Hyphen use

Which is correct ?

income tax-free or income tax free

If you are using the phrase to modify a noun such as "He received an income tax-free honorarium for his services" you have to use the hyphen.

If you said "His honorarium was income tax free", I think the hyphen is unnecessary. In order to avoid the possibility of confusion, why not just say "His honorarium was not considered taxable income."

Best wishes,
TrysB

Hi jane, and welcome to the forums.

I would suggest "exempt from income tax."

Hi Jane,
And also welcome! Hope you enjoy the forums and get some useful help.

Compound adjectives like income tax free take a hyphen when they directly modify a noun, like income tax-free bonds.

But if the phrase is used as a predicate adjective, you would say: His services are income tax free.

As GG suggested, however, it would avoid any poss

I have merged the two threads.

Jane, in the future, if you post without signing in, please don't create a new thread. If you want to be ale to follow the thread, just add another post to the original saying something like "Oops, that was me, and I forgot to sign in" and then it will show up in "your threads."

TrysBwhy not just say "His honorarium was not considered taxable income.

Because if I'm a proofreader and don't have editing rights, then I have to know how to do the hyphenation twist!

I would say "a tax-free purchase", but (reluctantly) "an income-tax free investment". "income-tax-free investment" obscures the hierarchy, so recasting the expression as "an investment free of income taxes" might be the best choice.