How do I deal with sneaky Ex and my taxes?

Question

My ex and I had a messy breakup and just finished child support settlement. Last year he claimed our son on his taxes, although I couldve fought him over it. I let it go but this year I am definitely entitled to use our son on my taxes. He lives with me full time. My only problem is, my ex is very sneaky and since he claimed him last year, he has all the information he needs to do it again this year. Plus he's self employed so he has the opportunity to file before I get my W4s back. What happens if he claims him before I get my done? Will I loose my right to the credits?

Thank you all for your great advice. Just to add a little info. my ex and I were never married. We did go to court however to have the child support settled but there was no mention of income tax filing.

Answer 1

I think a self-employed person needs more time to do his taxes than a regular employee. Anyway, claim your son on your taxes. If you e-file you're gonna know right away if your ex claimed him. If he did, mail your return. The IRS will see two persons claiming the same dependent and they are going to use the rule "if both persons are the parents the child will be treated as the qualifying child of the parent with whom the child lived the longer period of time during 2006", that means YOU.

Answer 2

You should file as Head of Household and claim your son since he lived with you the entire year. That is a very important thing; if your husband claims the child the IRS will penalize him for a fraudulent return. The rules are very clear on dependents and who can claim them. Don't worry if he files first as your filing will conflict with his and the IRS will then check out the facts of each return. If he got a refund he will have to return it with penalty and interest. Good luck.

Answer 3

you are entitled to file as 'head of household' and claim the dependency exemption for your son since he lived with you full time and im assuming you provide for more than half his support.
im also assuming your son is under the age of 19.

you should mention to your ex that your are claiming your son b/c only one person can claim him. if both of you try to claim him, the IRS will send both of you notices and this will further delay any refund that may be due you.

you mentioned that your ex has "all the information he needs to do it again this year." there is nothing needed to claim your son other than his name, date of birth and SS#

you may also be entitled to the following additional tax benefits:

child tax credits
credit for child and dependent care expenses
earned income credit

Answer 4

Just claim him after your husband claims him. The IRS will flag both the returns and will end up taking it way from him. This will take a couple months thou. If you want to prevent it. Go to your divorce attorney and see if he can set up a contract where the dad knows he can not claim the child.

If you need to tell him you are claiming him and that if he tries to claim him both of you will be checked buy the IRS. Since he is self employed he most likely has some deductions he will not want brought to the IRSs attention so he should let it go.

Answer 5

If the support agreement gives you the exemption you claim it. If your husband claims same child he will lose on audit because of the support agreement. Who files first has no bearing on who has the right to claim.
Since child lives with you you also file as head of household rather than single

Answer 6

waggy makes a good point regarding the Head of Household filing status. If the divorce decree is silent regarding who gets to claim the child as a dependant, then you should claim him.