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Respondent's determination that petitioner does not qualify
for the earned income credit is also sustained. Section 32(a)
offers the earned income credit only to eligible individuals.
"Eligible individual" is defined in section 32(c)(1)(A) as one
who has a "qualifying child" for the taxable year. A qualifying
child is one who satisfies a relationship test, a residency test,
an age test, and an identification requirement. See sec.
32(c)(3).
The relationship test is set forth in section 32(c)(3)(B).
To satisfy the test, the qualifying child must be a son, a
daughter, or descendant, a stepson or stepdaughter, or a foster
child. Petitioner argues that Pierre and Sonya Tolbert are
foster children. We disagree with petitioner.
"Eligible foster child" is defined in section
32(c)(3)(B)(III) as a child who is cared for by the taxpayer as
though the child were his own, and has the same principal place
of abode as the taxpayer for the entire taxable year. The
statute neither interprets how a taxpayer cares for a child as
his own, nor defines principal place of abode.
Petitioner offered no evidence that he cared for either
Sonya or Pierre Tolbert in a parental capacity. He did not have
legal custody of the children, nor did he claim to play any
significant role in their day-to-day lives other than as a
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