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Wooten was the custodial parent of the two children and was thus
treated as providing over half of their support for each year,
regardless of the actual support provided by petitioner. Section
151(c) allows taxpayers to deduct an annual exemption amount for
each dependent, as defined in section 152. Under section 152(a),
the term "dependent" means certain individuals, such as a son or
daughter, over half of whose support was received from the
taxpayer (or is treated under subsections (c) or (e) as received
from the taxpayer) during the taxable year in which such
individuals are claimed as dependents.
The support test in section 152(e)(1) applies if: (1) A
child receives over half of his support during the calendar year
from his parents; (2) the parents are divorced under a decree of
divorce; and (3) such child is in the custody of one or both of
his parents for more than one half of the calendar year. If
these requirements are satisfied, as in the present case, the
"child shall be treated, for purposes of subsection (a), as
receiving over half of his support during the calendar year from
the parent having custody for a greater portion of the calendar
year (* * * referred to as the custodial parent)" thus allowing
the dependency exemption to be claimed by the "custodial parent".
Sec. 152(e)(1).
To decide who has custody, section 1.152-4(b), Income Tax
Regs., provides that custody will be determined by the terms of
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Last modified: May 25, 2011