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their children are not eligible to obtain an SSN. Indeed, as
U.S. citizens, petitioners’ children are eligible to obtain
SSN’s. See 20 C.F.R. secs. 422.104(a)(1), 422.107 (2001).
The applicable regulations further provide that “Any individual
who is duly assigned a social security number or who is entitled
to a social security number will not be issued an IRS individual
taxpayer identification number.” Sec. 301.6109-1(d)(4), Proced.
& Admin. Regs.4
In view of the foregoing, it is apparent that section 151(e)
is applicable to the facts of this case and, if not
unconstitutional, serves to bar allowance of deductions for
dependency exemptions for petitioners’ children. Accordingly, we
turn now to petitioners’ constitutionally based contentions. We
begin with the contention that compliance with section 151(e)
would contravene a sincerely held religious belief.
This Court has previously upheld section 151(e) against
challenge that it violates the Free Exercise Clause of the 1st
Amendment to the Constitution and the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), Pub. L. 103-141, 107 Stat. 1488.
4 Sec. 301.6109-1(d)(4), Proced. & Admin. Regs., is
effective for any return required to be filed after Dec. 31,
1995. See T.D. 8671, 1996-1 C.B. 314. Prior to the promulgation
of the regulation, the Commissioner issued individual taxpayer
identification numbers to taxpayers who objected to the use of
SSN’s on religious grounds. See Davis v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 2000-210 n.2; Wolfrum v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1991-370,
affd. without published opinion 972 F.2d 350 (6th Cir. 1992).
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