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1998, the Family Court of the State of New York issued an order
designating Ms. Kingston to be the custodial parent of Jude. In
said order, petitioner was required to pay Ms. Kingston $61.40
per week for child support and $39.90 per week for child care
expenses. The order was silent as to which parent was to claim a
dependency exemption for the child for Federal income tax
purposes.
Respondent issued a notice of deficiency to petitioner
pertaining to the 2001 taxable year. The notice of deficiency
disallowed the dependency exemption for Jude because petitioner
failed to establish that he was entitled to a dependency
exemption. As a result of the disallowance of the deduction,
respondent further determined that petitioner was not entitled to
the child tax credit.
Discussion
A dependency exemption generally is allowed under section
151(a) for each dependent of a taxpayer. Sec. 151(a), (c)(1).
In general, a child of a taxpayer is a dependent of the taxpayer
only if the taxpayer provides over half of the child’s support
for the taxable year. Sec. 152(a). A special rule applies to
taxpayer-parents (a) who are divorced, who are separated, or who
live apart for at least the last 6 months of the calendar year,
and (b) whose child is in the custody of one or both parents for
more than half of the year. Sec. 152(e)(1). Under this rule, if
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Last modified: May 25, 2011