My boyfriend and I are expecting a child in November, who gets to claim the baby on their taxes?

Question

We are together as a couple and will share in expenses, so no childsupport will be given. We live in Illinois and I don't know where to look to see if there are any rules or laws that govern who claims the baby in this kind of situation.

Answer 1

It would be easiest for the mother to file as "head of household" since it is easy to establish that the child is hers. I suppose that it might be possible for the father to file as an unmarried "head of household" but that might raise some red flags with the IRS.

Marriage would probably improve your tax situation, so that you could file jointly, and claim the dependent that way.

Answer 2

I live in Illinois so I hope I can help. The law is written that if two or more people are eligible to claim a child as a dependent (which is your case) if it can't be agreed upon who will claim then the person who has the highest income is the one who does it. So legally, either of you can claim him/her. I know a unmarried couple that has four children and each of them claim two so they get more money back. And H&R block is the one who told them to do it that way. Also, yes the baby can be claimed this year. As long as it is born on or before Dec.31,

Answer 3

Basically, you guys decide who gets to claim the child.
Special consideration should be given to:
1) who makes more money, and would save more money by claiming the child
2) if any debts outstanding for either would limit the amount of a refund.
If no one has been clearly defined as the custodial parent, a mutual decision should be made.
Naturally, if one has been clearly defined as the custodial parent they should claim the child.


This is what the IRS website had to say:
If you and another person have the same qualifying child, you and the other person(s) can decide which of you will treat the child as a qualifying child. That person can take all of the following tax benefits (provided the person is eligible for each benefit) based on the qualifying child.

*

The exemption for the child.
*

The child tax credit.
*

Head of household filing status.
*

The credit for child and dependent care expenses.
*

The earned income credit.

The other person cannot take any of these benefits based on this qualifying child. In other words, you and the other person cannot agree to divide these tax benefits between you.

If you and the other person(s) cannot agree on who will claim the child and more than one person files a return claiming the same child, the IRS will disallow all but one of the claims using the tie-breaker rule in Table 6.

Table 6.
When More Than One Person Files a Return Claiming the Same Qualifying Child (Tie-Breaker Rule)

Caution. If a child is treated as the qualifying child of the noncustodial parent under the rules for children of divorced or separated parents, see Applying this special test to divorced or separated parents.

IF more than one person files a return claiming the same qualifying child and only one of the persons is the child's parent, then the child will be treated as the qualifying child of the parent.

IF more than one person files a return claiming the same qualifying child and two of the persons are parents of the child and they do not file a joint return together,
then the child will be treated as the qualifying child of the parent with whom the child lived for the longer period of time during the year.


IF more than one person files a return claiming the same qualifying child and :
two of the persons are parents of the child,
they do not file a joint return together,
and the child lived with each parent the same
amount of time during the year,
then the child will be treated as the qualifying child of the
parent with the highest adjusted gross income (AGI).

IF more than one person files a return claiming the same qualifying child and none of the persons are the child's parent, then the child will be treated as the qualifying child of the person with the highest AGI.

I didn't get to research Illinois specific information, but I assumed you were more interested in federal information.

Answer 4

If you live together, then you are probably both eligible to claim the child. It is a decision that you will both have to make as you both cannot claim the child as a dependent. I believe the parent with the highest income in the household is suppose to claim, but you have to check the most recent tax law. Otherwise, you should both do your taxes and see who benefits the most and if there is a refund, share it.

Answer 5

The best case senerio would be who ever makes less. That way you could use the Child Credit. How I would handle it: Ask the tax preparer, to do each taxes and put the child on both to see who would get more money in the end. Since there is no child support, my only concern would be if there are any state benefits being rec'd.
This all depends on State Tax Laws.

Answer 6

Either one can write off the dependent, but you should take a look at your income and see who would benefit the most. If you keep your finances seperate, then the person that claims the deduction can compensate the other person by dividing the benefit in half.

Answer 7

since you are not married you would, but I live in Missouri ,and I don't think you can claim the baby this year, you would of had to have it at least 6 months out of the year to claim it on this years taxes, you can claim it next year

Answer 8

Yes you claim the child for the 2006 year as if he/she was there all year.

Answer 9

The one who has contributed more than 50% to the child. If it is 50-50 then you will have to pick one.

Answer 10

I would expect that since you both are not married, that you would claim the baby.