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a joint return for 2004.4 Accordingly, petitioner is not allowed
to claim the earned income credit for 2004 unless he is able to
establish that pursuant to section 7703(b) he and Ms. Whitted
should be treated as not married. Petitioner would need to
establish, among other things, that he was entitled to claim a
dependency exemption deduction for his son for 2004 and that his
home was the principal place of abode for his son for more than
half of 2004. See sec. 7703(b)(1). As just discussed, however,
petitioner is not entitled to a dependency exemption deduction
for his son for 2004. Moreover, petitioner has failed to show
that his home was his son’s principal place of abode for more
than half of 2004. Under petitioner’s own version of the facts,
his son was always with Ms. Adjin-Tettey and always slept at her
residence. Accordingly, the son’s principal place of abode
during 2004 was with his mother. Petitioner is ineligible for
the earned income credit for 2004.
4 At trial, petitioner sought to establish that he and Ms.
Whitted had filed an amended joint 2004 return. Petitioner was
unable to produce a signed copy of any such amended joint return
or any proof that he ever mailed such a return to respondent.
Respondent’s records show no amended joint return as having been
filed. In his petition, petitioner states that the purported
amended joint return was “only for immigration purposes.” We
conclude that petitioner never filed a 2004 joint return with
respondent.
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Last modified: March 27, 2008