TAX COURT OPINION

Case: Wayne K. Barrett
Docket Number: 15601-06
Judge: Wells
Opinion Type: memo
Filed: 12/17/2008
Pages: 5

(4- Aijzlzr 4.0 T .C . Memo . 2008-28 4 UNITED STATES TAX COUR T WAYNE K . BARRETT, Petitioner v . COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Responden t Docket No . 15601-06 . Filed December 17, 2008 . Wayne K . Barrett, pro se . Edwina Jones , for respondent . MEMORANDUM OPINIO N WELLS, Judge : Respondent determined a deficiency of $4,395 in petitioner's 2004 Federal income tax . The issues to be decided are : (1) Whether petitioner is entitled to section 151 1 'Unless otherwise indicated, all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure, and all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code, as amended . SERVED DEC 17 2008 2 - dependency exemption deductions for his minor children for taxable year 2004 ; and (2 ) whether petitioner is entitled to a section 24 ( a) child tax credit for taxable year 2004 . At the time of filing the petition , petitioner resided in Background North Carolina . Petitioner timely filed his 2004 Federal income tax return and claimed dependency exemption deductions and the child tax credit with respect to his minor children : R .K .B ., J .O .B ., and J .D .B . (hereinafter collectively the children) . 2 Petitioner did not live with any of the children at any time during 2004 . At all times during 2004 the children lived with their mother , Jill R . Kingdon ( hereinafter Ms . Kingdon ), who had sole legal custody . Petitioner and Ms . Kingdon provided all of the children's support in 2004 . Petitioner and Ms . Kingdon did not live together at any time in 2004 . The record does not contain a written declaration, signed by Ms . Kingdon, stating that she will not claim the children, or any one of them , as dependents for the 2004 taxable year ; no suc h declaration was attached to petitioner's 2004 tax return . 2The Court refers to minor children by their initials . See Rule 27(a)(3) . - 3 - Discussion Dependency Exemption s Section 151 ( c)(1) provides that an exemption is allowed for each dependent who is a child of the taxpayer, subject to age limitations not in issue here . Section 152(a ) defines dependent to include the,son or daughter of a taxpayer over half of whose support was received from the taxpayer for the calendar year . There is a special rule where the parents of a child live apart for the last half of the year and one or both of the parents have custody of the child for more than half of the year . See sec . 152(e)(1) . In that case , if the parents together provide over half of the child ' s support for the year, section 152(e) determines which parent is entitled to claim the child as a dependent . Generally , the custodial parent (the parent having custody for a greater portion of the year ) is treated as providing over half of the support for that child .3 Sec . 152(e )( 1) . However , the noncustodial parent may claim the dependency exemption deduction if the custodial parent executes a written declaration releasing the custodial parent's claim to the deduction . Sec . 152 ( e)(2) . Petitioner and Ms . Kingdon provided all of the support for the children in 2004 . At all times in 2004 Ms . Kindgon had sol e 3This is true whether or not the parents have ever been married to one another . (2003) . King v . Commissioner , 121 T .C . 245, 251 4 - legal custody of the children and they lived with her, so she was the custodial parent . Ms . Kingdon never executed a written declaration releasing her right to claim the children as dependents for taxable year 2004 . Accordingly, Ms . Kingdon is deemed to have provided over half of the children's support for the year . Therefore, petitioner is not entitled to dependency exemption deductions for the children for taxable year 2004 . Child Tax Credit s Subject to limitations based on adjusted gross income, a taxpayer is entitled to a . child tax credit with regard to each qualifying child of the taxpayer . Sec . 24(a) . A qualifying child for purposes of the child tax credit is a child : (a) For whom the taxpayer is entitled to a deduction for a dependency exemption under section 151 ; (b) who is under the age of 17 ; and (c) who bears a relationship to the taxpayer as set forth in section 32 ( c)(3)(B) . Sec . 24(c) . The age and relationship tests are not in dispute in the instant case . However, petitioner is not entitled to a dependency exemption deduction with regard to any of the children, so none of the children is a qualifying child for purposes of section 24(a) . Consequently, petitioner is not entitled to a child tax credit for taxable year 2004 . - 5 - We have considered all of the contentions and arguments of the parties that are not discussed herein, and we find them to be without merit , irrelevant , or moot . 4 To reflect the foregoing, Decision will be entered for respondent . 4Petitioner's main argument seems to be that an error in his tax preparation software resulted in his underpayment of tax for 2004 . Obviously, that is not relevant to the question of whether petitioner owes the deficiency respondent determined for taxable year 2004 .