Buccola v. Commissioner
United States Tax Court
Pursuant to a decree of separation providing in part for payments by the petitioner to his wife "for support and maintenance of the [wife] and the three children," petitioner paid her an amount in excess of one-half of her support and that of the children.
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Pursuant to a decree of separation providing in part for payments by the petitioner to his wife "for support and maintenance of the [wife] and the three children," petitioner paid her an amount in excess of one-half of her support and that of the children. Held, since the decree of separation does not "fix" the amount petitioner is to pay for the support of his minor children, sec. 71(b), I.R.C. 1954, the sums paid under the decree are deductible from his gross income, sec. 215, I.R.C. 1954, and includable in the wife's gross income, sec. 71(a), I.R.C. 1954, but may not be taken into account…
1Opinion of the Court
OPINION
Petitioner paid nothing toward the support of his wife and children except the payments under the court decree. Yet he contends that, since he made a cash outlay in excess of half their total support, he is entitled to dependency deductions for them. In essence, his argument is that section 71 does not apply to him because he is not “divorced” from his wife, but rather only “separated.”
Section 71 (a) provides in part that “If a wife is divorced or legally separated from her husband under a decree * * *, the wife’s gross income includes periodic payments * * * received * * * in…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Commissioner v. LesterSupreme Court of the United States · 1961
- Katrina Van Oss v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Murray M. SalzbergCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1967
3Cited by2 opinions
- Barrer v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1981
- Buccola v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1970