Claim child for taxes

[lucky]

So we're being hostile and greedy since we expect our kids to finance their own college education?  My dad and mom must have been pretty greedy and hostile as well, huh?

[em]Lucky

Lead your life so you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.
- Will Rogers[em]

[wendl]

I am a CP mom and totally disagree with you (I don't or rarely get cs)

I feel the parent whom supports the child 50% or more should be able to claim the child.

One year my dh paid $7k in cs and his ex didn't come even close to making that working for a full year. SAD in my opinion

Many woman sit on their lazy buts and work part time (why work full time with you have TAX FEE check coming in) then you claim the child and get  butload of money.  I know many lazy woman that do that, while the responsible men pay and support TWO hosueholds, while mom or cp support 1/2 a household.

JMO.

**These are my opinions, they are not legal advice**

[Kitty C.]

Ref, You've been here a LONG time and I certainly respect your opinion and, in this case, your expertise as well.  But I have to agree with LAK when he says this can be a very gray area.  DH has been claiming SS for 11 years without ANY form signed by the BM.  Yes, it does state in their CO that if DH is current on CS, then he can claim SS.  But how would the IRS know EVERY year if that was the case?  We certainly haven't told them.

The bottom line (and this was confirmed by an actual IRS agent) is that as long as only one parent claims the child, the IRS will not question it whatsoever.  It's when the child's SSN is used on more than one return do they sit up and take notice.  That happened 3 years ago with us (BM was adamant DH wasn't current, but CSRU proved her otherwise), I am assuming the IRS went after BM (since she filed well after us and we had already received our refund), and the IRS hasn't questioned it since.

My original advice for the OP still stands:  if at all possible, contact an IRS agent and get their take on the situation.  Only an IRS agent could tell you if the exemption can be taken and by which parent.

[babyfat]

I can give you a true account of what happened to a friend of mine that might help. In the house lives boyfriend who works, my friend who collects SSI and her son who gets an AFDC check. Father of the son is nowhere to be found. They went to an accountant for taxes with boyfriends W2 and they wanted for him to claim all three of them and the tax accountant said no. She said that he could not claim the son of his girlfriend unless him and the girlfriend have gotten married. He told my friend that she had no earned income so she could not claim the child for an earned income tax credit. Since social security and afdc are non taxable income there was no need for her to file taxes at all. End outcome boyfriend filed as a single man. My friend did not file for her and her son there was no reason to since she could not get an EARNED income tax credit since she did not EARN money that year.

If your ex is not married and did not make any income and has no W2 she can not claim the child so if you did and the child is only claimed once you get the refund. If her boyfriend tries to claim him and the number hits the system you may have some what of a head ache but in the end you should still get the refund. Which is exactly what some of the posters have said others just might not understand what the words "earned income" means.

[Ref]

You are right. No red flag will be raised if only one person claim the child.

My thoughts are that the OP's original concern is that the mom's boyfriend was claiming the child. He also wanted to know if he could.

According to the code, neither can, legally. It isn't really debatable.

I am sure there are many examples of people filing improperly, like claiming they donated more money during the year than they did, and didn't get caught, but it still doesn't make it right or legal.

In your situation, you have a stipulation that your DH has to be up to date on his support. That is the gray area. If your agreement was silent, it is not longer gray.

My problem with the original poster is that he states that BM doesn't work and therefore has no income. I guess he is assuming that she will not file at all. The problem with that is that she may file anyway. There are tons of reasons why people are required to file even if they don't have a job. She could even file just to be vindictive and force the IRS into not allowing the dependency claim.

In my professional opinion, it is very clear that he is not legally able to claim the child and neither is the boyfriend. If he does claim the child and the BM does as well, I don't think it will be too difficult to predict a poor outcome for the poster. If he gambles and improperly claims the child and BM doesn't, then all bets are off.

I agree that calling the IRS is the right way to go. If you do call them, would you mind posting what they said? There are too many other people that post this question around tax time and it would be helpful.

Take care,
Ref

[Ref]

You are right. No red flag will be raised if only one person claim the child.

My thoughts are that the OP's original concern is that the mom's boyfriend was claiming the child. He also wanted to know if he could.

According to the code, neither can, legally. It isn't really debatable.

I am sure there are many examples of people filing improperly, like claiming they donated more money during the year than they did, and didn't get caught, but it still doesn't make it right or legal.

In your situation, you have a stipulation that your DH has to be up to date on his support. That is the gray area. If your agreement was silent, it is not longer gray.

My problem with the original poster is that he states that BM doesn't work and therefore has no income. I guess he is assuming that she will not file at all. The problem with that is that she may file anyway. There are tons of reasons why people are required to file even if they don't have a job. She could even file just to be vindictive and force the IRS into not allowing the dependency claim.

In my professional opinion, it is very clear that he is not legally able to claim the child and neither is the boyfriend. If he does claim the child and the BM does as well, I don't think it will be too difficult to predict a poor outcome for the poster. If he gambles and improperly claims the child and BM doesn't, then all bets are off.

I agree that calling the IRS is the right way to go. If you do call them, would you mind posting what they said? There are too many other people that post this question around tax time and it would be helpful.

Take care,
Ref