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From: mcmillan@eosp1.UUCP (John McMillan)
Newsgroups: net.taxes,net.legal
Subject: Re: Tax question for academicians
Message-ID: <605@eosp1.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 21-Feb-84 22:21:56 EST
Article-I.D.: eosp1.605
Posted: Tue Feb 21 22:21:56 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 23-Feb-84 01:41:20 EST
References: <1935@ihnss.UUCP>
Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton, NJ
Lines: 23

When I was a graduate student and research assistant, I declared my tuition
money as a deduction by neat piece of reasoning.  I carefully explained it in an
attachment on my income tax, but the amount involved was very small, so I
cannot draw any inferences from the IRS's failure to audit me.  The law may
have changed, but in 1964 it went like this:

There were a very few well-accepted cases where tuition was tax deductable.
One of the cases was: where it is necessary to go to school in order to keep
your job.  I carefully explained to the IRS that Princeton Graduate School
would only give Research Assistanceships to full time graduate students;
if I stopped going to school I would lose my job.  Therefore the tuition was
deductable.  Now there is obviously a logical error in that bit of reasoning
someplace (confusing cause and effect?), but it seemed to work very well.

I also brought this argument to the attention of the Graduate School
Administration, hoping to save thousands of dollars for the students as a
group, but the deans were not interested in my argument.
					- Toby Robison
					allegra!eosp1!robison
					decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison
					princeton!eosp1!robison
					(NOTE! NOT McMillan; Robison.)