TAX COURT OPINION

Case: Linda A. Wright Orange
Docket Number: 23967-07
Judge: Colvin
Opinion Type: bench
Filed: 07/18/2008
Pages: 4

UNITED STATES TAX COURT WASHINGTON, D .C. 20217 LINDA A . WRIGHT ORANG E Petitioner, * V. Docket No . 23967-07 * COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE Respondent . ORDE 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 of the above case before Judge Joseph R . Goeke at Washington, D .C ., on June 27, 2008, containing his oral findings of fact and opinion rendered at the conclusion of trial . In accordance with the oral findings of fact and opinion, decision will be entered for respondent . (Signed ) Joseph Robert Goeke Judg e DATED : Washington, D .C . July 18, 2008 SERVED JUL 21 20D8 .17 1 Bench Opinion by Judge Joseph Robert Goeke 2 June 27, 200 8 3 Linda A . Wright Orange v . Commissioner 23967-0 7 4 THE COURT : The Court has decided to render 5 oral findings of fact and opinion in this case, and 6 the following represents the Court's oral findings o f 7 fact and, opinion . The oral findings of fact and opinion shall not be relied upon as precedent in any other case . 10 This bench opinion is made pursuant to th e 11 authority granted by'Section 7459(b) of the Internal 12 Revenue Code and Rule 152 of the Tax Court Rules of 13 Practice and Procedure . Hereinafter in this benc h 14 opinion, all section numbers refer to sections in the 15 Internal Revenue Code, and rule numbers refer to the 16 Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure . 17 Respondent was represented by William J . 18 Gregg, and Petitioner appeared pro se . Respondent 19 determined a deficiency regarding Petitioner's 2006 20 federal income tax liability based upon th e 21 disallowance of exemptions claimed by the Petitioner 22 for 2006 for her two biological children . The issues 23 for decision are whether the Petitioner is entitled to 24 the dependency exemptions claimed for 2006, whethe r 25 she is entitled to head of household filing status, Heritage Reporting Corporatio n (202) 628-4888 4 1 whether she is entitled to the earned income credit, 2 and finally, whether Petitioner is entitled to the 3 child tax credit . 4 Petitioner conceded at trial that she is not 5 entitled to the earned income credit, nor is sh e 6 entitled to the child tax credit . She still maintains 7 that she is entitled to the dependency exemptions and 8 head of household filing status . At the time th e petition was filed, the Petitioner resided i n 10 Virginia . Respondent maintains that the Petitioner is 11 not entitled to the dependency exemptions in question, 12 and therefore the head'of household filing status is 13 inappropriate, because the Petitioner .was not the 14 custodial parent of the two dependents, . as they did . 15 not live with her during the taxable year 2006, and 16, because the Petitioner has failed to establish that 17 she provided the requisite support of the children in 18 question . 19 At trial, Petitioner admitted that her two 20 children did not live with her during 2006 . Sh e 21 alleged that she made payments through the State of 22 Virginia to support the children, and based upon the 23 testimony and the evidence Petitioner supplied a t 24 trial, it appears that the maximum amounts she paid to 25 support the two children was $1,100 . Unfortunately, Heritage Reporting Corporatio n (202) 628-4888 Petitioner was unable to produce any evidence as t what the total support for the children was for the year 2006, and therefore she has failed to meet the requirements of Section 152 to establish that sh e R: provided over one-half of the support for the children, who did not reside with her during the year . Therefore, Petitioner is not entitled to the dependency exemption, nor is she entitled to head o f 9 household filing status, and a decision will b e 1.0 entered for Respondent in the amount of the $5,805 11 deficiency asserted in the notice of deficiency . . 12 This ends the Court's oral findings of fact 13 and bench opinion in this case . 14 (Whereupon, at 3 :49 p .m ., the bench opinion 15 in the above-entitled matter was concluded . ) 16 18 f/ 19 // 2 0 21 22 // 2 3 24 25 Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888