Mr. B’s 19-year-old son receives a $6,000 scholarship to X University. In the sa

Question

Mr. B’s 19-year-old son receives a $6,000 scholarship to X University. In the same year, Mr. B provides $4,500 to his son as the only other support. The other dependency tests are met. Is Mr. B entitled to claim his son as a dependent on his current-year return? Explain your answer legally ( sec from IRC!) 2James and Edna Smith are a childless married couple who lived apart for all of the current year. On December 31, they were legally separated under a decree of separate maintenance. Which of the following is the only filing status choice available to them for the current year? Explain your answer legally (sec from IRC) 3. Mrs. W’s husband died in Year 1. She has not remarried and has maintained a home for herself and her dependent son, whose personal exemption she can claim. In the summer of Year 3, the son was killed in an automobile accident. What is Mrs. W’s filing status for Year 3? Explain your answer legally (sec from IRC)

Explanation / Answer

To qualify for the dependency exemption, the taxpayer must provide over 50% of the support of a U.S. citizen who meets certain relationship tests stated in Sec. 152(a). Sec. 151(c) imposes additional limitations on the dependency exemption. These include a limit on gross income for each dependent of less than the exemption amount, unless (s)he is a child of the taxpayer and is under 19 years of age or a full-time student under 24 years of age. The dependency exemption is not allowed if a dependent has filed a joint return with his/her spouse for the taxable year unless the joint return is filed solely to receive a refund. Mr. B is are not entitled to a dependency exemption for his 19-year-old son since he earned more income during the year than the exemption amount. Single - Your filing status is single if, on the last day of the year, you are unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree, and you do not qualify for another filing status. Divorced persons.   If you are divorced under a final decree by the last day of the year, you are considered unmarried for the whole year. Thus as per Sec2(b)2.A James and Edna are to select their filing status as single for the current year. If your spouse died during the year, you are considered married for the whole year for filing status purposes. If you did not remarry before the end of the tax year, you can file a joint return for yourself and your deceased spouse. For the next 2 years, you may be entitled to the special benefits described later under Qualifying Widow(er) With Dependent Child . If you remarried before the end of the tax year, you can file a joint return with your new spouse. Your deceased spouse's filing status is married filing separately for that year. [Sec. 2(a)] Qualifying Widow(er) With Dependent Child -        If your spouse died in 2014, you can use married filing jointly as your filing status for 2014 if you otherwise qualify to use that status. The year of death is the last year for which you can file jointly with your deceased spouse. You may be eligible to use qualifying widow(er) with dependent child as your filing status for 2 years following the year your spouse died. For example, if your spouse died in 2013, and you have not remarried, you may be able to use this filing status for 2014 and 2015.         This filing status entitles you to use joint return tax rates and the highest standard deduction amount (if you do not itemize deductions). It does not entitle you to file a joint return. Mrs. W is a qualifying widow and can file as Qualifying Widow.

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