- 4 - 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...)Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011