how many dependants can you claim on federal taxes?

Question

My husband and I have two kids we will be claiming on our taxes. He and I file jointly, his ex wife doesnt work but by the end of this year she will have recieved almost half of his yearly income in childsupport for thier two kids. Since she doesnt work can we claim thier two kids as well if nobody is claiming them?

we claimed them before twice when she didnt work, but I heard that you can only claim two children period.

Answer 1

Well mathew had the answer almost right, but there is more to it then that!! If he is paying child support, doesn't mean he can claim them or if no one else is claiming them. But if they live with ur over half the year, then yea he can claim them. The thing is that most ppl think that if they give child support that they are in title in claiming the children. Dont get me wrong, some ppl get away with it without gettin audit. But if you do and they had gave a refund on that child, you can be entitled to fraud and fine to pay the amount back with intrest, pentilities. The thing with the new law right now is that for earn income credit, you only use two dependents to get the credit. Then you have an child tax credit, that is up to 1,000 per child but not refundable, the Addional child tax credit is refundable. the child tax credit helps lower down the amount u owe to the government. EIC and ACTC gives you a refund if no more taxes are due to the government. Dependants and only to lower ur income amount down by dollar by dollar.. Sometimes ppl get them confused and think the more dependants, da more money. Not True. If you have too many dependents might hurt some of the credits.

Answer 2

In 2005 the qualifications for dependency changed. If the child or children are under the age of 19 (24 if in school) and lives with one of the parents (your husband or his ex) and one of them pays more than half of the support either parent can claim the child as a dependent. The choice between the two parents is made in one of two ways. First if a court in a divorce or custody decree or seperation order determines which parent has the right to claim the child. If no such order has been made the custodial parent can use Form 8332 basically to assign those rights to the non custodial parent. From the sound of your question it appears that the children live with his ex-wife which means that she should provide you with a Form 8332. There is no limit to the number of children that you can claim. Now it is true that you can claim any child if you have a social security number for and are likly to get the dependency benifit when you first file your return. There are a number of triggers that will cause the IRS to check to see if these kids qualifiy and they can do that any time in the three years following a tax year. In your case the kids likly have the same last name as your husband which reduces the chance. If the ex-wife claims them one year and your husband the following year it is very likly that you will be getting a notice to show why you have claimed them. The Form 8332 covers that for 2005 and 2006.

Answer 3

Yes you can if he has supplied over half of the income to support them as you said. I would get it in writing that she will not claim them though if she's anything like my ex.

No limit that I know of when it comes to claiming dependants. Only the rules that define dependant.

Answer 4

You can claim his kids if no one else is claiming them

Answer 5

Not necessarily - there are many issues that would have to be resolved for that to be possible. I would check your husband's divorce decree that says if he has a right to.