we had an agreement all year that she would claim our girl and I would claim our boy but now a few days before the end of the year she uses a mini fight and says shes claiming both kids. Oh yeah she lived in my house all year. We both worked made around the same gross all year. We both supported our kids all year and now she wants to claim both for the money What can I do
2006-12-27 05:35:44 · 6 answers · asked by joseph g 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United Kingdom
That is a question for a tax accountant that knows all of the tax laws. I would make sure that is who answered this because if you wrong, then the IRS isn't so forgiving.
2006-12-27 05:38:37 · answer #1 · answered by jpgirl0815 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have a written agreement on who can claim the children, then you can follow that and the IRS will likely back you up. Your question sounds like it was a verbal agreement though.
The IRS has tie-breaker rules if more than one person claims the same child. It doesn't matter who files their return first.
First tie-breaker is whether only one is the child's parent. If you're on the birth certificate, you probably both qualify there. From your phrasing of your question, I'm guessing you and the mom weren't and aren't married - that doesn't matter here, except that if you're married you'd probably file a joint return, and won't/can't if you are not married.
Second rule: the parent with whom the child lived for a longer period of time during the year. Sounds like that's still a tie between the two of you being eligible, if everyone lived together all year.
Third rule: the parent with the higher AGI (adjusted gross income) gets the deduction. So if you make more, you could probably claim both of them. See http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040.pdf on page 21, under "Qualifying child of more than one person." If you show this to your baby's mom, she might be happy to go back to your original agreement.
2006-12-27 14:53:08 · answer #2 · answered by Judy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bottom line - if you are both filing your own separate returns, the children can be claimed only once.
Do you have that agreement in writing? If so, go ahead and claim what you agreed to. If the IRS comes knocking, you can show them that agreement and tell them to go talk to her.
If not, maybe it's time to get a lawyer involved to describe all of your parental rights and responsibilities in an agreement between the two of you.
2006-12-27 13:43:19 · answer #3 · answered by Uncle Pennybags 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are divorced and if that is the agreement, go ahead and claim the kids on yours. Go to the divorce lawyer and have that written and make it official so there will be no future argument.
2006-12-27 13:44:46 · answer #4 · answered by spot 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
are you separated? do you have any legal agreement? you could call her bluff and just tell her you are claiming the boy and let the IRS audit figure it out, as to who supported over 50% of the kids needs
edit: i dont mean let the irs figure it out, i mean make sure she knows the consequences of her actions
2006-12-27 13:39:23 · answer #5 · answered by swenjj 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yep
2006-12-27 13:46:05 · answer #6 · answered by Lil A 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋