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Petitioner did not provide the Court with documentation of
the amounts paid to substantiate the support provided to the
children and Mr. Elms. Petitioner testified that “all my records
for expenses were destroyed in a disaster in ‘98". However, the
parties have stipulated that petitioner paid $4,200 and $4,320 in
rent for 1995 and 1996, respectively.
On petitioner’s respective 1995 and 1996 Federal income tax
returns, he claimed dependency exemption deductions for the
children and Mr. Elms, head of household filing status, and
earned income credits. For each year, respondent disallowed the
dependency exemption deductions because petitioner failed to
establish that he was entitled to the exemptions. As a result of
the disallowance, respondent further determined that petitioner’s
filing status was single, not head of household, and also
disallowed the earned income credits.
Dependency Exemption
Section 151(c) allows a taxpayer to deduct an annual
exemption amount for each dependent of the taxpayer. As relevant
here, a “dependent” is defined in section 152(a) as an individual
“over half of whose support, for the calendar year in which the
taxable year of the taxpayer begins, was received from the
taxpayer”. In order to prevail, petitioner must show by
competent evidence: (1) The total support provided for each
individual claimed, and (2) that he provided more than half of
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