petitioner wife was not required to report that                  
          income.                                                                      
               Section 61(a)(1) defines "gross income * * * [to mean] all              
          income from whatever source derived, including (but not limited              
          to) * * * Compensation for services".  "Wages * * * are income to            
          the recipients".  Sec. 1.61-2(a)(1), Income Tax Regs.  Income has            
          also been defined as "undeniable accessions to wealth, clearly               
          realized, and over which the taxpayers have complete dominion."              
          Commissioner v. Glenshaw Glass Co., 348 U.S. 426, 431 (1955).                
          Unless specifically excluded by another provision of the Internal            
          Revenue Code, all income is subject to tax.  See id. at 430.                 
          Therefore, petitioner wife's wages must be included in                       
          petitioners' gross income and may be excluded therefrom only if              
          allowed under some provision of the Internal Revenue Code.                   
               The theory advanced by petitioners for the exclusion of                 
          petitioner wife's wages from income is not supported by any                  
          statutory basis.  First, under section 152(a), the term                      
          "dependent" clearly does not include a spouse.4  Second, even if             


          4  To qualify as a "dependent" within the meaning of sec.                    
          152(a), an individual must either be related to the taxpayer in              
          one of the 8 specific ways enumerated by the statute, see sec.               
          152(a)(1) to (8), or be a member of the taxpayer's household for             
          the entire taxable year, see sec. 152(a)(9).  See also sec.                  
          1.152-1, Income Tax Regs.   A taxpayer's spouse is not related to            
          the taxpayer in any of the specific ways enumerated by the                   
                                                              (continued...)           




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