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Discussion
Head of Household Filing Status
The first issue on which we focus is whether petitioner
qualifies as a head of household. An individual who qualifies as
a head of household has special tax rates applied to his taxable
income. See sec. 1(b). Section 2(b)(1) provides that "an
individual shall be considered a head of a household if, and only
if, such individual is not married at the close of his taxable
year". Petitioner concedes that he was legally married
throughout the 1997 taxable year. Therefore, petitioner does not
meet the requirements to file as a head of household under
section 2(b).
Petitioner also is not entitled to file as a head of
household under section 2(c). Section 2(c) provides that if a
taxpayer is a married individual living apart from his spouse, he
may be treated as an unmarried taxpayer for head of household
filing purposes if the taxpayer meets the requirements of section
7703(b). Section 7703(b) treats an individual as not married if:
(1) The taxpayer files a separate tax return; (2) the taxpayer
maintains a household that is for more than one-half of the
taxable year the principal place of abode of the taxpayer's child
for whom the taxpayer would be entitled to claim a dependency
exemption; (3) the taxpayer pays more than half the cost of
maintaining the household for the tax year; and (4) the
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Last modified: May 25, 2011