Tax question

[whippertizzy]

Hey Soc, thank you for taking your time to answer my questions. Hopefully you will have an answer for this one.

In the divorce decree Dh has with his ex, She has the right to claim the children on taxes for every year.  However She has not filed taxes since somewhere around 95, because Dh and her owe back taxes.

The reason they owe back taxes is because when they got married DH claimed a child that she had from a previous relationship. Unknown to both of them, so did the childs father, who was in jail, and not supporting the child.  Now Dh's ex is back with this person and will not tell the IRS that the stepchilds father had no standing to claim him.

The IRS told us that he has to get some info to have it removed, which the EX is not willing to give up because she is with the childs father again and does not want "to get him in any trouble".  So there isn't much we can do about it.

However the tax advocate we talked to mentioned that if DH's ex is not filing taxes or claiming the children, that the IRS will let DH claim his two children.  I would not advise DH to just start claiming them whether his ex is claiming the children or not, no matter what the IRS says.

My question is
1. Seein that she is not claiming them, and the IRS has documented that she is not claiming them, or filing taxes for that matter,  Can he have his divorce decree modified giving him permission to claim them?

and a slightly unrelated question

2. You wouldn't happen to know if DH could go to court and force her to release the information that would clear their backtax mess up?  What he needs is info that he cannot get anymore, such as old school records, the childs soc number, and birth certificate. We explained to the IRS that DH and his ex are divorced and she will not give up the info because she is protecting the person who did claim the child. They sympathized but thats about it LOL.

[socrateaser]

>1. Seein that she is not claiming them, and the IRS has
>documented that she is not claiming them, or filing taxes for
>that matter,  Can he have his divorce decree modified giving
>him permission to claim them?

You can ask the court to allow you to take the exemptions, on grounds that the other parent never files her tax return, and therefore makes no use of a valuable right of which you would like to take advantage. However, the court may decide to ORDER the other parent to file her returns and take the exemptions, in the child's best interests.

This is a sticky problem, because the failure to file subjects the other parent to potential criminal liability, but it is a liability that is beyond the authority of the family court. I don't really know how the court would respond.
>
>and a slightly unrelated question
>
>2. You wouldn't happen to know if DH could go to court and
>force her to release the information that would clear their
>backtax mess up?  What he needs is info that he cannot get
>anymore, such as old school records, the childs soc number,
>and birth certificate. We explained to the IRS that DH and his
>ex are divorced and she will not give up the info because she
>is protecting the person who did claim the child. They
>sympathized but thats about it LOL.


Make out a sworn affidavit under penalty of perjury, detailing each of the elements required to satisfy your right to the exemption. If you can obtain a prison record showing the date of incarceration and release of the person claiming the exemption, and show that it substantially encompassed the tax year that you both took the deduction, that should seal the matter in your favor, because it would demonstrate the practical impossibility of the other person supporting the child.

[whippertizzy]

>
>
>Make out a sworn affidavit under penalty of perjury, detailing
>each of the elements required to satisfy your right to the
>exemption. If you can obtain a prison record showing the date
>of incarceration and release of the person claiming the
>exemption, and show that it substantially encompassed the tax
>year that you both took the deduction, that should seal the
>matter in your favor, because it would demonstrate the
>practical impossibility of the other person supporting the
>child.
>
>

we have already done something similar to this, however, they still need those other items.  They said after the bill is paid in full he can take her to civil court to make Dh's ex pay half, but Dh would rather pay NONE, all it would be is a matter of those three things.

thank you for answering, it has given DH something to chew on :)

[KAT]

Worked for me...well, I mean Mr. KAT. Forms are on the IRS website. It was actually a HUGE mess which took 4 years & finally ended with the IRS returning 6,000 plus 4,000 in interest. If you decide to go this route I highly suggest obtaining a book (an updated copy) on the subject before you file as it can be tricky.
Good Luck! I hope to never deal with the IRS AGAIN.
Oh and if you haven't looked into the Libertarian approach to taxes, please  do so! :)
Regards!
KAT