I left my husband before Dec. 1st. Can he file taxes this year and claim my son, and myself on his tax returns? Is there any way I can alert the IRS that he may be attempting to claim people who aren't his dependants? Is this tax fraud?
2006-12-27 04:55:09 · 12 answers · asked by reikagoth 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
You left your husband but who is the child with? Are you working? Did you supply more than 50% of the child's living expenses? Your husband can file "Married filing seperately" and if he can prove that the child lived with him for most of the year and he supplied 50% or more of the child's living expenses, then he does have the right to claim the child since it is his by blood relation. If you're not there, then he can't file "Married filing jointly" since you're not there to sign the paperwork.
If there is no legal seperation in place, or no other legal paperwork, the tax filing issue is a wide open barn door. By both claiming the child, you'll alert the IRS of an issue, but just because the child has been with you alone for the last month does not guarantee your right to claim the child. In a legal seperation, the courts would help decide custody and thus decide the tax claims.
In order for you to not alert the IRS and trigger an audit flag, you have to talk to your husband and decide who will claim the child.
2006-12-27 05:10:42 · answer #1 · answered by dougzinboston 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I guess you have custody of your son? You don't say that in your question.
You need to talk to your husband regarding taxes this year. you can wait for him to file his way and then you can file your way and then you can both get into trouble. He can only file, without your signature, a return for himself and his dependent son. he can claim that he supported his son for the majority of the year which seems to be true. he doesn't lose that right because you left after 11 months of the 12.
As it stands now, you're still married. I don't know if you're paying all your own bills as well as the all the bills for your child and if you've been doing this for the last year. It doesn't sound like there is anything in the works regarding LEGAL separation, divorce, property settlement, or child custody.
Simply leaving for a month doesn't mean your husband is guilty of fraud or will commit fraud by April 15. You might go back to him in the next week. A simple, short term, separation isn't a divorce. In some states it's meaningless and after 20 years you are still married in law.
It sounds like you need to work on not using your tax return and your son as weapons in a war against your husband. I don't know how old your son is but you're going to have to work with your husband regarding your son until your son turns 18.
This will be your first lesson. You might learn that filing jointly may work out best for the both of you. Focus on the greater good for the family rather than on being vindictive toward your husband.
2006-12-27 05:42:12 · answer #2 · answered by Breandan 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The only way he can claim you is if you file a joint return. You'd have to sign it for him to do that.
If you both have income requiring you to file, then you can either file joint, or as married filing separately. I'm assuming that since this is so recent, you're not divorced yet.
As to claiming your son, he might be able to. If your son has lived with you all year, and with him just up to when you left, and you are filing your own separate return, then you'd be able to claim him. If your husband also claims him, you'd be the one for whom the exemption would probably be allowed.
There's no way and no reason to alert the IRS ahead of time to what someone might or might not do. If you both file and show the same social security numbers for you and/or your son, the IRS will flag both returns, and will settle who gets the exemptions, and disallow them for the other person if multiple people have claimed the same person. And no, that's not tax fraud, although it would be if he signed your name to a joint return. But both of you claiming your son would not be.
2006-12-27 07:11:10 · answer #3 · answered by Judy 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Separated or divorced?
If you have filed together in the past and he has all the paperwork, he can probably do it legally.
If he does not have your wage and earnings statement, he can't file a joint return (assuming you had income) but can claim your son. You indicate that you've only supported your son a little more than a month. Doesn't work the same as a new birth.
2006-12-27 05:04:32 · answer #4 · answered by Gaspode 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
He could claim your son and so could you the IRS would disallow on both and you would have to work it out with hubby. He can't claim you unless you agree to file a joint return with. In this case it doesn't matter about your son because it wold be a joint return. Otherwise you and he would file as married filing seperate and he can't claim you because you would be claiming yourself on your return.
There is no way to notify IRS until after he files his return.
2006-12-27 06:34:54 · answer #5 · answered by waggy_33 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe that the person that supports them more than 60% is the one that would get to file. always there is something to change this. Is he the father and did you work full time also . I lived with a man for two years (not my sons father) and I did not work full time and he was able to claim both of us . that was 25 years ago. it may be different now. Or your state might be different.
2006-12-27 05:00:54 · answer #6 · answered by Nani 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I beleive its for the the previous year, so he could claim that u were a dependent and if the child was living there too then he is also a dependent. i would contact the IRS just to find out for sure, this next year he wouldnt be able to claim you tho
2006-12-27 04:58:48 · answer #7 · answered by scion_xb_girly 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Claiming of dependents for tax purposes is based on where did the dependents live for more than six months of the tax year. Of course that is based on whether the person claiming the exemption(s) actually provided the majority of their subsistence for the period in question.
Hope this helps, good luck.
2006-12-27 05:01:34 · answer #8 · answered by angrycelt 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you are not legally divorced by December 31, he certainly can and probably will claim both you and the child. It isn't fraud and you are still his dependents. If you are divorced but he pays child support, he can claim the child. Just walking away from the marriage does not stop this.
2006-12-27 05:00:31 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Do you have any income? You should file your taxes FIRST and claim the son in order to get the deduction.
Also, I think you can file for legal seperation so that its on record and he cant file for being together without it constituting tax fraud.
2006-12-27 04:57:49 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋