You say your child was kidnapped? Sorry, but that means you may no longer be able to claim him as a dependent on your taxes.
Topic 357 of the tax code provides guidelines for this situation:
You may claim a kidnapped child as your dependent if the following requirements are met:
1. The child must be presumed by law enforcement to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a member of your family or a member of the child's family, and
2. The child had, for the taxable year in which the kidnapping occurred, the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of the portion of such year before the date of kidnapping.
If both of these requirements are met, the child may meet the requirements for purposes of determining:
* The dependency exemption
* The child tax credit, and
* Head of household or qualifying widow(er) with dependent child filing status.
This tax treatment will cease to apply as of your first tax year beginning after the calendar year in which either there is a determination that the child is dead or the child would have reached age 18, whichever occurs first.
Link provided by Prof. Music who notes:
there is cold, and then there is. . . . COLD

What do you think this license plate says? If you think it says, "I love Tofu" then you think like vegan Kelly Coffman-Lee who tried to order it for her car.
If you think it says, "I love to F.U." then you think like the Division of Motor Vehicles, which denied Coffman-Lee's request. [
msnbc.com]
Maryland-resident Mercedes Clemens has been forced to shutter her horse massage business. Although she's certified to massage humans, she's not certified to massage animals. According to the
Associated Press:
She shut down her equine massage practice in a Washington suburb after state officials told her state law only allows veterinarians to perform such services. Now she's suing two state agencies, saying regulators are unfairly barring registered massage therapists who want to practice on animals. Animal massage regulations vary from state to state, with some allowing only veterinarians to practice. Clemens' case is being closely watched by those in the animal massage industry, who say business has grown steadily along with interest in other alternative treatments and pampering for pets.
In other news, THERE ARE ANIMAL MASSAGE REGULATIONS!
(Thanks, Big Gary!)
The concept of
micronations is a fascinating idea. I utilized the notion in one of my recent stories, the title piece from
The Emperor of Gondwanaland and Other Stories. But I hardly began to exhaust the narrative possibilities of the idea.
Here's a
recent article on one such place, the
Republic of Molossia.