A general theory for treating magneto‐optic scattering (reflection and transmission) from multilayer structures comprised of magneto‐optic and dielectric materials is presented. The two principle assumptions are: (1) Only terms linear in the off‐diagonal element of the permittivity tensor are important. (2) The magnetic medium is optically lossy. The theory is cast in terms of the Fresnel reflection coefficients and the corresponding magneto‐optic reflection coefficients,rspandrps. The theory is illustrated by consideration of a dielectrically enhanced, thick magnetic film. Finally, a general formulation for scattering from a magneto‐optic medium with arbitrary orientation of the magnetization is also presented.