William A. Carcieri, Jr. - Page 4




                                        - 3 -                                         
               Petitioner timely filed his 1998 Federal income tax return             
          as head of household.  He reported adjusted gross income of                 
          $43,737.  Petitioner claimed a dependency exemption deduction and           
          the child tax credit for Amanda treating her as his “qualifying             
          child”.  Respondent issued a notice of deficiency determining               
          that petitioner was not entitled to head of household filing                
          status, the dependency exemption deduction, or the child tax                
          credit because he failed to substantiate his claims.                        
                                     Discussion                                       
          1.  Dependency Exemption Deduction                                          
               Section 151(c) allows a taxpayer to deduct an exemption                
          amount for each "dependent" as defined in section 152.  Section             
          152(a) defines a dependent as a son or daughter of the taxpayer,            
          “over half of whose support, for the calendar year in which the             
          taxable year of the taxpayer begins, was received from the                  
          taxpayer (or is treated under subsection (c) or (e) as received             
          from the taxpayer)”.  Section 152(e)(1), however, provides that             
          if a child receives over half of his support during the calendar            
          year from parents who are divorced under a decree of divorce and            
          if the child is in the custody of one or both of his parents for            
          more than half of the calendar year, then the child is treated              
          “as receiving over half of his support during the calendar year             
          from the parent having custody for a greater portion of the                 
          calendar year” (custodial parent).                                          








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