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This case raises three issues:
• Did the Lozoya children qualify as dependents?
• What was Lozoya’s correct filing status?
• Did he qualify for the EITC?
Section 152(a) defines “dependent” to include a taxpayer’s
children if he provides more than half their support during the
year. There can be no doubt that the Lozoya children (who were
only 8 and 15 during 2001) qualify--their father was the only
source of income for the family, and they lived with him through-
out the year.
It is a mystery why Lozoya’s return preparer did not claim
them as dependents (and thus triple the number of exemptions
Lozoya could take) on the original return. And Lozoya himself
did not expressly raise the issue in his petition. Nevertheless,
mindful that “[t]rials of small tax cases will be conducted as
informally as possible,” Tax Court Rule 174(b), and because
Lozoya’s correct filing status and eligibility for the credit
were squarely in issue and turn in part on whether his children
were dependents, Tax Court Rule 41(b)(1), we expressly find that
he is entitled to claim his two children as dependents.
That his children were his dependents is important because
it affects our decision about his correct filing status. The
Commissioner insists that Lozoya must file as married-filing-
separately because he was married and his wife did not sign a
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Last modified: May 25, 2011