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respondent’s Service Center at the time petitioner electronically
filed his 1999 Federal income tax return along with the form
containing petitioner’s signature. Respondent disallowed the two
exemptions claimed by petitioner.
Section 151(c) allows a taxpayer to deduct an annual
exemption amount for each dependent, as defined in section 152.
Under section 152(a), the term “dependent” means, in pertinent
part, a son or daughter of the taxpayer over half of whose
support was received from the taxpayer. Sec. 152(a)(1).
In the case of a child of divorced parents, section
152(e)(1) provides in pertinent part that if a child receives
over half of his support from his parents who are divorced under
a decree of divorce and the child is in the custody of one or
both of his parents for more than one-half of the year, then the
child will be treated as receiving over half of his support from
the parent having custody for a greater portion of the calendar
year.
Section 1.152-4(b), Income Tax Regs., provides that the term
“custody” is “determined by the terms of the most recent decree
of divorce”. Because the divorce decree grants Ms. James full
custody of both children, she is considered the children’s
“custodial parent” under section 152(e). Cafarelli v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994-265.
Petitioner, as the “noncustodial parent”, is allowed to
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Last modified: May 25, 2011