John B. Anderson - Page 5

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                    While section 152(e) provides for certain exceptions to this                                                                                           
                    rule, none of those exceptions applies to this case.                                                                                                   
                              Petitioner provided more than half of J.W.’s support in                                                                                      
                    2003.  However, petitioner is not J.W.’s custodial parent, and                                                                                         
                    J.W. did not live with him for more than half of 2003.  Thus,                                                                                          
                    section 152(e)(1) denies petitioner a dependency exemption                                                                                             
                    deduction for J.W. in 2003.                                                                                                                            
                              Petitioner argues that section 152(e)(1) applies only where                                                                                  
                    a child’s parents were at one time married.  In support of his                                                                                         
                    argument, petitioner cites inconsistent positions taken by the                                                                                         
                    Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at various times.  See King v.                                                                                          
                    Commissioner, 121 T.C. 245, 249 n.6 (2003).  Apparently,                                                                                               
                    respondent allowed petitioner, as the noncustodial parent, to                                                                                          
                    claim J.W. as his dependent at least once in previous years.                                                                                           
                              Upon review of petitioner’s tax return for 2003, however,                                                                                    
                    respondent disallowed the claimed dependency exemption deduction                                                                                       
                    and the related child tax credit for J.W.  In a letter dated                                                                                           
                    June 29, 2006, an IRS Appeals officer notified petitioner that                                                                                         
                    this Court recently had held, on similar facts, that “the                                                                                              
                    legislative history of section 152(e) does not provide support                                                                                         
                    for deviating from the plain meaning of the statute that the                                                                                           
                    special support test can apply to parents who have never married                                                                                       
                    each other.”  King v. Commissioner, supra at 251.  In any event,                                                                                       
                    the Commissioner is not bound for any given tax year to allow a                                                                                        






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