- 14 - exemptions to Ms. Wiest, in the face of petitioner’s claim that he was providing over half the children’s support. In this circumstance, respondent’s calculation is arbitrary and without sound basis in fact, as is his conclusion that the 1994 unpaid liability is 37 percent (or 40 percent) attributable to petitioner. Because respondent’s computation of the share of the unpaid liability attributable to petitioner was arbitrary, we shall consider attribution based on the record before us. We believe a computation of petitioner’s and Ms. Wiest’s respective shares of the 1994 underpayment is mostly straightforward. Since they each reported only wage income and jointly claimed the standard deduction and their two personal exemptions, each spouse’s share of reported gross income would, in the absence of other factors, equal his or her share of the total liability. Each spouse’s withholdings could then be compared with his or her share of the total liability to derive their respective shares of the underpayment. A complicating factor arises with respect to the five dependency exemptions claimed on the 1994 return. Respondent’s acceptance of the 1994 return establishes the entitlement of petitioner and Ms. Wiest, jointly, to five dependency exemptions. Although petitioner contends that he was providing more than half the support of the five children claimed as dependents on thePage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Next
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