Claiming someone on taxes without their permission?

Question

My fiance's mom is not all there in her head. Our Daughter was born in April 2006. She called last night wanting to know if she could claim our daughter on her taxes. There is noway we would ever let her do that...she has only seen her MAYBE 5 times. I am just worried that she will do it without our permission before we file. She has her social security number from when she got life insurance on her. What will happen if she claims her without our permission??

Answer 1

This is tragically much more common than we would like to think. All you need to be concerned about is whether or not you are entitled to claim your daughter's exemption. As long as you are certain of this, and it sounds that you are, then you have nothing to worry about. The law is on your side.

Now, that doesn't mean all will be smooth sailing. You might suffer some minor inconveniences. If both of you file electronically and claim the daughter's exemption then only the one who files first will have their electronic return accepted. So if she beats you to the punch sort of speak then you will just have to have your return filed the old-fashion way: On paper. Once it is prepared electronically though it is very simple to generate a paper return. The drawback is that instead of getting your refund within three weeks, you may be looking at getting it back in 6-8 weeks.

So for the time being, both parties will have received the tax benefit from claiming your daughter, but as you've already been told, it will catch up with grandma eventually. Zyberian's claims that the IRS will immediately rush to her door and charge her $25k and throw her in jail are silly. So is the claim that you will be prevented from filing electronically for several years. Like I said, these situations are all too common and the IRS does not have the resources for such type of enforcement. What will happen is that if Grandma decides to claim her, she will eventually have to pay back the tax benefit she received with penalties and interest. Hopefully that will teach her.

Answer 2

Go ahead and claim your child. As Mr. Zimmer stated, and based upon what you said, you are the only person legally entitled to claim the child. If grandma does claim the child and if this results in an audit, you will be able to prove: a) you are the child's parent and b) she lived with you for more than half of the year.

I would advise you to keep up with the child's birth certificate and medical records from 2006 that reflect dates of office visits and her address, just in case you have to send this to the IRS to prove where she lived.

As the child's parent, you have the right over anyone else as far as claiming the child is conserned.

Answer 3

You continue to file as you would, your daughters fingerprint is her social security number. If your mother files without your permission. The IRS will notify you that there is a problem. If you can I would file as soon as possible. Something like rapid refund. Then if your mother files they will contact her for an explanation. However I would also share this information with your mother.

Answer 4

well then she will be making a fradulent claim which is an automatic visit from the IRS and the last time i loooked at this it was a MINIMUM FIVE years in JAIL and fines over $25,000. Plus your daughters ssn will be flagged by auditors and you will not be allowed to file electronically for several years after the first incident. Not much you can do to stop her (and in fact you cannot file until Mid Feburary anyway) but you can point blank tell her that she if makes a claim on your daughter she is committing tax fraud and she will be held liable for this.

Answer 5

You can't stop her from doing this. But if she does, assuming that either you or your fiance also claims her, both people claiming her will get a letter from the IRS asking them to prove that they're the one with the right to claim her. Your fiance's mom will lose that one, and be required to pay back the money she got from claiming her, with interest and possible penalties.

It doesn't matter who files first, but it could hold up your refund if you have one coming, while this gets straightened out.

Answer 6

Even if she claims her, you can claim you daughter also. What will happen is a few months later, the IRS will see that there are two matching social security numbers used by different people and they will send you each a letter and you will just have to show that she's your daughter and you mother in law has no place to claim her. And then she will have to pay it back. My husbands ex wife did that with their son that lived with us and she had to pay it back.

Answer 7

Nothing really...she will not go to jail...thousands of taxpayers do just that every yr. What will happen is that her dependent claim(yr daughter) will be denied.... unless, of course, she can provide supporting documentation that she provided more than 50% of your daughter's living expenses for the taxable yr. You go ahead and claim your daughter as you would normally do and let your in-law deal with the IRS. If you, I would try and file my 1040 before she does..... Consult a tx professional for more details....or call the IRS

Answer 8

You and she will get a notice...at that point you will be given the opportunity to contact the irs and make thing right on your end and she will be responsible for interest and penalties.

Answer 9

If I were you I'd inform her you are claiming the child and that the IRS will consider her claim Tax Fraud and that she could face serious fines and imprisonment.

Answer 10

Just report her but families tend to do this to reduce their tax liability