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due to marital discord, and they were separated during the year
at issue solely because of his employment.
During the year 2002, petitioner received $11,299 in Social
Security benefits. For that year, petitioner filed a Federal
income tax return with the filing status of married, filing
separately. He reported the $11,299 in Social Security benefits
on his return, and, based on his computation on a Social Security
benefits worksheet, he calculated that $9,604 of the $11,299
constituted the taxable portion of his Social Security benefits.
However, petitioner relied upon the language on line 9 of the
worksheet, which states: “But if you are married filing
separately and you lived apart from your spouse for all of 2002,
enter -0- on line 20b. Be sure you entered ‘D’ to the right of
the word ‘benefits’ on line 20a.” Because petitioner lived at
Reno, Nevada, the entire year (except for periodic visits to his
wife), and since he was filing his return separately, he,
accordingly, did not enter any amount as income on line 20b of
his return. However, he entered the $11,299 on line 20a and
entered the letter “D” pursuant to the directions of the Social
Security benefits worksheet. Petitioner claims, therefore, that
no portion of his Social Security benefits is taxable. He claims
that he lived apart from his wife for the year 2002. In the
notice of deficiency, respondent determined that the taxable
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