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gross income is less than the exemption amount. A child of the
taxpayer is considered a “dependent” so long as the child has not
attained the age of 19 at the close of the calendar year in which
the taxable year of the taxpayer begins and more than half the
dependent’s support for the taxable year was received from the
taxpayer. Secs. 151(c)(1)(B), 152(a)(1). The age limit is
increased to 24 if the child was a student as defined by section
151(c)(4). Sec. 151(c)(1)(B).
Petitioner testified that both his children were over the
age of 19 in 1994. Neither was a full-time student as defined by
section 151(c)(4) during the years 1994 through 1997. Therefore,
neither qualifies as a dependent under section 151(c)(1)(B) for
any of the years at issue.
Petitioner claims Stacy Brown as a dependent for 1994 and
1995. Petitioner also claims her to have been a renter who owed
him for room and board for those same years. He claimed a bad
debt deduction for that “debt”. See discussion infra.
A dependent is defined as an individual over half of whose
support for the year was received from the taxpayer or is treated
as having been received from the taxpayer. Sec. 152(a). In
order for petitioner to establish that he provided more than half
of the support of Stacy Brown, he must first show by competent
evidence the total amounts of support she received from all
sources for the years at issue. See Blanco v. Commissioner, 56
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Last modified: November 10, 2007