Exam 5: Gross Income and Exclusions

Lisa and Collin are married. Lisa works as an engineer and earns a salary of $116,000. Collin works at a beauty salon and reported wages of $45,000. Lisa received $500 of interest from corporate bonds and $250 of interest from a municipal bond. Lisa acquired these bonds prior to her marriage to Collin. Collin's father passed away on April 14. He inherited cash of $50,000 and his baseball card collection, valued at $2,000. As beneficiary of his father's life insurance policy, Collin also received $150,000. The couple spent a weekend in Atlantic City in November and came home with gambling winnings of $1,200. Collin was injured in an accident at the salon. He was unable to work for a month, but during this time he received $5,000 from disability insurance he purchased several years ago. Collin also received $2,000 in workman's compensation, and $1,500 from the salon for the emotional trauma he suffered from the accident. Calculate Lisa and Collin's gross income for this year assuming they will file married joint.

Graham has accepted an offer to do graduate work in the chemistry department at State University. The chemistry department offered Graham a $5,000 tuition reduction and $3,500 toward the cost of room and meals. Under the terms of the scholarship Graham must work in the chemistry labs during the summer as a research assistant. What amount must Graham include in his gross income?

Robert will be working overseas on a permanent assignment for an international company beginning on March 1 of this year (306 days this year). His salary is $11,000 per month while Robert is overseas, but only $9,200 per month otherwise. What is the minimum amount of Robert's salary that he must include in gross income this year? (Round your final answer to the nearest whole dollar amount & assume that there are 365 days in this year.)

Deb has found it very difficult to repay her loans. Because of these difficulties, the bank decided to forgive one of her most recent loans, an amount of $45,000. After the loan was discharged, Deb had total assets of $232,000 and her remaining loans total $217,000. What amount must Deb include in her gross income?

Gross income includes:

The receipt of prizes and awards is generally taxable.

Ben's employer offers employees the following benefits. What amount must Ben include in his gross income?

Identify the rule dictating that on a sale of an asset a taxpayer need only include the incremental gain in gross income rather than the entire proceeds from the sale:

Kathryn is employed by Acme and they have been very pleased with her performance this year. In December Kathryn was granted an extra week off with pay (pay for the week totaled $2,000). In addition, Kathryn was given tickets to a football bowl game worth $800 (Kathryn didn't use the tickets - she hates football). Just right before year-end Kathryn was allowed to order new office furniture and Acme told her to take the old office furniture home. The office furniture was originally purchased for $7,000, but it was fully depreciated and only worth about $1,000. Determine the amount Kathryn should include in her gross income.

Hillary is a cash-basis calendar-year taxpayer. During the last week of December she received a letter containing a $5,000 check for services rendered. Which of the following is a true statement?

Hal Gore won a $1 million prize for special contributions to environmental research. This prize is awarded for public achievement, and Hal directed the awarding organization to transfer $400,000 of the award to the Environmental Protection Agency. How much of the prize should Hal include in his gross income?

A taxpayer generally includes in gross income the amount of debt forgiven by a lender.

Wherewithal-to-pay represents the principle that a realized transaction should require a taxpayer to sell other assets in order to pay income taxes.

Juan works as a landscaper for local businesses on weekends, and he often provides services in exchange for property. This year Juan provided lawn-mowing services in exchange for $1,275 of car repair services, $3,570 of groceries, and a certificate of deposit (C.D.) for $4,050. The C.D. matures next year with interest. Finally, Juan received a gift card that can only be applied for $850 of clothing at a local mall. Juan has only applied the gift card to purchase $100 of clothing. Compute Juan's gross income assuming that he uses the cash basis of accounting.

When an asset is sold, the taxpayer calculates the gain or loss on the sale of the asset by subtracting the tax basis of the asset from the proceeds of the sale.

Janine's employer loaned her $5,000 this year (interest-free) to buy a used car. If the federal interest rate was 4%, which of the following is correct?

Trevor received a gift of $25,000 in cash from his rich uncle. Trevor must include $15,000 of this gift in his gross income this year.

Teresa was married on November 1 of this year and on that day received numerous gifts from her extended family. Her grandfather presented Teresa with a check for $15,000; her uncle gave Teresa 1,000 shares of Ford stock worth $10 per share (the uncle purchased the shares for $25 each); and her aunt presented Teresa with $50,000 of corporate bonds (Teresa received $1,500 of semiannual interest from the bonds on December 31 of this year). Finally, Teresa's parents paid off $50,000 of her student loans debt including $2,000 of accrued interest. What amount, if any, must Teresa include in gross income this year?

A below-market loan (e.g., from an employer to an employee) is a common example of a transaction that generates taxable imputed income.

This year Joseph joined the board of directors. Besides his director's fees, Joseph received the following employee benefits: The stock bonus consisted of 5,000 shares of Bell stock given to Joseph as compensation. At the time of the transfer the stock was listed at $4 per share. What amounts, if any, should Joseph include in gross income this year?