Can he claim our child for Income Taxes???

Question

me and my exhusband have been seperated for 20 months, we have been divorced for 7. (yes, that is how long it took me to serve him) he has not paid one dime in child support, his amount was determined 17 months ago by the courts. i was supposed to get every even year for income taxes unless he did not pay child support. MY REAL QUESTION IS, if he files for income taxes and claims our child, can he receive the child deduction and get money for her, if i have already claimed her??? that does not seem right that he should get money for claiming a child that he has never paid child support on. please help, thanks

YOUR RIGHT JAMES C. HE DOES NOT KNOW HER SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. THANK YOU.

I DONT REPORT HIM FOR BACK CHILD SUPPORT BECAUSE I JUST WANT HIM THE HECK OUT OF OUR LIVES, I DONT WANT TO MESS WITH HIM. I KNOW ITS WRONG, AND I KNOW I SHOULD I JUST DONT WANT TO MESS WITH HIM ANYMORE. HE IS A DEADBEAT FATHER AND JUST A SCUMBAG ALL AROUND.

Answer 1

Even if he paid you child support , he is also required to pay half of child care and co pays for Dr. appointments. 9 times out of ten at the end of the year there is at least one tiny bill that has been unpaid by the non-custodial parent and this entitles the custodial parent to claim them on their income tax return.

He has a right to dispute it as do you if he filed first. The custodial parent will win in a meeting with an IRS representative.

Do not hesitate to dispute this. Your pockets will be full if you do.

If he allready recieved money then he will be ordered to repay the IRS and you will get it instead.

Answer 2

Actually, claiming a child on your Income Taxes has far more to do with who has major custody of the child than whether he has or has not paid his child support. The IRS realizes that the person that the child lives with incurs more expenses than the one they do not live with..and therefore they are the one that gets to claim the child on their taxes. That would be YOU in this instance. The fact that he is required to pay you child support indicates that there must also be a custody agreement in existance.

Give your ex a call, let him know that claiming your child only on even years is a ridiculous idea...you have custody every year..so you can legally claim her on your taxes EVERY year. For him to do so without legal custody..is illegal. If the IRS finds out that he has EVER done this he will be subject to an audit and will probably have to pay not only the money from the deduction back, but also a fine. Also, let him know that if he has already filed taking such a deduction..he should amend it as soon as he possibly can and therefore avoid such things happening.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

The IRS first looks to the terms of the decree of divorce for determining who claims a child. If the decree of divorce is silent, then if the parents can't agree, the IRS goes with whomever has custody of the child. (physical custody, not legal custody). They have a fairly complex set of tiebreaker rules, which can be found online at www.irs.gov.

In your case, you need to file and make sure that he pays the child support. Go ahead and report him.

If you file first, and the IRS then rejects his return because you have filed, his first step would be to send to the IRS a copy of the divorce decree. In this case, you are supposed to get the child on even numbered years, and 2006 is the tax year we're talking about, so you get the child no matter what. (in other words, the IRS would say no, she gets the child this year). NEXTyear, he would not only have to prove that he gets the child, but that he is current on child support. If he is behind, that's not going to be possible.

It will also result in him having to paper-file, as there isn't any way to electronically file such a claim.

I hope this helps. I suggest you contact the local office of any of the national tax preparation companies for more information on the tax issues. For the child support issues, contact an attorney licensed in your state.

Answer 4

Paying Child Support is not even a legal deduction for income taxes, let alone claiming a child that he does not provide over 50% of their care. Go through the Child Support office and get their help. Also call the IRS and ask how to get this straightened out.

Answer 5

NO, Since you have ,by agreement, arrived at who can take the deduction in which years you need only include a letter to IRS with your return explaining the arrangement and stating that he is not eligible to claim her in his assigned year since he has not paid child support during the tax year. Normally the tax deduction is taken by the custodial parent, where no seperate agreement exists.

Answer 6

Hopefully you can file first. Then the child's father. The IRS will red flag his return because two deductions were taken for one social security number. It would be up to the two of you to explain why you ech claimed the child. You can prove supporting the child, and he cannot. Hopefully he would get into big time trouble for filing a false tax return.

Answer 7

If he has not paid any support then he can not claim the child. You need to report him to the IRS. They will take that money back from him. You have to report him. And if he does get money you can report it to the child support agency or your lawyer and they will make him pay it to you.

Answer 8

The IRS will side with you if you, especially if you filed 1st. Also he would need to know the childs social security # to even attempt to claim her. If he does not know the #, than you have nothing to worry about.

Answer 9

If both of you calim the child the IRS will see that. Then they will contact you and you can show them the court papers the IRS will comply with the court papers. You can report it yourself if you want to.

Answer 10

He can't, I know, it is illegal to file for any child who hasn't been in the household for more them 6 mons within the filing year. He can go to jail if you reported him, but, how will you get anything?