- 5 -
I. Dependency Exemption Deductions
Section 151 allows a taxpayer to deduct a personal
exemption, as well as dependency exemptions for the taxpayer’s
dependents. See sec. 151(a), (c). Section 152(a) defines
“dependent”, in pertinent part, to include “A son or daughter of
a brother or sister of the taxpayer”. Sec. 152(a)(6). The
claimed individuals, RJM and CGM, satisfy the definitional
requirement of “dependent” within the meaning of section
152(a)(6) because they are the daughters of petitioner’s sister.
To qualify as a dependent under section 152(a), the
individual must have received over half of his or her support for
the taxable year from the taxpayer. For this purpose, “support”
is defined as including “food, shelter, clothing, medical and
dental care, education, and the like.” Sec. 1.152-1(a)(2)(i),
Income Tax Regs. Section 1.152-1(a)(2)(i), Income Tax Regs.,
further provides:
For purposes of determining whether or not an
individual received, for a given calendar year, over
half of his support from the taxpayer, there shall be
taken into account the amount of support received from
the taxpayer as compared to the entire amount of
support which the individual received from all sources,
including support which the individual himself
supplied. * * *
In other words, the support test requires the taxpayer to
establish the total support costs for the claimed individual and
that the taxpayer provided over half of that amount. Archer v.
Commissioner, 73 T.C. 963, 967 (1980); see Cotton v.
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 10, 2007