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Your liability for filing a tax return and paying income tax is determined primarily by your filing status and the amount of your income for the year. However, not all income is subject to tax: and the various kinds of taxable income are handled differently.</br></br>TodayÛªs column explains briefly the different kinds of income and tells how to report each kind. For those items where the^ rules are quite complex or may not be of general interest, the pertinent IRS publication is cited.</br></br>Here are the major kinds of income not subject to federal income tax and not to be reported on your tax return. (State rules vary: they will be discussed in SundayÛªs article.) Û¢	Lump-sum insurance benefits received because of the death of the insured (but these payments may be subject to estate or inheritance tax).</br></br>(Life insurance proceeds received in the form of periodic payments generally iiiclude some interest in addition to the insurance portion. The interest component is taxable income. But if youÛªre a surviving spouse receiving installment payments of insurance proceeds following the death of your husband or wife, up to $1,000 a year of this interest may be excludable. See IRS Publication 525.)</br></br>By Jan. 31 your employer should have provided you with a Form W-2 showing the amount of wages, salary, commissions, or other earnings and the total federal and state income tax and social security contributions withheld from your pay during 1979.