TAX COURT OPINION

Case: Kyle Gordon DuHamel
Docket Number: 7673-09
Judge: Colvin
Opinion Type: bench
Filed: 03/12/2010
Pages: 6

UNITED STATES TAX COURT WASHINGTON, D.C. 2021 7 KYLE GORDON DUHAMEL, Petitioner , v . ) Docket No . 7673-0 9 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 to petitioner and to respondent a copy; of the pages of the transcript of the proceedings of the above case before Judge Diane L . Kroupa at Seattle, Washington, on February 24, 2010, containing her oral findings of fact and opinion . In accordance with the oral findings of fact and opinion, decision will be entered for respondent . (Signed ) Diane L. Kroupa Judge Date : Washington, D .C . March 12, 2010 SERVED MAR 16 2010 3 1 BENCH OPINION BY JUDGE DIANE L . KROUPA 2 KYLE GORDON DUHAMEL V . COMMISSIONER 3 DOCKET NO . : 7673-09 4 FEBRUARY 24, 201 0 5 THE COURT : . The Court has decided to render 6 oral findings of fact and opinion in this case and the 7 following represents the court ' s oral findings of fact 8 and opinion . These oral findings of fact and opinion 9 shall not be relied upon as precedent in any othe r 10 case . 11 This bench opinion is made pursuant to the 12 authority granted in section 7459 ( b) and Rule 152 . 13 All section references are to the Internal Revenue 14 Code as amended and in effect for 2007, the year at 15 issue, and all Rule references are to the Tax Court 16 Rules of Practice and Procedure . 17 Kyle DuHamel appeared on his own behalf . 18 Bob Boeshaar appeared on behalf of respondent . 19 Respondent determined in a statutory notice 20 of deficiency dated December 29, 2008 , that there was 21 a $2,994 deficiency in income tax from petitioner for 22 2007 . Respondent disallowed petitioner the earne d 23 income tax credit for 2007 because petitioner failed 24 to have a qualifying child . In this regard , 25 respondent determined that petitioner was not entitled Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 4 1 to claim his biological daughter as a dependen t 2 because he failed to include a waiver from the child's 3 biological mother and petitioner failed to prove that 4 the child had the same principal place of abode as he 5 did for more than one-half of the year . 6 FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINIO N 7 Some of the facts have been stipulated and 8 they are so found . 9 Petitioner resided in Washington at the time 10 he filed the petition with the Court . 11 Petitioner filed a Form 1040 for 2007 , 12 claiming his biological daughter as a dependent and 13 claiming he was entitled to the earned income credit . 14 Petitioner did not attach a signed copy of Form 8332, 15 entitled Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to 16 Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent . 17 Subsequently, petitioner provided respondent 18 a copy of the parenting plan, which specified that the 19 child's mother and petitioner were to alternat e 20 custody week to week . The parenting plan does not 21 specify the custodial parent . Petitioner als o 22 provided respondent with a copy of the Child Support 23 Order, which specifies that the child's mother was 24 entitled to claim the child as a dependent in even 25 numbered years and petitioner was entitled to claim Heritage Reporting Corporatio n (202) 628-4888 1 the child as a dependent in odd numbered years . 2 Petitioner and the child's mother were never 3 married . 4 Petitioner asks us to allow him to claim his 5 daughter as a dependent in odd numbered year s 6 notwithstanding that he did not have a signed waver 7 from the child's mother to claim the child nor did 8 petitioner establish that he maintained the sam e 9 principal place of abode as the child for more than 10 one-half of the year . 11 Burden of Proof . We begin with the burden 12 of proof . Burden of Proof is generally on the . 13 taxpayer . Rule 142(a)(1) . This principle is no t 14 affected by section 7491 . Accordingly, petitioner has 15 the burden of proof . 16 Earned Income Credit . Eligible individuals 17 may claim an earned income credit on their Federal tax 18 return . An individual is eligible if they have a 19 qualifying . child. Section 32(c)(3) sets forth three 20 requirements relating to the age, principal place of 21 abode, and relationship to the taxpayer claiming the 22 credit . The parties do not dispute the ag e 23 requirement or that the child is the biological child 24 of petitioner and that petitioner was not married in 25 2007 to the child's mother . Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 6 1 Here, petitioner has not substantiated that 2 he provided the principal place of abode for hi s 3 daughter for more than one-half of the year in 2007 . 4 Petitioner wants us to enforce the parenting agreement 5 he has with the child's mother . This we cannot do . 6 It is not within the province of this Court to enforce 7 the parenting agreement . That is the province of the 8 family law court in the State of Washington . 9 Moreover, petitioner himself admits that the child's 10 mother was in contempt of the parenting agreement in 11 2007 by withholding custody of the child from 12 petitioner for at least a week in 2007 . Thus , 13 petitioner has failed to establish that his daughter 14 had his place of abode for more than one-half of 2007 . 15 We are sympathetic to petitioner's position . 16 We cannot rule, however, in his favor as we are bound 17 by the language of the statute as it is written . 18 Michaels v . Commissioner , 87 T .C . 1412, 1417 (1986) . 19 Moreover, if we ruled in petitioner's favor, we may 20 find ourselves in the middle of a child custody fight 21 similar to those which Congress intended to remov e 22 from the Federal courts when it amended the statute in 23 1984 . See Miller v . Commissioner , 114 T .C . 184, 196 24 (2000) . Accordingly, we sustain respondent' s 25 determination disallowing petitioner the earned income Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 7 1 credit for 2007 . 2 To reflect the foregoing, decision will be 3 entered for respondent . 4 This concludes the Court's oral findings of 5 fact and opinion in this case . 6 (Whereupon, at 9 :25 a .m ., the bench opinion 7 in the above-entitled matter was concluded . ) 8 9 10 1 1 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 2 1 22 2 3 24 25 Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888