- quote -

I agree with this answer - the answer to the question as to
the son's status lies in Title 8 of the U.S. Code (Aliens,
Immigration, and Naturalization), not Title 26 (Internal
Revenue).

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- quote -

You answered your own question.

- quote -

The only special status is "citizen." This is a legal
question, not a tax question. The son does not meet the
requirements for automatic citizenship under the Child
Citizenship Act, so I suspect he's still not a citizen. But
I am not an immigration lawyer.

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"Rich Carreiro" <rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us> wrote:

- quote -

I don't see any way for the son to be a tax dependent for
2005.

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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A question for a co-worker who just became a citizen last
month (he's been a resident alien for years).

FACTS:
* Co-worker became a citizen in December 2005.
* Co-worker is married, and the non-citizen spouse lived
outside of the US for all of 2005 (she's waiting for a
K-3 visa to get approved so she can wait for her green
card in the US instead of outside of the US).
* The couple's biological son lived with the wife overseas
for all of 2005 and never entered the US in 2005 at all.
* Wife and son live in Germany.
* Son is not a US citizen.
* Co-worker provides > 50% support to wife and son (she has
no income).
* Co-worker plans to make the "treat non-resident alien
spouse as resident alien for tax purposes" election and
file MFJ for 2005.

QUESTION:
Can the son be claimed as a dependent on the 2005 return?

I read over Pub 519 and the answer would appear to be "no",
since it explicitly states that you can only take a
dependency exemption for a qualified child or qualified
relative if that person is a US citizen, US resident, US
national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico. It would appear
the son fails all of these tests (unless my co-worker
becoming a citizen conferred some special status on the
son).

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2005) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >