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to his returns a copy of his divorce decree and dependency
exemption order granting him the right to claim the child
dependency exemptions. Although the publications upon which
petitioner contends he relied were not introduced into evidence,
the testimony indicates that these publications required that any
document attached to the return for purposes of satisfying
section 152(e)(2) must contain the signature of the custodial
parent. This sort of requirement in a publication would
certainly correspond to the statutory provisions of section
152(e)(2) and the regulations thereunder. Although petitioner
attached copies of the divorce decree and dependency exemption
order to his returns for 1994, 1995, and 1996, these documents
provide that petitioner is entitled to claim a dependency
exemption for Nathan only. Moreover, petitioner admits that he
failed to attach a signature page for either of these documents,
as required by the publication, containing the signature of Ms.
Mosley. Petitioner argues that the State of Kentucky does not
require signatures of the parties on divorce decrees; thus, he
should not be required to attach to his returns a document
containing Ms. Mosley's signature.
Petitioner's argument in this regard is misplaced. An
obvious purpose of the aforementioned IRS publications is to
insure that taxpayers understand the requirements for compliance
with section 152(e)(2) and the corresponding regulations.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011