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the 2000 taxable year (year at issue), petitioner is entitled to
(1) a dependency exemption deduction,2 (2) head-of-household
filing status, and (3) the earned income credit (EIC).
Background
Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found.
The stipulation of facts and the attached exhibits are
incorporated herein by this reference. At the time she filed the
petition, petitioner resided in Wolf Creek, Montana.
Petitioner was born in 1981. Petitioner has three
biological children: Jacob, Rebekah, and Michael. The father of
these children is not involved with them, nor does the father
claim these children as dependents. Petitioner does not receive
assistance from the State to support these children.
In 1999, petitioner purchased from her father a 2-acre tract
of land within his 20-acre ranch. During the year at issue,
petitioner lived with her children in a cabin located on this 2-
acre tract. Petitioner paid the monthly expenses, which included
2 At trial, petitioner raised for the first time that she
is entitled to a dependency deduction for two of her biological
children. As a general rule, we do not consider an issue raised
for the first time at trial because it has not been properly
pleaded. Estate of Mandels v. Commissioner, 64 T.C. 61, 73
(1975). When issues not raised by the pleadings are tried by
implied consent of the parties, however, the issues shall be
treated as if they had been raised in the pleadings. Rule 41(b).
The parties satisfied Rule 41(b) when they introduced the issue
at trial and acquiesced in the introduction of evidence on that
issue without objection. LeFever v. Commissioner, 103 T.C. 525,
538 (1994), affd. 100 F.3d 778 (10th Cir. 1996); see also Hardin
v. Manitowoc-Forsythe Corp., 691 F.2d 449, 456 (10th Cir. 1982).
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