Yourclient, Ben McDonald, has written you about his tax situation.Please assume that gross income is $172,900 (which consists only ofsalary) for purposes of this problem.

December 31, 2016

Dear ***** *****, CPA:

Hi, it’s Ben McDonald again. I understand you need some moreinformation from me in order to complete my tax return. Please letme know what information you need and I’ll be happy to provideit.

I moved this year due to taking a job at SwissLog. The move was inlate January and I worked my job at SwissLog for the rest of theyear. I moved 650 miles away from my old house but I still live inthe same state. I left a little bit early to go on a house-huntingtrip that cost me a total of $450. I hired a moving company to moveour stuff at a cost of $2,300, and I drove Junior in my car. Juniorand I got a hotel room along the way that cost us $65. We spent $35on meals on the way to our new home. Oh yeah, I took my little boyto a movie on the way and that cost $20.

Can you believe I’m still paying off my student loans, even after15 years? I paid a total of $900 in interest on my old studentloans this year.

Since SwissLog (my employer) never started a retirement plan, Idecided I should probably start saving for my golden years. Icontributed $3,000 to what the bank referred to as a regular IRA(or was it a REM?). Oh yeah. I also did a little investing thisyear. I bought a limited partnership interest in IGlow, Ltd. for$10,000. I thought it was going to be a real winner, but this yearthey took a bath. My portion of the loss was $8,000. Well, at leastI did not actually do any work for IGlow, and I get the taxdeduction - right?

That should be all the information you need right now. Pleasecalculate my adjusted gross income and complete page 1 of Form1040. You’re still doing this for free, right?

Sincerely,

Ben

Required: calculate Ben’s AGI and complete the 1^st page of the1040 form (forms can be downloaded from the IRSwebsite).