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lodging as support. See Pierce v. Commissioner, supra, 66 T.C. at
849-850; Livingston v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1976-211. If the
claimed dependent is the owner of the premises in which the
taxpayer resides rent free, the sum of the taxpayer’s
contributions toward the support of the claimed dependent should
be offset against the value of the lodging furnished to the
taxpayer. See Hahn v. Commissioner, 22 T.C. 212, 215 (1954). To
determine the value of the lodging provided to a claimed
dependent, the fair rental value of lodging should be divided
equally among the members of a household if all members of the
household have free access to the entire home. See Tourte v.
Commissioner, supra.
During 1995, Mahmoud and Fuad were the sole holders of legal
title to the Foster City residence. The record does not provide
any evidence from which we could conclude that Gabriel had
equitable or beneficial ownership of the residence in 1995. See
infra. Mahmoud, therefore, provided at least half of the fair
rental value of the residence toward the support of his family in
1995.13 See Gilliam v. Commissioner, 429 F.2d 570, 571 (4th Cir.
1970), affg. per curiam T.C. Memo. 1969-188; Livingston v.
Commissioner, supra. Thus, not only is Mahmoud’s contribution of
13 Although we make no such finding, there is some evidence
in the record suggesting that Fuad may have held bare legal title
to the Foster City residence such that Mahmoud should be credited
with full ownership of the residence. See Trans v. Commissioner,
T.C. Memo. 1999-233; Uslu v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1997-551;
Conroy v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1958-6.
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