- 8 - indicate that Mr. Sherbo had a higher adjusted gross income than petitioner in both 1995 and 1996. Consequently, if Mr. Sherbo and petitioner both shared the same principal place of abode along with their children during the taxable years in issue, only Mr. Sherbo would be eligible to claim earned income credit with respect to both Liane and Sean in both 1995 and 1996. Whether respondent's litigation position was substantially justified thus turns on whether respondent had reasonable grounds to conclude that petitioner and Mr. Sherbo may have shared the same household in 1995 and 1996. Both petitioner and Mr. Sherbo's tax returns for these years provide the same mailing address. Furthermore, petitioner listed Mr. Sherbo as a member of her household in her December 23, 1997, reply to respondent's request for information. It was not until her reply to respondent's March 2, 1998, letter proposing changes to petitioner's 1995 and 1996 tax liability that petitioner indicated Mr. Sherbo used her address only for mailing purposes and did not actually live with her during the years in issue except for 4 months in 1996. Petitioner, however, did not substantiate this claim with any corroborating evidence. Although petitioner enclosed with her reply copies of a Form 8332 as requested by respondent and wage withholding records, this evidence does not establish that petitioner was entitled to the earned income credit at issue. The Form 8332 provided byPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011