- 8 -
The first item for which substantiation is at issue is
petitioner’s entitlement to dependent exemption deductions for
his parents. The second item is petitioner’s entitlement to head
of household filing status. In 1996 and 1997, petitioner filed
as head of household, claiming dependent exemption deductions for
his parents. For both years, respondent disallowed the
deductions and changed petitioner’s filing status to single.
A dependent exemption deduction is allowed under section
151(a) for a parent of a taxpayer only if, among other
requirements, the taxpayer provides over half of the parent’s
support for the year. See secs. 151(c) and 152(a). A taxpayer
is considered a head of household with respect to a parent only
if, among other requirements, the taxpayer maintains a household
which constitutes the principal place of abode of that parent,
and the taxpayer is entitled to a dependent exemption deduction
for the parent for that taxable year. See sec. 2(b)(1).
Although the taxpayer is not required to reside with his parents
for purposes of section 2(b), he must maintain the household,
which means that he must pay more than one-half the cost of
maintaining the household for the taxable year. See sec. 1.2-
2(c), Income Tax Regs.
Petitioner testified that he lives in the same home as his
parents and that his parents’ sole source of income is their
monthly Social Security payments of approximately $1,000. He
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011