Steve A. and Donna Wood Chamberlain - Page 5




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                                       OPINION                                        
          A.   Applicable Code Sections and Regulations                               
               Section 151 provides a tax exemption as a deduction in                 
          computing taxable income for a taxpayer’s dependents (dependency            
          exemption).  Section 152(a) defines “dependent” to include the              
          son or daughter of a taxpayer, over half of whose support was               
          received from the taxpayer for the calendar year in which the               
          applicable taxable year begins.  Section 24 provides a credit               
          against income tax for each qualified child of a taxpayer who is            
          under 17 years of age, but the applicable statutory definition of           
          a qualified child is one for whom a taxpayer may claim a                    
          deduction under section 151.  Sec. 24(c)(1)(A).  Thus, a taxpayer           
          is ineligible for the child tax credit under section 24 unless              
          eligible for the dependency exemption under section 151.                    
               Where the parents of a dependent child are divorced or                 
          legally separated, section 152(e)(1) generally confers the                  
          dependency exemption onto the parent having custody of the child            
          for the greater portion of the calendar year (custodial parent).3           
          As an exception to the general rule, a noncustodial parent may              
          claim the exemption where the custodial parent executes a valid             
          written declaration releasing his or her claim to the exemption,            

               3Sec. 152(e)(1) establishes a support test outlining the               
          specific requirements for a custodial parent to qualify for this            
          exemption.  Because the issue here involves whether the custodial           
          parent released her claim to the exemption, and neither party               
          disputes Mrs. Norris’s satisfaction of the support test, we                 
          decline to discuss it further here.                                         





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