TAX COURT OPINION

Case: Charles A. Ramsey, Jr.
Docket Number: 24573-08
Judge: Colvin
Opinion Type: bench
Filed: 03/23/2010
Pages: 5

3M- UNITED STATES TAX COURT WASHINGTON; DC 20217 CHARLES A . RAMSEY, JR ., Petitione r v . ) Docket No . 24573-08 . COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE,' Respondent O R D E R Pursuant to Rule 152(b), Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure, it i s ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall transmit herewith to Petitioner and to respondent a copy of the pages of the transcript of the trial in the above case before Judge Joseph Robert Goeke at Jacksonville, Florida, on March 9, 2010, containing his oral findings of fact and opinion rendered at the conclusion of the trial . In accordance with the oral! findings of fact and opinion, a decision will be entered for respondent . A (Signed) Joseph Robert Goeke Judge Dated : Washington, D .C . March 23, 2010 MAR 2 4 2010 ; 3 1 Bench Opinion by Judge Joseph Robert Goeke 2 March 9, 201 0 3 CHARLES A . RAMSEY, JR . Docket No . 24573-0 8 4 5 THE COURT : The Court has decided to render oral findings of fact and opinion in this case and the following 7 represents the Court's oral findings of fact and . opinion . 8 The oral findings of fact and opinion shall not be relie d 9 upon as precedent in any other case . 10 This case involveslRespondent's deficienc y 11 determination for the year 2007 in the amount of, $3,175 . 12 This is a regular tax court ease and the Petitioner bears 13 the burden of proof under Tax Court Rule of Practice an d 14 Procedure, 142(a) . References to the Internal Revenue Cod e 15 in this case are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect for 16 the taxable year in question{, 2007 . 17 At the time he filed his petition in this case , 18 the Petitioner was a resident of Florida . The issues for 19 decision in this case involve whether Petitioner is entitled 20 to a dependency exemption for a male individual who was 17 21 years old in 2007, and whether Petitioner is entitled t o 22 head of household filing status for the taxable year 2007 , 23 and finally whether Petitioner is entitled to an earned 24 income credit in the amountjof $2,551 for 2007 . 25 A stipulation of facts was filed in the case and Heritage Reporting Corporatio n (202) 628-4888 4 1 the stipulation of facts and the accompanying exhibits are 2 made a part of this bench opinion by this reference . 3 Petitioner filed a 12007 Federal Income Tax return 4 Form 1040 . On this return he claimed head of househol d 5 filing status and,a dependency exemption for a minor male 6 who he reported as his nephew . On the 2007 income ta x 7 return Petitioner also claimed an earned income credit which 8 was based upon the male individual qualifying as a dependent 9 child . Petitioner, Mr . Ramsey, had claimed the individual 10 who he referred to as his nephew in years prior to 2007 . 11 The individual in question was born in 1990 . His mother was 12 a female friend of Mr . Ramsey who was deceased before 2007 . 13 Mr . Ramsey is not the father, of the individual in question 14 and was not related to him in any way . Mr . Ramse y 15 considered himself the guardian of the young man and so did 16 the young man's maternal grandmother . However, the young 17 man in question spent 11 months of 2007 in the custody of 18 the State of Florida and lived the other month with hi s 19 grandmother based upon the sparse facts in the record . 20 Based upon the record we find that the individual 21 for which Mr . Ramsey claimed a dependency exemption did not 22 live with him at any time in 2007 . Mr . Ramsey was unable to 23 establish any specific amount of expenditures he made o n 24 behalf of the young man for,whom he claimed a dependenc y 25 exemption, although it is clear that he was concerned about Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 t 5 1 the welfare .f the young man and took steps to try to assis O 2 the young man in 2007 . All the issues in this case turn on 3 whether Mr . Ramsey is entitled to the dependency exemption . 4 Internal Revenue Code Section 151(c) permits a 5 deduction for an exemption for a dependent . A dependent is 6 defined as an individual for iwhom the taxpayer provides ove r 7 half of the total support and who has the same principa l 8 place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one half of the 9 taxable year, Section 152(a) ! 10 It is clear based upon our factual findings i n 11 this case and based upon theltestimony of Mr . Ramsey himself 12 that the young man in question did not qualify as Mr . 13 Ramsey's dependent in 2007, having lived in the custody of 14 the State of Florida for over half the year and not having 15 received over one half of his support from Mr . Ramsey . 16 Because Mr . Ramsey did not maintain a home for the youn g 17 man in question during the year at issue, he is no t 18 entitled to head of household filing status under Section 19 2(b) and because Mr . Ramsey,is not entitled to th e 20 dependency exemption, he is,not entitled to an earne d 21 income credit based upon a qualifying child under Section e 22 32(g)(1) . 23 Given our findings of fact and the clear-and legs 24 analysis that follows from those findings we are left with 25 no recourse other than to determine a decision will b e Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 entered from Respondent . This concludes the Court's ora l 2 findings of fact and opinion in this case . 3 (Whereupon, at 2 :35tp .m ., the bench opinion wa s 4 concluded . .) 6 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 i Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888