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attached.” No issue concerning the applicable tax year was
raised in the notice.
The present case can be distinguished from our opinions in
Cafarelli v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994-265, and Loffer v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2002-298. In Cafarelli, the taxpayer, a
custodial parent, had completed a Form 8332 which was attached to
the noncustodial parent’s 1989 return. The form was completed in
such a way that it applied to “ALL FUTURE YEARS”. It was signed
and dated January 5, 1990, but it did not designate the first
year in which the release was to be applicable. This Court found
that the form was not a “written declaration” under section
152(e)(2) with respect to the year 1989. We based this finding
on the ambiguity created by the form’s failure to indicate that
it was to apply to the year 1989, and the fact that the portion
of the form designated to apply to the “Current Year” was not
completed by the taxpayer. Thus, to have applied the form to
1989 would have contradicted the terms appearing on the face of
the form: The form was signed in 1990 and indicated that it was
to apply to “ALL FUTURE YEARS”.
In Loffer, the alleged “written declaration”--a signed
divorce decree--created an ambiguity as to what taxable years
were applicable by limiting the entitlement to the deduction to
“so long as there are two children who can be claimed.”
Furthermore, the decree did not state the name of the dependent
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